Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures — SSOPs
— are the specific, written procedures necessary to
ensure sanitary conditions in the food plant. They
include written steps for cleaning and sanitizing to
prevent product adulteration. SSOPs are required in all
meat and poultry processing plants, CFR Title 9 Part
416. The cGMPs can help guide the plant when the
plant’s SSOPs are being developed. The SSOP
procedures are specific to a particular plant, but may be
similar to plants in the same or a similar industry. All
SSOP procedures must be appropriately documented
and validated.
Both pre-operational (before daily processing begins)
and operational (during processing) sanitation needs
are included in SSOPs to prevent direct product
contamination or adulteration. Therefore, the decision
about how often to clean the processing line would be
addressed in the plant’s SSOPs and supporting
documentation.
4.1 Pre-operational SSOPs
These are established procedures that describe