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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
When considering the development, documentation, and implementation of Premises Design and Construction Standards within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
The physical facilities and structure of a food establishment must be properly designed, constructed, installed, operated, and maintained to allow the receival, storage, production, and dispatch of safe food. The design and construction of the premises and the items within it have a direct link to the control of the entry of pests and potentially their harborage and ability to cause contamination of process or products. The design and construction of the premises are also directly related to the control of cross-contamination by staff and visitor traffic flows, process flows and waste flows.
Many factors are important to premises and equipment design being supportive of food safety including:
The internal and external design and layout of food establishments should permit good food hygiene practices, including protection against cross-contamination during and between food production operations. This may include a defined one-way product flow, the segregation between high and low-risk areas, and entry to high-risk areas via specially designated and managed-to-change facilities.
Sanitary facilities such as toilets should not be adjoined to operational areas within any food business. As a minimum, a double door and airlock between the sanitary facilities and production area would be acceptable.
Adequate suitably designed and constructed facilities should be provided for cleaning food, utensils, and equipment. Such facilities should have an adequate supply of hot and cold potable water where required.
The following Specification, Commissioning and Validation elements should be considered as part of ensuring Premises Layout, Structures and Materials adhere to Regulatory, Industry, and Customer Standards.
The Specification, Commissioning and Validation of Food Sector Premises should be conducted and recorded to cover:
The Specification, Commissioning, and Validation of Premises Layout, Structures, and Materials should be conducted by a multi-disciplinary team to ensure the highest level of outcomes.
In many cases, new, existing or refurbished Food Premises may require the adoption of risk reduction strategies to reduce the risk of such equipment contributing to the production of unsafe foods.
For example, it is common to find damaged protruding light fittings on ceilings above areas in which Forklifts are used to move and handle Food Products, Raw Materials, and Ingredients due to contact from the forklifts. If recessed light fittings were installed then the risk of breakage could be significantly decreased. Similarly, if the site design didn’t facilitate the fitting of recessed lighting, then the forklifts could be fitted with height limiters or sensors to reduce the risk of contact with light fittings.
Potential sources of contamination need to be considered when deciding where to locate food businesses. Food businesses should not be located anywhere where, after considering appropriate protective measures, it is clear that threats to food safety are present. In particular, food businesses should be located away from:
The area that surrounds the food premises has a large impact upon issues important to food safety within the premises itself. The external environment of the premises should be well maintained and monitored to prevent pests and vermin, dirt, and other undesirables from entering the food premises and causing contamination. An external security system should be in place where there is any possibility that contamination or damage to products may occur through intentional malicious activities. Animal manure or related by-products should not be used within close vicinity of the premises as these can impact the safety of foods produced.
The premises exterior of food businesses should be free from:
Traffic between raw food preparation and cooked food areas should be avoided where possible. Where it is not practical to curb traffic between cooked and raw areas, it can be advantageous to introduce time-management through which cooked or raw foods are processed and handled after dedicated and verified cleaning and sanitizing applications in between.
The use is a common application where the process flow or movements between areas may potentially introduce pathogen contamination risks. Similar applications also include an access door sanitation unit that sprays a chemical sanitizer solution onto the doorway floor at timed intervals to reduce the risk of cross-contamination by foot traffic, pallet jacks, and trolleys passing through the doorway.
Standards for the General Layout and Construction for Operational Food Areas are many and varied as based upon the Regulatory Standards of each geographical location. The scope and intensity of Layout and Construction for Operational Food Areas are often dependent on the risk status of the products and processes involved.
Internal structures and fittings within the food business should be constructed of suitable materials and must be easy to maintain, clean, and sanitize. Based on the risk level of the foods and processes involved, in particular, the following requirements should be facilitated to protect the safety and suitability of food:
Where the premises meet the equipment, for example at a through wall fixture where a conveyor belt transits from a Low Risk to a High Risk or High Care area, such equipment should be positioned and/or moveable to facilitate required Cleaning and Sanitation Tasks.
Similarly, where Equipment can’t be positioned and/or moveable within its position away from the Premises, it should be appropriately sealed and maintained to prevent the build-up of food residue. In this case, sealings between the premises and the equipment should be to the same standard as for the general premises.
