Results & DiscussionBased on the pr

Results & Discussion

Based on the principle of the HACCP and several generic models, the HACCP model was designed to suit the real situation of the potato chips plant to produce the safe and quality end product.

Prerequisite program
Prerequisite program (PRP) is implemented in accordance with codex general principle of food hygiene and good manufacturing practice to establish basic conditions that are suitable for the production and handling of safe food at all stages of the food chain (SCV, 2006). There are several programs used in this plant:

Location
The plant is located at the area that there is no threat to food safety as it is away from environmentally polluted areas and industrial activities, has sufficient safeguard against flooding, not prone to infestation of pests.

Premises and Room
The premises are designed in such a manner that permits good food hygiene practices and protect cross contamination. The walls are water, insect and rodent proof. Wall angles, corners and junctions of walls and floors are sealed and rounded to facilitate cleaning. The floor of the production area is established with the covered drain for liquid to drain and the netted doors are inside auto-closing. There are also have floor drains are 15 cm deep and directly connected to the ETP plant. The floor is epoxy and a certain height of wall is also covered with epoxy for easy cleaning. The doors and windows are made of glass covered with finished aluminium structure and six exhaust fans maintain fresh airflow which reduce heated vapor and thus maintain relative humidity and temperature. It is routinely cleaned and sanitized by a professional cleaner with broom stick. The floor is cleaned daily before and after each shift of production.

Equipment
The equipment is stainless steel and other materials that are suitable for food industries and design construction is easily maintainable. All the equipments are checked routinely to ensure a smooth running system and free of cracks, rust and dents.


Water supply
The plant has own water supply system and storage system to provide adequate potable water for the process. The water potability is tested at every six month and complied with the national water quality standard of Bangladesh.

Maintenance and Cleaning
The establishment and equipment are kept in appropriate state of repair and condition to facilitate all sanitation procedures. The floor cleaner (basic detergent) and equipment cleaner (chlorinated foam cleaner and diluted caustic soda) are used as cleaning and disinfectant agent. A documented cleaning and disinfection method has been maintained for this purpose. The plant has thermia oil boiler to supply heated oil to heat exchanger that produce heated water has been used for proper cleaning and disinfecting of some equipments. The cleaning program also has been conducted as schedule of daily, weekly and monthly.

Pest control
The pest control activities have been contracted to Pest Guard Bangladesh which is professional in food industries. They conduct their activities at every month in presence of Human Resource Personnel.

Waste management
The company has its own waste treatment plant along with proper drainage and storage system which is combination of activated sludge method and aerobic treatment that contains equalization tank, gravity settle unit, flocculation unit, coagulation unit, tube settler, effluent discharge system and sand bath. The physical, chemical and biological specification based on national standard of entering waste and discharging waste water is also checked regularly.

Sanitation system
The sanitation facilities have been properly set up to eliminate possible hazards from equipments, containers etc. The sanitation system is monitored for effectiveness and periodically inspected by proper cleaning of equipments.

Personal Hygiene
All the personnel of production, packaging and storage areas use apron, hand gloves, mask, head covering and footwear. Liquid hand wash is used before starting their activities. Medical checkup of every employee is done by registered medical officer at regular interval and any sick and injured person is not allowed to enter and work in processing areas. The dresses are properly cleaned at least a week. The personal cleanliness is monitored on regular basis before entering into processing areas by Human Resource personnel. The same instructions are also applied for visitors. All these things are properly monitored and inspected by Head of human resource (HR).

Storage and transportation
The storage rooms are cleaned, temperature and humidity controlled and some are air conditioned that is monitored by hygrometer and data logger. Daily inspection of the conditions ensured a consistent environment to prevent the hazards and produce quality products. Proper transportation equipments are used where cleanliness, temperature and separation of food items and non food items are considered and monitored.

Traceability
Lot no, Batch no, incoming date, production date, premix making date etc. are properly maintained for

proper identification and traceability. First In First Out (FIFO) is also maintained for all raw and packaging materials.

Training
Training of employee is designed as three categories such as Fresher’s training for newcomers, retraining for rejoin employee and staff and finally, periodic training for all employee and staff at an interval of three months. The training covers personal hygiene, occupational health and safety issues, production process and food safety issues including cleaning and sanitizing system.

Product description
Product description mean a full description of the product including relevant safety information like composition, physical /chemical structure (pH, aw), microcidal treatment, packaging, shelf-life, storage condition, method of distribution and moreover, it includes intended use (SCV, 2006). The product description for potato chips is shown in Table-1.