What measures
are part of industrial hygiene?

To avoid impu­ri­ties or cont­a­m­i­na­tion and thus ensure hygienic safety of the plant and the prod­ucts, certain oper­a­tional hygiene measures must be implemented.

Indus­trial hygiene in the food industry

Partic­u­larly in the food industry, atten­tion must be paid to a high stan­dard of hygiene, regard­less of whether the respec­tive company is active in food produc­tion, food retail or whole­sale, or in the gastro­nomic sector. This is to ensure a high level of consumer protection.

The following elemen­tary measures should be observed for in-house hygiene, by Annex II of Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 852/2004:

  • Compli­ance with the general clean­li­ness of all rooms, outdoor facil­i­ties, equip­ment, machinery, and equip­ment of the enterprise
  • Regular cleaning and disin­fec­tion of all rooms (including floors, walls, ceil­ings, windows, doors, all surfaces) and objects that have direct contact with foodstuffs
  • Main­te­nance of all equip­ment and objects that have direct contact with foodstuffs
  • Hygienic storage, handling, processing, and ware­housing of food, avoiding adverse impact, e.g., from cont­a­m­i­na­tion, microor­gan­isms, animal pests, waste, and inap­pro­priate treat­ment and prepa­ra­tion methods
  • Main­taining the cold chain, espe­cially when handling perish­able foods (eggs, fish, meat, poultry, and dairy products)
  • Collecting all waste in seal­able containers and disposing of it promptly, but no later than the end of operations
  • Wearing suit­able and clean work or protec­tive clothing (appro­priate changing rooms must be acces­sible to personnel)
  • Thor­ough hand washing and hand disin­fec­tion by personnel after visiting the restroom facil­i­ties (appro­priate hand wash­basins with soap and hygienic hand drying facil­i­ties must be avail­able in the restrooms; if neces­sary, addi­tional disin­fec­tion dispensers must be installed)
  • Smoking ban in all areas where food is produced or processed (private food and drinks may only be consumed in staff or social rooms)
  • Compa­nies are obliged to provide their employees with suffi­cient and regular training on health risks and food hygiene

The basic hygienic require­ments for the produc­tion, processing, and placing on the market of food­stuffs are regu­lated in Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 852/2004 (food hygiene) and Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 853/2004 (hygiene rules for food of animal origin).

Indus­trial hygiene in the phar­ma­ceu­tical sector

In the phar­ma­ceu­tical sector, a hygienic envi­ron­ment is also manda­tory and aims to protect phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and medi­cines from cont­a­m­i­na­tion as well as other adverse effects.

The phar­ma­ceu­tical regu­la­tions include the EU GMP Guide­lines. GMP stands for Good Manu­fac­turing Prac­tice”. This refers to specific guide­lines to ensure the quality stan­dards of the produc­tion processes and envi­ron­ment in the manu­fac­turing process.

Detailed compli­ance with the require­ments is checked in demanding approval processes and closely moni­tored by recur­ring inspec­tions by the rele­vant authorities.

Indus­trial hygiene in cosmetics companies

However, essen­tial frame­work condi­tions must also be observed in cosmetics. The basis for this is the inter­na­tion­ally applic­able stan­dard ISO 22716:2007 ” Cosmetics — Good Manu­fac­turing Prac­tices (GMP) — Guide­lines on Good Manu­fac­turing Prac­tices”, known as cosmetics GMP for short. The guide­line contains the hygienic and qual­i­ta­tive require­ments for the manu­fac­turing process, quality moni­toring, storage, and ship­ping of cosmetic products.

The general legal basis in the EU is the Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 1223/2009, which regu­lates the general require­ments and oblig­a­tions for cosmetic prod­ucts. In the various coun­tries, other national laws could also take effect.

What does HACCP
have to do with
industrial hygiene?

Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 852/2004 also spec­i­fies how hygiene regu­la­tions are to be imple­mented: based on the seven prin­ci­ples and the 12 steps of the HACCP concept. The acronym HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Crit­ical Control Points.

The HACCP system is the basis for every food safety stan­dard. It is based on self-moni­toring and is used to analyze, eval­uate, and elim­i­nate micro­bi­o­log­ical, chem­ical, or phys­ical hazards that arise in the handling of food and may pose a health risk to consumers.