Premises Amenities must be constructed and maintained as per Regulatory Standards to ensure appropriate segregation of functions and mitigation of risk.
You may wish to visit the Premises Amenities Standards section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Adequate means of natural or mechanical ventilation should be provided within the food processing and packaging areas to:
Ventilation systems for high-risk or high care foods should be designed and constructed so that air does not flow from contaminated areas to clean areas and, where necessary, they can be adequately maintained and cleaned. Condensation caused as a result of poor ventilation can facilitate cross-contamination by transporting micro-organisms into foods. The problem can be controlled by ensuring adequate airflow around food products, evaluating ventilation systems, and controlling temperatures in processing, packing and storage areas.
Adequate natural or artificial lighting should be provided to enable the application of food safety and quality tasks within any food business operation. The intensity or brightness of lighting should be adequate to facilitate required tasks. Lighting fittings should be protected to ensure that food is not contaminated by breakages.
Procedures should be formatted regarding the changing of non-operational or damaged lighting sources to ensure the risk of contamination of foods is minimized. It is generally not considered best practice to change lighting within operational areas whilst production is in progress, as this may potentially introduce physical hazards to the foods being produced.
Recent developments for lighting have seen the introduction of shatterproof light fittings. These light bulbs are manufactured under stringent controls to ensure their safety and coated in a polymer substance that prevents the glass from shattering and separating from the light bulb structure when damaged. These bulbs are now commonly used within food industries, and sometimes without traditional bulb coverings such as plastic sleeves or diffusers. It is important when substituting regular light bulbs with shatterproof bulbs that these are of appropriate standards and not just cheap imitations. Be sure to obtain the details of the appropriate manufacturing standard to which any shatterproof bulbs have been benchmarked.
Adequate drainage and waste disposal systems and facilities should be provided within a food business according to the activities conducted. Drainage and wastewater systems should be designed and constructed so that any risk of contaminating food or the potable water supply is controlled. Where a food business processes both raw and cooked foods, it is essential that in the design stage, consideration is given to wastewater flow from the cooking area to the raw area and not the other way around. This will prevent raw product bacteria from using the drainage flow as a vehicle to enter the cooked product processing area.
The premises and structures covered here include market stalls, mobile sales, and street vending vehicles, temporary premises in which food is handled such as tents and marquees. Such premises and structures should be sited, designed, and constructed to prevent the contamination of food and the harborage of pests. In applying these specific conditions and requirements, any food hygiene hazards associated with such facilities should be adequately controlled to ensure the safety of foods being made available to consumers.
Premises maintenance should be facilitated as part of a proactive Preventative and Reactive Maintenance Program.
You may wish to visit the Preventative Maintenance and Reactive Maintenance section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Development requirements in relation to their items.
Document: A document provides guidance and/or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgments that affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions, and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following documentation formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Premises Design and Construction Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Premises Design and Construction Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Premises Design and Construction Standards documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Premises Equipment and Design and Construction Standards within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff, and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step that requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Premises Equipment and Design and Construction Standards do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Premises Equipment and Design and Construction Standards must include a clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff, and visitors to the site.
When implementing Premises Equipment and Design and Construction Standards within food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements before completion:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Implementation requirements in relation to their items.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within HACCP plans, implementation procedures, and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record-keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. It is important to consider that advancements in technology have spawned many systems and processes which are self-monitored and or self-adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used; The goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Premises Design and Construction Standards monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process where applied to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
Common monitoring activities and record formats may apply to Premises Design and Construction Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Premises Design and Construction Standards Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Premises Design and Construction Standards documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly to a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action are implemented to ensure that any identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated, and rectified within appropriate time frames. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy, or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the HACCP Plans and the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Premises Design and Construction Standards related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Corrective Action requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored, and reviewed. All food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, HACCP plans, and their operational applications must be verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible, and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may apply to Premises Design and Construction Standards:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Verification requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality systems elements such as procedures, HACCP plans, and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product, and process control outcomes, and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may apply to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Equipment Design and Construction Standards:
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specified job-related task.
Training and competency requirements for Premises Design and Construction Standards must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Premises Design and Construction Standards should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Premises Design and Construction Standards should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Premises Design and Construction Standards should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Premises Design and Construction Standards Training, Competency, and Resources requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency, and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.