Good hygiene monitoring is a major challenge, especially for small and medium-sized food businesses. Inspections have to be planned, inspectors appointed and samples sent to laboratories. Not to mention the entire documentary management of the test results. A system that takes up a lot of time and resources in companies. Nevertheless, hygiene monitoring is essential to ensure food safety and protect customers from serious illnesses.
Why is food hygiene important?
Events such as the listerine scandal in meat products or EHEC pathogens in vegetables emphasise the importance of hygiene monitoring in food production and the necessary hygiene controls. This was also confirmed by a study on food monitoring conducted by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) in 2018. According to the report, more than 70% of the businesses inspected had violations in terms of general industrial hygiene and hygiene management.
Hygiene monitoring - a challenge for SMEs
The results show that hygiene monitoring is a challenge for small and medium-sized businesses in particular, which involves a lot of time and effort. Added to this is the pressure to fulfil the increasing legal requirements for hygiene and to protect consumers from potential health hazards. Inadequate hygiene management can lead to major economic damage, for example through product recalls that result in serious damage to the customer's image. The decision in favour of establishing a simple and quick hygiene check is therefore a forward-looking step towards increasing hygiene safety in production and protecting customers from contaminated food, which can lead to serious illness.
Production hygiene in industrial food production
The numerous production areas and facilities associated with food production, as well as the increasing number of unqualified employees in companies, increase the risk of hygienic deficiencies. At the same time, there is often a lack of skilled personnel to monitor and control hygiene risks in companies. Even simple surface cleaning of machines and systems is often not sufficient to completely remove contamination - for example, from protein residues or cleaning agents. An easy-to-use hygiene test that can be carried out in just a few minutes and delivers immediate results creates safety and saves time.
How rapid hygiene tests work
Rapid hygiene tests are a good solution for checking production facilities for protein contamination and can be easily integrated into existing hygiene and quality management systems.
A quick hygiene test can be used to show within a few seconds whether the cleaning of surfaces was successful and all contamination has been completely removed. Critical points can thus be identified at random and occupational safety increased. Quick tests are uncomplicated and quick to carry out, prevent risks and minimise costs and time within the production process.
Advantages of a documentable rapid hygiene test
Rapid hygiene tests are ideal for voluntary hygiene checks in businesses. The rapid tests detect soiling on visually clean surfaces at an early stage, directly after cleaning. This means that later germ growth can be prevented by subsequent cleaning - especially for objects and surfaces that come into contact with food - as in the case of food production.
Rapid hygiene tests are therefore an excellent indicator of uncompromising cleanliness in the company.
With rapid hygiene tests, the company's own employees are also sensitised to hygiene in the business and customer confidence in the safety of the food produced is increased. Ultimately, hygiene tests also show inspection authorities how reliably cleaning regulations are being adhered to in production.