Monitoring Sanitation Controls

Once you identify a hazard that requires a Sanitation Preventive Control, you must ensure that workers apply the control effectively. For example, an outbreak occurred when workers dipped raw vegetables in a chorine solution to prevent Salmonella but didn’t check the solution concentration. The product became contaminated as a result of ineffective monitoring.

In our peanut butter example, we have identified the potential hazard of Salmonella in the cooling area. Here, we use our typical monitoring form to describe what is needed to monitor the control of this hazard.

Sanitation Preventive Control example

SANITATION CONTROLS
PRODUCT:					PAGE 1 of ___________
FACILITY:					ISSUE DATE:
ADDRESS:
Process Step	Hazard(s)	Critical Limits	Monitoring				Corrective Action
			What	How	How often	Who
Cooling	Salmonella in the environment	Neg. Salmonella	Cooling area	Environmental testing for Salmonella	When switching from one product to another	Testing laboratory technician	Positive test protocol
		ZONING Positive air balance	Air flow test	Air flow procedure	Weekly	Technician	Correct air flow
		Dedicated personnel*	Color coded uniforms	Observation by supervisor	Start-up and every 2 hours	Sanitation supervisor	Employee instruction, Re-sanitize any compromised areas

*Dedicated personnel may not be possible for all operations. In those cases, procedures should be in place to ensure workers do not cross contaminate areas.
DOWNLOAD A BLANK VERSION OF THIS SANITATION CONTROL FORM

Dry cleaning equipment and other surfaces when production is complete or when switching to another product is intended to prevent Salmonella contamination. You can monitor whether that cleaning is effective by testing for Salmonella, a procedure that is performed best by trained specialists, who can sample points in the process and run laboratory tests to ensure the area where food is processed is free of bacteria.