Maintaining Food Safety Standards in Your Abattoir: Essential Hygiene Practices
June 4, 2024
Food safety in an abattoir is vital to protecting consumers from illness and disease. Here is a brief list of some of the hygienic practices required to maintain a safe environment.
Abattoir Cleaning and Sanitation
Regular cleaning and sanitation prevent the dissemination of disease-causing pathogens – this means washing floors, equipment, and tools, as needed, with appropriate disinfectants draining floors so they slope and leave no puddle for growing germs.
HACCP Compliance
A HACCP plan must be implemented (HACCP refers to the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point). This means identifying hazards, critical control points, and critical limits, as well as monitoring to make sure that all processes meet specifications.
Pathogen Control
Such good practices include temperature control, avoiding cross-contamination between raw and cooked products, and ensuring all food handlers hand washing and protective clothing.
Food Safety Regulations in South Africa
South African food safety regulations require abattoirs to register with the local regulating body, be regularly inspected by authorised bodies, and adhere to the Meat Safety Act, which requires abattoirs to maintain certain standards of meat and hygiene practices.
Following these practices, abattoirs can maintain high food safety standards and protect public health.
It also shows that South Africa has improved its abattoir industry’s food safety standards and HACCP compliance. Since colonial times, South Africa has developed one of the world’s most comprehensive food safety systems.
Early Regulations and Control
Priority was given to controlling abattoirs – a key site of public health – through direct government management (and food and health safety was also maintained through this control). But privatisation began to creep in by the late 1980s, and government agencies that used to manage abattoirs directly were phased out.
Introduction of the Hygiene Management System (HMS)
Now was the time to put in place a system of food safety. This need became even clearer with meat inspection deregulation and the emergence of many private abattoirs.
The Meat Safety Act of 2000 thus introduced the Hygiene Management System (HMS), which requires all HMS-certified abattoirs to establish and maintain a basic food safety system based on process standards that control the risk of meat contamination.
Adoption of HACCP Principles
The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system was originally developed in the USA in the 1960s and implemented to control food-borne diseases. The model was later endorsed as an international standard.
The SANS 10330: 2007 standard was adopted from the international HACCP specifications and published to guide those wanting to apply HACCP for South African operations.
Certification under the HACCP standard remains optional and is typically achieved by exporters or suppliers to high-end customers who insist on HACCP certification.
International Trade and Compliance
Liberalisation of trade in 1994 required that South African export abattoirs adopt HMS if meat for the UK and other countries was to be traded. Consumer demands and market access requirements through international trade require that HACCP systems be implemented, which requires certification.
Current Status and Integration
Today, the HMS is approved for use at abattoirs to control food safety hazards during processing. There are clear similarities between the HMS and the HACCP system, and some facilities have HACCP and/or ISO 22000 systems formally certified in addition to the HMS8.
The HMS was legislated in 2004 for red meat abattoirs and in 2006 for poultry abattoirs.
This narrative illustrates how South Africa’s openness to this form of food inspection reflects a redirection of power and attention from the politically febrile state to, instead, international standards.
South Africa’s approach to this modern system of policed animal slaughter shares the main characteristic of most of the ways in which advanced liberal countries have, since the late 1980s, ceded ground to the new interregnum of global governance: rather than retreating, they have enthusiastically embraced it.
Abattoir Cleaning and Sanitation
Abattoir cleaning is an indispensable part of food safety and animal product hygiene. The following article elaborates on the practices. Abattoir cleaning is undeniably integral to meat safety by preventing contamination.
An abattoir’s premises, together with its products, must be thoroughly cleaned on a daily basis to avoid contamination. This is done with equipment such as spatulas and brushes, which allow for the removal of particles of meat, waste or the decomposition products from previous work.
Moreover, every night, the water level is adjusted to ensure adequate access to the premises, and the water is drained the following morning.
After completion, special instruments which smooth down surfaces, such as brushes and grinders, are used. This entails scraping the remaining meat particles in the cracks and holes and taking care of the smallest details.
To summarise, due to the necessity of absolute cleanliness in abattoirs, special sponge-like materials are required that can be squeezed and soaked in water and then wrung so thoroughly that there are no traces of moisture on them.
Pre-Cleaning Procedures
All large debris and effluent need to be removed before cleaning takes place through sweeping, scraping or pre-rinsing.
Dry Cleaning
Prior to wet cleaning, dry cleaning is carried out with brushes and scrapers to remove physical contaminants from a surface.
Detergents and Disinfectants
The choice of detergents is crucial; they must be effective against fats, proteins, and carbohydrates (i.e., abattoir residues), and then the surfaces must be sanitised with disinfectants to kill the survivors.
Hot Water and Steam
During cleaning, hot water and steam frequently remove tougher residues, significantly reducing surface microbial loads.
Mechanical Action
Physical scrubbing and high-pressure hoses magnify the effects of detergents, while mechanical action helps to remove soil and residues.
Proper Dilution and Use of Chemicals
Cleaning agents must be applied at the right dilution; otherwise, agents are overused and wasted or cause more harm than good when underused.
Regular Maintenance and Inspection
Regular checks ensure that the correct procedures are followed. Maintenance is also necessary to avoid build-ups of encrusting bacteria and other residues.
Training and Personal Hygiene
Staff must be well trained in cleaning and pay particular attention to their hygiene. They need to wear protective clothing to prevent infections. They should wash their hands regularly and be taught how to best use the chemicals they use in cleaning the building.
Waste Disposal
Disposing of excreta and wastewater in the appropriate way so that it doesn’t lead to cross-contamination and environmental pollution is important.
Documentation and Records
Keeping records of cleaning schedules, procedures, and inspections contributes to maintaining HACCP compliance.
SUMMARY
Although that may be a lot of information if all of those procedures are followed correctly, that bounty of detail produces an overall sanitation regimen that should keep the meat safe and the workflow flowing and ensure the deadline and quantity are hit.