United States
UniFirst Corp. Laundries in Tulsa, OK, and Goldsboro, NC, have recently qualified to renew their hygienically clean food safety certifications. This achievement reflects UniFirst's commitment to Best Management Practices (BMPs) in washing, which has been verified by on-site inspection, and its ability to produce hygienically clean fabrics as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. Third-party validation includes reviewing the HACCP guidelines.
UniFirst has 55 laundries with this certification. Your locations are (one in each state unless otherwise noted): AZ; CA (four); CO; CT; FL (three); GA (two); IL; KS (two); LA; MA (two); MD (two); ME (two); MI, MO, NC (four); NH (two); NJ; NV; NY (two); OH; OK; OR; PA (two); SC (two); TX (seven); UT; VA; WA; and how. The Canadian provinces represented are Alberta (two) and British Columbia.
The Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification confirms the commitment of the laundry to the compliance and processing of clothing and bed linen using BMPs, as described in the quality assurance documentation. This is the focus for inspectors to assess critical control points (CCPs) that minimize risk. The independent third party inspection must confirm material evidence that:
The employees are trained and protected accordingly
Managers understand the legal requirements
OSHA compliant
The physical system works effectively
To maintain certification, laundries must pass quarterly results-based microbial tests that indicate that their processes produce hygienically clean clothing and other reusable textiles with reduced levels of harmful bacteria. Tests ensure that changing washing conditions such as water quality, textile fabric composition and washing chemistry maintain the quality of the washed products constantly. This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on results and results that verify that the textiles cleaned in these facilities meet the appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for animal processing, dairies, fruit / vegetables, bakeries, cereals and other segments of the food industry. and beverage industry.
The practices of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) are examined as part of the inspection process for hygienically clean food safety and the techniques of the system are evaluated for:
Carrying out a hazard analysis
Identify CCPs, monitor their control, correct if they are not under control
Validation and verification of the effectiveness of the HACCP system
Documentation and recording to demonstrate ongoing compliance
On-site inspections also assess practices that are relevant to the handling and processing of textile products used in food manufacturing / processing plants, in accordance with the guidelines of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must be observed. Hygienically clean food safety was introduced in 2014 and brought the international cleanliness standards for washing clothes and other textile products for food production, used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization, to North America.
"We are seeing more and more customers in the food industry looking for third-party confirmation that our specialized product protection process and hygienically clean standards meet HACCP and GFSI guidelines," said Adam Soreff, marketing director and communications at UniFirst Corp, Wilmington, MA. "By working with laundry certified for hygienically clean food safety, you can ensure that your managed, unified program works with your own food safety protocols to ensure food safety for consumers."
