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Food Safety Rules Every Manufacturer Needs to Follow

Food Safety Rules Every Manufacturer Needs to Follow


Food Safety Rules Every Manufacturer Needs to Follow

If you are in the food manufacturing business, there are plenty of essential food safety rules that need to be followed at all times.

Rules regarding the process of handling, cooking, and manufacturing food are put in place to keep you safe, your employees safe, and your customers safe.

Read on to learn more about the food safety rules that all manufacturers should follow to be sure you’re doing everything the right way.

Avoid Cross-Contamination

Certain foods should always be kept separately from other foods to avoid the risk of cross-contamination or the spread of germs. Food like raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs all pose an increased risk of contamination.

To ensure your manufacturing facility is following the proper food safety rules, keep these types of foods separated from each other. Make sure all preparation areas and tools like cutting boards are color-coded so that different foods don’t accidentally come in contact with others.

Talk to your staff and make sure everyone is properly trained about the risks associated with cross-contamination. Encourage a rigorous cleaning process that keeps meats, chicken, seafood, and eggs prepared in the right way.

Preventing cross-contamination also applies to other food ingredients. All spices and other edible materials should be stored away from cleaning supplies and raw meat. For example, the cleaning closet in your facility should be located near the kitchen or food prep areas to help keep the threat of cross-contamination to a minimum.

Practice Proper Hygiene Food Safety Rules

Anywhere food is present, good hygiene must be adhered to at all times. If you operate a food manufacturing facility, make sure that every single employee understands these rules.

All people who come into contact with food should wash their hands with antibacterial soap and water. The same protocol must be followed after using the restroom.

Hairnets should always be worn inside the facility, and protective gloves are also recommended. Find out what your local, state, and federal laws are regarding food-handling hygiene.

Once you set forth these rules, make sure that they become part of your company policy. Perform re-training or give reminders to employees as needed. When people are clean, the food will stay safe and clean, too. 

Keep Good Records and Perform Thorough Training

In order to maintain a safe place for everyone, records should be kept in an official log that documents a variety of information. These logs can be a real lifesaver when it comes to an audit or another official review.

Keep the logs in a place where only you and other managers have access to them. Your logs should include things like records of accidents, employee reprimands or corrective action, and anything you do to make improvements.

Take careful, detailed notes of what happens in your food manufacturing facility. It’s a good line of defense if you ever need to prove that you’re doing things to ensure the safety of all.

Check on the latest food safety rules and laws, and then put them into practice through training. Draft a uniform training manual that applies to everyone, and then make any changes in the future as needed.

When everyone follows the same protocol in regard to food safety, you’ll have a much easier time keeping everyone safe. Re-train your employees as you feel the need just so everyone has a refresher course on the safety ground rules.

Keep It Clean

When it comes to cleanliness, it applies to more than just your food. Make sure that your facility is always clean including the floors, walls, and all machinery.

Have someone who is designated to check on everything within the building in terms of manufacturing machinery to ensure that it’s constantly clean. It may sound surprising, but there are even environmental factors that have significant impacts on food quality.

When your entire facility is clean, it will encourage your employees to be clean, too. It also gives an aura that the food you make and sell is made of the highest quality.

Cleanliness goes beyond the main lobby and warehouse. It also extends to things like pest control, proper food disposal methods, and even employee personal hygiene.

Foster a spirit of cleanliness throughout your company to encourage everyone to keep things in check. Use quality cleaning materials that won’t contaminate the food, but that will be effective at killing germs and creating safe surfaces.

Disinfect all food preparation areas, equipment, and machinery to make sure that it’s free of potentially dangerous germs and bacteria. In addition to overall cleanliness, proper food cooking and storage practices should always be in place.

When you combine good food prep and cooking habits with a clean environment, the result will be safe, delicious food that your customers will eat in confidence. Try to take a proactive approach and make sure that all of your food safety rules are being enforced at all times.

Food Safety Is the Key to Success

When you practice a few food safety rules, your food manufacturing company will produce food that’s good for everyone. Remember to enforce the rules when it comes to things like cross-contamination, food storage, and good hygiene.

Put a thorough training program into place and enforce the rules. Encourage people to follow up, and take good records with a detailed event log in case you ever need it.

If you’re interested in content strategies and marketing for your business, be sure to keep browsing our website today.

 

Lifestyle

How to Become a Food Blogger on Instagram

How to Become a Food Blogger on Instagram


How to Become a Food Blogger on Instagram

With over 168 million photos on Instagram tagged as #food, it’s no secret that people love to take photos of food- and look at them too!

Unfortunately, this means that if you are set on becoming a famous Instagram food blogger, it’s going to take some work. Simple photos of what you ate for lunch aren’t going to cut it anymore.

In fact, behind every successful Instagram account, there is a strategy. Here are 5 essential tips that will help you start strategizing your account and learning how to become a food blogger.

