Helping Your Company Meet Sanitation Standards

“Our date night was ruined after I drank that cappuccino.  The milk was bad and I paid the price for the vendor’s carelessness.”

• Screen open windows, vents, fans, and similar features to prevent insect, bird, rodent, and reptile entry.
• Close all exterior doors and entrances when not in use.  Ensure an adequate seal when exterior doors and entrances are closed.
• Properly construct all walls, ceilings, windows, doors, floors, and overheads (e.g., pipes, air vents, and lights) and maintain them in good condition (e.g., no cracks, rust, breakage, missing parts, or dips allowing puddles to form) so that they do not harbor pests or pathogens.
• Fit floor drains with seals and grates capable of preventing pest entry.
• Properly store ingredients, finished product, and food packaging.
• Maintain the exterior grounds surrounding the facility in a manner that will control pest harborage.

• Have short direct routes for both product and personnel flow. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008)
• Polar Leasing units each have one secure, low-to-the-ground entryway, which prevents laborious climbing onto refrigeration trucks to retrieve products. 

• Use smooth, non-absorbent, sealed, and easily cleanable food contact surfaces that are sloped to drain freely and made of durable, non-corrosive, nontoxic materials.
• Food contact surfaces include items such as knives, conveyors, belts, chutes, product totes, gloves, tools including shovels and racks, cutting boards, tables, dryers and spinner baskets, and packing scales.  The FDA recommends that all food contact surfaces be smoothly bonded (e.g., free of pits, folds, cracks, crevices, open seams, cotter pins, exposed threads, and piano hinges) to avoid harboring pathogens.  Where two food contact surfaces meet, use a cover over the juncture to prevent food debris from collecting in the crevice and creating an area that is difficult to clean.
• Use adequate quality water for cleaning and sanitizing at temperatures appropriate for the chemicals used. 
• Use toxic chemicals for cleaning operations in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and in accordance with relevant Federal, State, and local government regulations. 
• Clearly label toxic chemicals. 
• Store toxic chemicals and pesticides in a manner that protects against contamination of food, food-contact surfaces, and food-packaging materials and in accordance with relevant Federal, State, and local government regulations. 
  Monitor the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitizing chemicals by visual inspection and environmental testing (especially grooves and niches) for microbial growth.

• Include, as part of the sanitation schedule, the name of the employee (and alternate when primary employee is absent) responsible for the activity, the equipment to be cleaned and how to disassemble it, the frequency of cleaning, procedures for cleaning (including type and concentration of cleaning compound and sanitizer), time and temperature requirements, cleaning solution flow rate (pressure) if applicable, and the name of an employee responsible for verifying the program effectiveness by inspection. 
• Clean the condenser unit, drip pans, and hoses of refrigerators. 
• Keeping cold storage as dry as possible. 
• When reassembling sanitized equipment, place the equipment parts on a sanitary mat and not on the floor. 
• Minimize splashing during the cleaning of floor drains by using an appropriate brush, such as a ¼ inch smaller brush than the diameter of the drain opening, or a splash guard.