Avoiding chemical contamination of food product within your food business is not rocket science. It is common sense and basic food safety not to spray pest or cleaning chemicals directly onto the surface of the food....right? You would think so - but it is this very issue that has resulted in me issuing corrective action requests (CARs).
What went wrong?
There have been two separate food safety incidents of late. The first involved an abnormal chemical showing up on a laboratory report and the second actually occurred whilst I was standing observing a food handler undertake a cleaning activity.
Linking food safety laboratory results
An item of produce was tested for a range of pesticides as part of a routine food safety verification program. Product was sent to an external laboratory and tested for a range of different pesticides to confirm compliance with the law around MRL’s (maximum residue limits). It was from the laboratory report that a pesticide not usually associated with the produce was identified.
This chemical was later found to be the same as an active constituent found in common house ‘fly spray’. Cans of ‘fly spray’ were found around the produce packing rooms. So in short, food handlers were controlling flies in the packing area by the use of common fly-spray but did not consider the spray landing on food product.
Cleaning 101
On the second occasion, I was standing watching a food handler cleaning a piece of equipment. Cleaning chemical was being applied to the surface of a hot grill using a spray bottle. They continued to spray chemical onto the grill without any concern for the open cold storage server located right next to the grill.
You could actually see the chemical spray drifting and landing directly onto the freshly prepared salad and sandwich ingredients. When the food handler was questioned about their actions, they had no idea what they had done or what the food safety implications were.
Food Safety Lessons Learned
Hopefully from these two examples, you can avoid the simple food safety hazard of chemical contamination within your food business. It is also highly recommended that all food handlers are trained in the correct storage and use of chemicals. Take a minute to think about the use of chemicals in your business and if you have correctly assessed the risk in your HACCP hazard analysis.
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