When you are running a food manufacturing business, you have a lot of variables to consider, many of which are business-critical. While making a profit and ensuring your team is working effectively is important, food safety should be at the heart of everything you do.
If your products are not being manufactured in a safe environment, you could face issues down the line. Below, we look at some of the reasons why food safety should be a priority of yours. Read on to find out more about what you can do.
Food Safety Considerations
As a food manufacturer, you have a number of food safety considerations to make. This includes everything from your waste management process to the design of your production line.
Are you storing your ingredients and food products at the right temperature? Are staff handling food safely and ensuring hygiene levels are kept at a high? These are just some of the things that you should consider.
If food safety isn’t a priority of yours, you must make changes, as this could severely impact on someone’s health and your reputation.
Regular Audits
The BRC (British Retail Consortium) has some global standards for Food Safety and you need to be aware of these. If your factory was audited by the BRC or by a supermarket that you supply to, you could find yourself in trouble.
However, if you stay on top of the food safety guidelines and perform regular internal audits, you can ensure your factory is complying with the rules. If you don’t, you could face a fine, a bad rating or even lose a contract with a supermarket. Even worse, you could seriously injure or kill someone due to contamination of your products. Audits can be concerning, but they don’t have to be if you are staying on top of food safety requirements.
Quality Control
As a food manufacturer, you have a responsibility to ensure everything you produce is created safely and hygienically. Some factories have entire teams who focus on quality control and perform due diligence to ensure everything is as it should be.
However, if food safety is not one of your priorities, you could find that your quality starts to deteriorate as well. You must have the right equipment such as an electronic weighing scale and food traceability systems in place in order to maintain the highest level of quality and safety.
Focus on Food Safety
It is clear that food safety should be a main concern for any food manufacturer. You need to be able to prove to your customers that the products have been made in a safe and hygienic environment.
You must also be ready for any audits that come your way. Make sure to consider everything that we have discussed and put some new practices in place before it is too late.