ROC FOOD Safety

Felicidades a los padres más cercanos en mi familia, me incluyo. Mi padre en el centro de todos, quien nos dejó muy pronto y mis queridos hermanos y sobrinos. Que Dios nos bendiga a todos 🙏

I’m putting together a certified PCQI course for Human Food in Houston, Texas on April 25 to 27 at a discount cost.

I’ll follow up with a link to register. Let me know if you are interested to receive an additional discount. You can email me at [email protected]

I’m putting together a certified PCQI course for Human Food in Houston, Texas on April 25 to 27 at a discount cost.

I’ll follow up with a link to register. Let me know if you are interested to receive an additional discount. You

Important tips in this Easter.
Can You Get Salmonella From Backyard Chickens?

You knew that it is recommended to protect our children from salmonella is not gifting live animals this Easter.

Part of the problem is that children are among the most likely to not observe good hygiene around the animals and children don't have mature immune systems.
Contact with live poultry (such as chicks, chickens, ducklings, ducks, geese, and turkeys) can be a source of Salmonella infections in people.
• Salmonella bacteria can cause mild to severe diarrheal illness or even death in people.
• Chicks, ducklings, and other live poultry can carry Salmonella even when they appear healthy and clean.
Salmonella bacteria are released in droppings and can easily contaminate birds' bodies, as well as the areas they inhabit and frequent.

Prevent Salmonella With Smarts, Soap And Warm Water.

Despite salmonella’s presence, residents with backyard chicken flocks can greatly reduce the risk of infection by taking simple precautions, Coufal said. Petting or holding live birds, handling farm fresh eggs or working in areas frequented by birds, such as the coop, can expose people to salmonella.
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Convencing the Audience
It is not uncommon to have upper level managers question the concerns due to unsanitary conditions. Presence of mold, algae, mildew, insects and contaminants are evidence of poor house keeping. As food safety professionals we might have managers disagree with our concerns stating that these issues are simply a aesthetic matter with no impact on the safety of the food product. Hopefully, that is correct and the lack of hygiene does not result in the growth of pathogenic microorganisms, but……how likley is it? Fear what you do not see.
Food Safety and Legality
As leaders in food safety the effort also focus in communicating the legal implications of not meeting food safety practices. The only defense is prevention and it must be understood that if the company manufactures and distributes a product that causes someone to be sick or injured, the plant is going to pay if the situation could have been prevented. The company must prove due diligence in setting up programs to avoid the situation.
Think of the food safety program as a friendly insurance policy you hope you never have to use but, if things go wrong, it can see you through. It also provides a competitive advantage over non-conforming competitors and it truly puts the industry in the driver’s seat of preventing public health hazards. I like to compare the food safety plan to the “Get Out Of Jail, Free” card of a monopoly game.

The Food Safety Language

A career in food safety is not an easy one. It is a stressful profession that requires dedication and a commitment to learn continuously and to teach, to communicate effectively to an audience, in most cases, obstinated and not open to listen. After all, the food safety language is not easy to understand. It is for most people a boring topic, not interesting. Moreover, engaging in meeting food safety standards is considered cumbersome, not value added, costly and an incovenience to the busines flow.
Communicating the food safety language has become more difficult due to all the terms used and requirements, typically known with acronyms for program or institutions. We can’t blame others when they are confused and uninterested when in the communication we use reference to the need to implement programs such as GMP, HACCP, HARPC, VACCP, or when we talk about GFSI schemes or FSMA regulations, only to mention a few.
A food safety professional has a difficult task to effectively communicate and convince. In this communication, the food safety professional must be able to stress out cost-benefits and the impact if an effective plan is not developed. It all starts by making people understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable; what it is a true food safety concern.
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There are 7 ordered principles that guarantee the correct implementation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. These are:
Identify hazards (HACCP Principle 1). Hazards and the risks of their occurrence must be correctly identified. There are 3 types of hazards: biological (bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae), chemical (toxins, insecticides, fungicides) or physical (unwanted solids, insects, objects).
Determine the Critical Control Points, PCC (Principle 2 of HACCP). Through a thorough review of each of the stages defined in the flow diagram, the points at which controls are needed since the possibility of a hazard exist must be established.
Establish critical limits for each CCP (HACCP Principle 3). Here the variables that indicate hazards must be defined quantitatively and the limit values ​​accepted for each one must be determined. In general, they are variables such as time, pH, temperature or humidity.
Establish a monitoring system (Principle 4 of HACCP). A procedure must be defined to ensure that the system operates within the defined limits. For this, a batch sampling method can also be established. The fundamental thing is that you can act quickly in case of deviations.
Establish corrective actions (Principle 5 of HACCP). Corrective measures to be applied in the event of deviations being detected must be established. These must guarantee that, after their application, the system is again under control. Its main function is to prevent the discarding of the product.
Establish verification system (Principle 6 of HACCP). Once all the previous points have been defined, the system must be completely verified. For this, tests must be carried out, the operators must be interviewed and all the areas involved must be audited.
Establish a system review system (HACCP Principle 7). A complete Documentation System must be created that includes all the appropriate instructions, procedures and records to guarantee the correct functioning of the HACCP. It must be reviewed periodically through a specific system.
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See you in Houston in late April.

Ready to help businesses’ successful implementation of sound food safety plans meeting global and FSMA Standards. Comprehensive approach but easy to implement. Food Safety Made Easy

International HACCP Alliance certified training in Houston, Texas
www.rocfoodsafety.com

Certified HACCP training. Y the International HACCP Alliance.
Go to Rocfoodsafety.com