Standard Sanitation Operating Procedure (SSOP) in the Food Industry

Sanitation is crucial in ensuring the quality and safety of food!

Sanitation is a series of processes to ensure hygiene conditions in a building, facilities, and processes comply with standards. SSOP serves as a guideline in implementing hygiene standards, particularly in the food industry. SSOP and GMP are closely related. SSOP has eight main keys.

Food companies can start implementing SSOP by ensuring there are competent personnel to establish the system, monitor, and record the results of system implementation. Without further ado, let's scroll down to see what the main keys of SSOP!

1. Maintaining Water Hygiene

The hygiene of water, especially water used for production processes, needs to be ensured through laboratory testing. Water is a highly vulnerable mixing ingredient that can contaminate a production process. Why? Water originates from a source, passes through pipes or streams, and ends up at a processing facility. Laboratory testing for production water must be conducted in government-certified labs to ensure the credibility of test results.

Periodic testing can be conducted monthly, quarterly, or every six months, considering that the water source has good quality (assessed by physical appearance such as color, taste, and odor). Laboratory test results showing bacterial contamination, typically E. coli and coliform, require immediate follow-up action by switching to a different water source temporarily or permanently until the water quality meets the standards. Food companies must closely monitor water quality as it is closely related to the risk of food poisoning and long-term infections.

2. The Cleanliness of Surfaces that Come into Direct Contact with Food

Contamination in food can originate from surfaces that come into direct contact with it, hence ensuring the hygiene of surfaces is mandatory. Surfaces that come into direct contact include food preparation tables, chopping boards, cooking/production utensils surfaces, as well as storage utensil surfaces (chiller, freezer & containers).

Validation of the cleaning results of areas or surfaces that come into direct contact with food can be done daily, weekly, or monthly. Validation can involve physical inspection by QA. Assurance of surface hygiene can be conducted through swab tests using a government-certified lab to ensure the credibility of the test results. Swab tests can use samples from plates, spoons, chopping boards, or even work uniforms (aprons and the like).

3. Cross-Contamination Prevention

Cross-contamination in food can occur during the storage, sorting, and placement process in a container that does not meet food safety standards. Prevention of cross-contamination begins with identifying the types of raw food, half-cooked, and cooked (well done) foods. The general stages of cross-contamination prevention can be seen in the GMP Process Part 1.

Chillers, freezers, or containers need to be prepared according to the quantity of raw materials and production output so that adequate separation can be achieved. Cross-contamination has long-lasting effects because pathogens are invisible (they can transfer from cooked to half-cooked or raw materials) rapidly. Cross-contamination can also occur between food and employees, so monitoring employee movement is necessary. Employee movements can be monitored using CCTV placed in production areas, cleaning areas, and areas significantly impacting sanitation. Monitoring employee health can be seen in the GMP Personal Hygiene.

4. Sanitation of Handwashing Facilities and Toilets

Handwashing and toilet facilities must be in hygienic condition in the food industry, where the availability of soap, tissue (hand drying), and clean water is ensured. SSOP regulates how to ensure that related facilities remain hygienic by validating the results of field inspections. Periodic validation refers to inspections. For example, if inspections are conducted daily, validation can be done at least daily or weekly and monthly, referring to how often handwashing and toilet facilities are used.

Handwashing and toilet facilities should not be located near production areas, storage areas, or receiving areas. Why? Because pathogens can quickly transfer from one area to another. Layout and layout management can be read in the GMP for Building & Facilities.

5. Protection from Contaminants

Contaminants in the food industry generally come in the form of physical, chemical, and biological hazards. Related hazards arise from the initial to the final stages (procurement, reception, cooking, storage, and distribution to consumers). Physical hazards can be seen with the naked eye, but for chemical hazards, in-depth identification such as laboratory testing is required, while biological hazards need to be minimized with visual inspections or other examinations.

Ensuring that food ingredients are free from contaminants can be done internally, for example, by examining the results of cooking (panelist test), food laboratory testing with food samples either internally or externally, and requesting test results typically in the form of a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from the supplier's products or raw materials.

Protection from contaminants is a highly critical stage, requiring competent personnel (certified) to perform this task, and it is essential to review and thoroughly examine the stages

6. Proper Labeling, Storage, and Use of Chemicals

Labeling, storage, and use of chemicals are generally regulated in the Safety Data Sheet (SDS), where each chemical has different procedures. A specific condition in the storage of chemicals is when the substance has been opened and used. Supervision is needed to ensure that the chemical is tightly closed, does not contaminate the surrounding area, and is not stored beyond the standard timeframe. SDS must be updated and understood by chemical users. A QC can validate the knowledge of chemical users through verification methods such as Q&A, internal discussions, or pre-tests and post-tests.

In a food industry, there is typically an HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) who has authority in validating compliance with the use of chemicals. QC can collaborate with QA and HSE for this matter.

Chemical storage rooms are required to be separate from reception areas, storage areas, and serving areas

7. Monitoring Personnel Health Conditions

Regular health monitoring for personnel can begin with an initial health examination, divided into two types (food handlers and non-food handlers). Medical check-ups for food handlers are designated for personnel directly involved with food materials such as in raw material reception areas, processing, inspection, and storage. Periodic health monitoring is generally aimed at preventing infectious diseases and cross-contamination from and to workers to raw materials and finished food products using stool culture methods.

Employees whose health is deemed not suitable according to food safety standards need clearance, with the process involving transferring personnel to non-food handler roles. Further details can be found in the GMP Personal Hygiene.

8. Pest Control

Controlling pests in the food industry is a highly complex process, starting from the classification of pests, mapping their potential emergence, to determining the most effective handling procedures for specific types of pests. Generally, the food industry utilizes third parties in pest control because specialized expertise is required for effective management. Third parties involved in pest control typically have a good understanding of Entomology, ensuring accountability for the effectiveness of the pest control measures.

Thus, the 8 main keys in SSOP, generally GMP & SSOP are interconnected, so implementing SSOP will be easier with a GMP system that is implemented first. Take charge of hygiene in your industry today! Thank you for reading until the end, have a nice day.