Dispatches from Anuga FoodTec 2015
Elpress Cleaning Systems secures HACCP International Certification
The firm is a manufacturer of industrial hygiene such as personal entry systems, crate washers or systems for cleaning production rooms after production has finished.
It has worked with Bart’s Retail Food Group, a bakery franchise in Netherlands, Friesland Campina and Danpo, a producer of frozen chicken products in Denmark.
First and only manufacturer
Jannes Voss, general sales manager, said it received the certification for its personal hygiene range this month.
“This means that the auditors of this company independently judged our machines to be suitable for HACCP environments. We are now proud to say we are the first and only manufacturer that has this certificate,” he told FoodQualityNews at Anuga FoodTec 2015 in Cologne.
“You have to comply with certain hygienic design levels, functionality, the user manual, the technical instruction needs to cope with certain quality guidelines and if you comply and succeed you are awarded with a certificate.”
Voss said hygienic entrances have to be hygienic themselves as they need to be cleaned.
“What we see in the market is there are also hygienic entrances that are not hygienic. So we are glad we now have it independently confirmed by someone who really has knowledge in this subject.”
HACCP International is an accredited, global certification body that certificates and endorses equipment, materials and services sold to the regulated food industry.
Certification follows product or service assessment, by a team of auditors, using risk assessment to verify the elimination or reduction of hazards, from the product or service, to the food stream and environment.
More focus on hygiene
Voss said the machines can be used in any food processing environment.
“Wherever there is a risk of cross contamination or contamination by humans are machines can be used,” he said.
“In terms of trends there is more focus on hygiene in the industry.
“If you look at food safety and the risks of having recalls and people getting ill, where in the past it used to be a side thing as something compulsory which you had to do, it’s becoming a more integrated part of food production these days.”
HACCP International congratulated Elpress for securing certification of the range of hygiene access equipment.
“Personal hygiene control is a key prerequisite to a HACCP Plan. Failure to adopt good control at food room entry points is a major contributor to contamination from pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes and foodborne enteric viruses. So these systems are a major step forward in control.”