1. Define Your Niche

The very first step before you even begin posting is to strategize what your profile and platform will look like. Pick a color theme and style for all of your photos.

This will help you to build up a congruent and professional looking profile as more photos are added.

Not only that, but this is the time when you get to decide what makes you different from every other food blogger.

Will you only post about waffles? Or will you post about healthy versions of your favorite comfort foods?

Whatever, you choose just make sure it’s something you can grow with and that you love!

2. Follow Others

The next step is to begin following other famous food bloggers. This will give you an idea of the kinds of posts that people respond well to.

From the top profiles, you’ll be able to learn how to become a food blogger that people actually want to see in their feeds.

However, don’t stop there! Follow the people that like, comment, and respond to these bloggers as well. This will help you get your name and profile out in front of followers that are already loyal and engaged.

Avoid following bots and people that will just give you a like for a like. Also never buy followers. These both will ruin your engagement and in turn, negatively affect your brand.

3. Be Unique

With over 300 million monthly users on Instagram, you need to make sure that your posts and profile are unique and memorable.

This can be done by posting images of uncommon recipes or making an interesting display of the food. If you get stuck, just check out WaffleMakersHub for examples.

4. Be Consistent and Take Your Time

A successful profile takes time to grow. So don’t throw in the towel too early!

The most important thing you can do is to be consistent with your posting and keep creating killer content. Good posts take time to create, so if you find yourself frequently forgetting it might be time to create a content calendar.

This will help you stay on track and be prepared, even during the busiest weeks.

5. Promote

Lastly, promote your profile outside of Instagram. Utilize the power of other venues to push people towards your Instagram profile.

Creative content enhances your website and a website can help enhance your creative content as well. If you think of them as a complementary pair, your success will be much more lasting.

How to Become a Food Blogger on Instagram?

Begin by following these 5 crucial steps. Then keep learning, growing, and adapting. We can’t wait to see what you can do!

Have any questions? Send us a message. We’d love to hear from you!

Lifestyle

Are Nitrates In Your Food Bad For You?

Are Nitrates In Your Food Bad For You?


Are Nitrates In Your Food Bad For You?

It seems like every week there’s a new food issue people are concerned about. One minute experts are warning people about high fructose corn syrup, and the next they’re talking about the dangers of fat in food.

Recently more people have been worried about nitrates in food. Some people may think that concern over nitrates in food is relatively recent, but debates over its presence in consumables have been around since the 1970’s.  

Before you can understand the recent nitrate controversy, you need to take a quick science lesson.  

The difference between nitrites and nitrates.

Some people use the words nitrites and nitrates interchangeably, but they’re both different compounds. 

Both nitrites and nitrates are naturally occurring inorganic compounds made up of nitrogen and oxygen. The key difference is that nitrates have three oxygen molecules, and nitrites only have two.  

Nitrates are so common that they’re naturally found in soil, water, and air. They’re also incredibly versatile compounds.

Nitrates are used in a variety of foods.  They can be used for coloring food, and are widely used for preserving cured meats and dairy products.  

They’re also used for industrial purposes. You can find nitrates in explosives, fertilizer, and even some kinds of glass enamels. 

It isn’t very uncommon for certain compounds to be used for human consumption and industrial purposes.  But there’s something about nitrates and nitrites that make them dangerous.

A volatile reaction

Nitrates don’t pose much of a health risk to animals, it’s when they’re converted into nitrites that things change.

Nitrates are stable compounds, nitrites aren’t.  Once nitrates are converted into nitrites, it can turn into nitric oxide or nitrosamine. Both forms of nitrites have carcinogenic properties and are linked to a variety of other health problems.  

Nitrosamines only form in a specific environment, they must be near amino acids and in high heat.  Unfortunately, many popular cured meats are cooked under these conditions.

Since nitrates in food are such a controversial topic, some people may wonder how something that could be dangerous to humans is safely processed.

If you want to understand the rampant use of nitrates in food, you need to think about one of America’s most popular treats.  

Consider the hot dog

Like many nitrate-heavy foods, hot dogs are a quintessentially American food. They’re very popular, simple to prepare, and inexpensive to manufacture and buy.  You’ll find them at nearly every sporting event or BBQ, and cut up on nearly every child’s plate.

Despite the hot dog’s popularity, it is one of the worst foods you can put into your body.

If you want an example of an unhealthy level of nitrates in food, look no further than the hot dog.

Nitrates are an important part of the average hot dog.  Unlike some meats, it’s very difficult to process them without the use of nitrates.

There’s nothing wrong with the hot dogs themselves.  After all, it’s just meat and bread.  

The real problem is the way that they’re processed with nitrates.

Nitrates allow the hot dog meat to keep its pink color and prevent it from spoiling too fast. Without nitrates, it wouldn’t be possible to process and ship them the way our society does.

