Food sanitation

The word sanitation comes from the Latin word sanitas, which means ‘health’. In the food industry, sanitation means creating and maintaining hygienic and healthful conditions.

It also refers to all activities and conditions that ensure the delivery of safe and wholesome food to consumers.

Sanitation is to maintain or restores a state of cleanliness and promotes hygiene and control the environment so as to prevent the disease agent from getting to a new host.

Most food plants have locations that can promote the growth of pathogens and spoilage microorganisms that may be transferred directly onto product or carried into additional niches. Sanitation can reduce the growth of microorganism on equipment and dirt on food.

This can reduce contamination of food by microorganisms, that cause foodborne illness and food spoilage. 

The sanitation includes hygiene, work habits, food preparation and processing, holding equipment, and the psychical facilities so a restaurant and the food supply itself.

The sanitation procedure developed by establishment must detail daily sanitation procedures it will use before pre-operation and during operation to prevent direct product contamination or adulteration.
Food sanitation

Food sanitation programs

Sanitation is a quality of living that is express in clean surroundings or environments.

Poor sanitation can cause food spoilage and bad color, smell or flavor. Spoiled foods reduce sale and communicate to consumers that food safety is not a priority.

Microbial foodborne illness, widespread often unrecognized, affect most people at one time or another. It is caused by eating food that is contaminated with pathogens such as bacteria, viruses or parasites.

A major national supermarket chain found that poor sanitation in meat operations caused increased labor, trim loss and packaging costs leading to 5 to 10% lower profits.

Sanitation relates physical, chemical, biochemical and microbial principles to food, the environment and health.

Most food processors have a sanitation program to make sure that their products are safe. Most programs have the components including:
*The product and its ingredient
*Cleaning *Housekeeping
*Personnel hygiene and safety
*Supply chain
*Sanitation inspection

The implementation of sanitation programs and other program such as GMO, HACCP systems is becoming important to address public concern that food supplies are safe and secure.

Failure to practice good sanitation can result in the spreading of harmful microorganism which affect the product. This could have disastrous effects in reputation and business.
Food sanitation programs