September is National Food Safety Education Month (FSEM). It’s a great time to focus on key illness prevention steps. Much of the focus from FDA and CDC is on consumer education, reminding us of the four key practices: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill.
Hopefully if you have been reading Food Crumbs regularly, you understand these practices and follow them both at home and in your commercial facility. Perhaps September is a good month to remind yourself and your co-workers about your prerequisite programs such as Good Manufacturing Practices, Standard Operating Procedures, and Sanitation Practices.
Perhaps you can have some fun with writing some SOPs for every day tasks you take for granted. I wrote one for cleaning my teeth! It was amazing how many steps it takes!
Remember an SOP should have the following categories:
Title
Purpose
Scope
Personal Responsible
Materials (if required)
Procedure
Related Documents
A formal SOP should include the business/facility name and address.
I hope you can have some fun with food safety education this month.
Please book a free consultation call if you want to chat about food safety for your facility.
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Who is Cathy Davies?
I write about the intersection of food science and food systems with an emphasis on food safety, food justice and resilience. I am concerned that climate disasters and changing weather patterns are affecting our ability to eat healthy, nutritious food.
I run a food safety consultancy, Food Safety Mid Atlantic, supporting specialty food businesses with their food safety plans and programs. If you are interested in learning more about my consulting services, please schedule a free call.
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