Nitrates in food is the new normal

Nitrates have become an essential part of the preservation process, and effect most meats they way they do hot dogs. Nitrates are also incredibly cheap. Using them is the easiest way to keep up with meat demand in the country.  

Almost every kind of meat you eat, regardless of if it’s cured, has been treated with nitrates.  If nitrates were only in one kind of food it would be simple, but they’re in nearly everything.

High levels of nitrates can be found in popular fruits and vegetables.  Naturally occurring nitrates in vegetables aren’t cause for concern, but synthetic nitrates are.  

Nitrates are popular additives in fertilizers. Fruits and vegetables that are grown in nitrate-heavy soil can easily pick up excess compounds.  

Nitrates are so present in food that some companies rely on using other additives to counteract their harmful effects.

Many people don’t know this, but hot dogs are processed with vitamin C (although most companies will list it as ascorbic acid on their labels) as a way to counteract the powerful nitrates.

It may be comforting to some that companies try to mitigate the damage nitrate loaded food can cause.  But others that are concerned about their health are going to want to cut as many nitrate-heavy foods out of their diet as possible.

If you’re ready to change the way you eat and live a healthier life, make sure you follow these tips.

Cut down on meat

Meat has earned a very prominent place in the American diet and it has very staunch defenders.  Some people can’t imagine cutting down on meat, but if they’re concerned about nitrates in food they’ll have to learn how to live without it.

There’s no denying that there is a link between certain cancers and meat consumption.  

In 2015 22 scientists in 10 countries published a report that linked red and processed meat to cancer.  Many scientists believe that meat’s cancer causing properties come from the way it’s processed and preserved.  

That study may be worrisome, but nobody is saying that meat is inherently bad. Lean meat can be very high in protein, and red meat can give you essential B-vitamins.

The real problem is the amount of meat most people eat.

A report by the World Health Organization found that the average American will eat 270.7 pounds of meat every year. That means that some Americans are almost eating their weight in meat annually.

If you can’t bear the thought of completely cutting meat out of your diet, you don’t have to.  Meat doesn’t have to be the entree, it doesn’t even have to make an appearance on your plate.  

You can get all of the vitamins and minerals you need with fruits, vegetables, grain, and dairy.  

Read labels (carefully)

People that want to avoid nitrates in food should become avid label readers when they’re shopping.

Today most companies aren’t simply going to list “nitrate” as an ingredient. There are plenty of “industry” terms they can use to make products look more appealing to health-conscious consumers.

If you pick up something and see “potassium nitrate” or “sodium nitrate” on the label, set it back down.  

Also be sure to pay close attention to the nitrate’s position on the label. If it’s one of the first few ingredients, that food has more nitrate than you want to eat.

Eat organic 

We’ve already talked about how some food manufacturers will label foods to downplay their amount of nitrite. 

If you want to play it very safe, you should consider only buying organic products. Organic foods can’t be produced with synthetic nitrates and nitrites, which could significantly cut down on health risks from the compound.

It’s also important to note that if you’re concerned about nitrates in food that you should be weary of the “natural” label.

Natural foods are nothing more than an advertising ploy.  Many natural foods can be loaded with harmful chemicals and additives. USDA certified organic foods need to meet strict standards, and you won’t find “creative” labels that downplay the presence of harmful ingredients. 

Load up on antioxidants 

Sometimes nitrates in food are unavoidable.  You may have to occasionally eat nitrates, but there is something you can do that can help fight against its harmful effects.

We mentioned before that antioxidants like vitamin C can help lessen the dangerous effects of broken down nitrates.  

Eat foods that are rich in antioxidants if you want to avoid the harmful effects of nitrates in food.  Antioxidants can help keep nitrates from breaking down into nitrides and other dangerous compounds.  Antioxidants also have a variety of other health benefits.

Go beyond food

If you’re worried about how nitrates in food can affect your health, you should be concerned about them in other parts of your life.

We mentioned before that nitrates can be found in nature and in industrial products.  Since nitrates are popular preservatives, some cosmetics companies will use them in make-up, lotions, and skin care products.

Because of its wide use in fertilizers, nitrates are being found in a surprising amount of local water reservoirs.  The water you use to bathe and cook could be loaded with dangerous nitrates.

If you want to ensure that you aren’t bombarded with nitrates, take action. A water filter answers the question of how you can keep your water clean.  They can remove harmful nitrates and make it safe to drink and use.  

Read cosmetics labels carefully, and consider using organic products.

No doubt about it 

As far as most scientists are concerned the debate over nitrates is over.  There’s an undeniable link between nitrate-heavy foods and cancer, people that want to lead healthy lifestyles should avoid them as much as possible.

Nitrates aren’t the only dangerous additives in foods.  People are concerned about artificial colors, phosphates, and other chemical compounds.  

Tell us about what you do to avoid harmful additives and eat clean and stay healthy.