The HACCP concept is based on seven principles:

  1. Hazard analysis
  2. Crit­ical control points
  3. Limit values
  4. Contin­uous monitoring
  5. Correc­tive actions
  6. Docu­men­ta­tion
  7. Regular veri­fi­ca­tion

Each food company must estab­lish its own HACCP system, as the crit­ical control points vary from company to company. In addi­tion, compli­ance with and imple­men­ta­tion of the measures must also be docu­mented in writing. In the event of inspec­tions by the health author­i­ties, this evidence must be presented.

If the imple­men­ta­tion of the HACCP concept is not prop­erly recorded, this will be consid­ered a hygiene deficiency.

How to establish an
effective hygiene management in your company?

Estab­lishing effec­tive hygiene manage­ment should be an impor­tant focus in your company. It is advis­able to appoint at least one well-trained person as a hygiene officer and to assign this person the respon­si­bility for main­taining, moni­toring, and contin­u­ously opti­mizing all hygiene measures.

To keep up to date with all legally applic­able hygiene regu­la­tions, regular hygiene training is essen­tial for the hygiene officer on the one hand, but also for the entire staff.

The following points form the basis for effec­tive hygiene management:

  1. Estab­lish­ment of a self-checking system
  2. Regular hygiene audits by external auditors
  3. Creation, imple­men­ta­tion and compli­ance with HACCP and hygiene concepts
  4. Regular hygiene training for employees

Tentamus training courses on industrial hygiene and HACCP

We offer hygiene training and instruc­tion in accor­dance with the Infec­tion Protec­tion Act. Whether, at your site, online or in our seminar rooms – the choice is yours. Tentamus’ experts will address the specific situ­a­tion of your company and conduct prac­tice-oriented training and semi­nars on the topics you require.

Our trainers have an acad­emic back­ground in a food-related field (e.g., food tech­nol­o­gists, nutri­tion­ists, engi­neers for hygiene and nutri­tion technology).

Our expe­ri­enced trainers, consul­tants and audi­tors have a wide range of knowl­edge in the field of indus­trial hygiene and are familiar with the current ordi­nances and regu­la­tions. In addi­tion, some of them are offi­cially approved trainers and audi­tors e.g., IFS or BRC for many years.

With this exper­tise, we can provide you with exten­sive knowl­edge in the field of food hygiene and food law as well as from many other related areas in a prac­tical manner within the frame­work of training courses and seminars.

We conduct train­ings and semi­nars in the following areas:

  • General and basic food hygiene
  • Basics of microbiology
  • Personnel hygiene and oper­a­tional hygiene (produc­tion, equip­ment, envi­ron­mental hygiene)
  • Company-specific self-control systems Instruc­tion according to § 43 (4) Infec­tion Protec­tion Act
  • Sampling proce­dure
  • HACCP training
  • Training of internal auditors
  • IFS Food & BRC
  • System training e.g., on beef labeling, Marine Stew­ard­ship Council (MSC), Quality and Safety (QS), organic/​organic regu­la­tions etc.
  • Sensory training
hygiene audit+haccp header DSC 6277

Tentamus Hygiene Audits

Tentamus offers you effec­tive support in complying with all legal regu­la­tions: Our expe­ri­enced audi­tors will thor­oughly check your hygiene concept. Together with you, we work out any hygiene gaps and opti­mize your hygiene management.

The improved process flows save personnel and finan­cial resources. The costs and risks that can result from poor oper­a­tional hygiene are thus sustain­ably reduced.

Veri­fi­ca­tion of the imple­men­ta­tion of Good Manu­fac­turing Prac­tice” (GMP).

The imple­men­ta­tion of hygiene audits and the review of the company’s self-checking systems in the various areas of respon­si­bility in the food industry are the main tasks of our colleagues in Hygiene & Quality Assur­ance. Tentamus hygiene audits are volun­tary and are planned indi­vid­u­ally with you. However, they are usually unan­nounced. Internal audits as a Quality Manage­ment element are announced.

According to the product liability law, those placing food­stuffs on the market have the duty of proof and must be able to prove that all hygienic and legal regu­la­tions have been complied with from the receipt of goods to their dispatch (in produc­tion, trade, or gastronomy).

The focus of the audits there­fore includes the exam­i­na­tion of personnel and produc­tion hygiene, but also of the entire envi­ron­ment and equip­ment of the facility, as well as compli­ance with legal regu­la­tions. The advi­sory char­acter and thus the dialog with the employees of the audited company is always in the foreground.

