BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – The quality of food products is very important to be controlled and prepared by a food company, because food is something that is in direct contact with the human body and can have a significant effect on the human body. Therefore, the process of controlling food quality in the food industry needs to get great attention, especially for employees.
Food Engineering Department, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology collaborated with PT Langgeng Ciptalindo in a guest lecture meeting for the course PG2202 Food Quality Control on Saturday (9/4/2022). The speaker for this topic was the QA Operations Manager of PT Bayer Indonesia, Dyah Arum Mulyaningsih, S.Si.
Dyah said, the first thing that must be met regarding cleanliness in food quality control is hygiene and personnel flow. “The flow of personnel must be distinguished from the flow of goods to prevent cross contamination. In addition, workers are also required to wear clothes that are suitable, clean, and free from rips that will risk contaminating food if torn yarn fall. Clothes while working must also not have buttons and outer pockets,” explained Dyah.
Another thing that workers need to ensure is that hair, sweat, and other components of the worker’s body do not fall into the product. The use of closed shoes, gloves, and hair nets are also needed so that the product is not contaminated with hair, dirt, and other components of the workers. In addition to external factors, internal factors from workers also have special rules in the food industry.
“If there are employees who are sick, they must report their health conditions. Especially for people with jaundice, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, sore throat, infected skin, to sore eyes, ears, and nose. If infected, employees are not allowed to handle foodstuffs until they recover,” said Dyah.
Other things from the internal side of employees that should not be done while working are sneezing and coughing near products, spitting, forgetting to wash their hands, and not keeping their nails clean. “Smoking, eating, chewing, using jewelry, using nail polish, using artificial nails, using piercings and false eyelashes are also not allowed while working,” said Dyah.
Dyah also explained that one of the most common methods of controlling food quality is the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Hazards or contaminants in food products are divided into three categories, namely biological, physical, and chemical hazards. “Identification of hazards must be carried out based on scientific data and information, references, product characteristics, product flow, and other supporting factors such as tools and buildings,” said Dyah.
Determination of critical limits of each critical control point must be set for each CCP, must be measurable, documented, rational, and there must be procedures, specifications, and training. After identifying the hazard, the next step that must be carried out is an evaluation that formulates the severity, probability, and detectability of the identified hazard. Finally, mitigation and CAPA Plan are carried out.
Reporter: Yoel Enrico Meiliano (Food Engineering, 2020)