Detailed docu­men­ta­tion of the audits

For this reason, all results are summa­rized in a detailed report with the help of the hygiene soft­ware devel­oped by Tentamus, which also includes action plans and pictures. A uniform layout makes it easy to compare the current hygiene audit with past ones. Trend analyses from several reports can also be gener­ated and used to verify the company’s own quality manage­ment system. The reports make it possible to imme­di­ately iden­tify serious devi­a­tions. An indi­vidual action plan and image attach­ments can also be included.

Regular and consis­tent processing of concrete measures leads to contin­uous improve­ment for the company in a targeted manner.

External hygiene audits as part of quality management

The external audits carried out throughout Germany are gener­ally recog­nized by the food inspec­tion author­i­ties as an essen­tial compo­nent of the company’s QM system and are consid­ered accord­ingly by the author­i­ties in the risk assessment/​classification of food companies.

Through the Tentamus hygiene audits, the on-site processes are regu­larly crit­i­cally exam­ined and eval­u­ated by inde­pen­dent, profes­sion­ally compe­tent auditors.

External consulting and training are essen­tial aspects of imple­menting the Internal Quality Manage­ment System.

By arranging external audits, if neces­sary, with sampling – as proof of your oper­a­tional due dili­gence – you can demon­strate in an emer­gency that every­thing has been done to avoid a loss event.

External audits can thus help you to meet the constantly growing demand for trans­parency from author­i­ties, consumer orga­ni­za­tions, or initia­tives with well-trained employees.

Legal basis

As of 01 January 2006, Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 852/2004 concerns any food busi­ness oper­a­tors oper­ating at any level of produc­tion, processing, or distri­b­u­tion of food. They are obliged to estab­lish, imple­ment, and main­tain one or more perma­nent proce­dures based on the HACCP prin­ci­ples, which ensure the safety of consumer health protec­tion. This is the basis of our advi­sory services.

Creation of hygiene concepts

The expe­ri­enced and compe­tent team of the Tentamus Group assist your company in the in the devel­op­ment and creation of an indi­vidual hygiene concept.

Sampling for HACCP
by Tentamus

Constant sampling for the HACCP concept is the prereq­ui­site for the chem­ical and micro­bi­o­log­ical exam­i­na­tion of food, drinking water, and tobacco prod­ucts. For the real­iza­tion of labo­ra­tory orders, our qual­i­fied employees of hygiene and quality assur­ance take a variety of different samples at your site or pick up the provided samples at your site.

If desired, sample collec­tion also includes the provi­sion of pack­aging and ship­ping materials.

The focus is on the following sample collections:

  • Food samples for micro­bi­o­log­ical analysis within the frame­work of the self-checking system, as well as to meet the require­ments of Regu­la­tion (EC) No. 2073/2005*.
  • Fruit and vegetable samples for residue analysis
  • Drinking water samples for analysis in accor­dance with the Drinking Water Ordinance
  • Samples for the deter­mi­na­tion of surface micro­bial counts to check cleaning and disin­fec­tion measures
  • Samples for the deter­mi­na­tion of airborne germ counts

* This service does not fall within the scope of accreditation

Overview of
locations offering audits and trainings

The following loca­tions of the Tentamus Group offer audits and trainings:

We Value Your Privacy
We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to analyze how this website is being used and to allow you to contact us through our website, i.e. use the chat widget. You can change your decision at any time.
Privacy Settings
Statistics
We use these technologies to analyze how this website is being used.
Name Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Provider Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
Purpose Cookie by Google used for website analytics. Generates statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy
Cookie Name _ga, _gat, _gid
Cookie Expiry 2 years
Customer Interaction
These technologies will allow you to contact us through our website, i.e. use the chat widget.
Name LiveChat
Provider LiveChat Software S.A., ul. Zwycięska 47, 53-033 Wroclaw, Poland
Purpose Communication with clients via online chat using the API of the chat service LiveChat.
Privacy Policy https://www.livechat.com/legal/privacy-policy/
Cookie Name __lc_cid, __lc_cst
Cookie Expiry 2 years
Essential
Technologies required to enable the core functionality of this website.
Name Cookie Consent
Provider Owner of this website, Imprint
Purpose Saves the visitors preferences selected in the cookie banner.
Cookie Name ws_cookie_consent
Cookie Expiry 1 year