Employee Practices that Contribute to Bacterial Contamination in a Food Plant

This webinar will explain employee practices that contribute to foodborne contamination in their facility. Attendees will learn the tools for minimizing the bacterial contamination in a food plant.

Why Should You Attend:

Whether it originates from a farm or in a food plant, foodborne microbial contamination of our food supply is an unseen threat. Bacteria can enter a food processor, a packinghouse or storage and distribution centers by various avenues, but poor practices by employees can contribute to moving these bacteria from one location to another within the facility and eventually onto the product itself.

This webinar will help attendees understand how foodborne pathogens originate in a plant, enter into a food plant, and move through the facility. Attendees will learn about employee practices that contribute to foodborne contamination in their facility. Once they understand what these bad practices are then they can implement programs that change their behavior.

Areas covered in this webinar:

• Introduction to employee practices.
• Poor employee practices of handling product, packaging material and containers.
• Poor employee hygiene.
• Self-inspections for monitoring poor employee practices.
• Training solutions for changing behavior.
• Summarization of best employee practices.

Who Will Benefit:

This webinar will provide valuable assistance to all personnel in packinghouses, processors, cooler operations and storage and distribution centers.

• Owners and Operators of Food Companies
• Packinghouse Managers and Supervisors
• QA Managers
• Food Safety Managers, Supervisors and Coordinators
• Brokers and Salespersons

Instructor Profile:

Richard Anfuso , has 34 years of experience in the food and agricultural industries, especially in the areas of food safety, quality assurance and process development and has spent much of his career chasing microbial contamination both in the facility and in the field. He is also a microbiologist and has run a number of food safety laboratories. He is presently President and owner of Anfuso Food Safety, Inc., specializing in consulting, food safety auditing, contamination troubleshooting, and training. He is ISO 9001:2008 auditor trained and a Primus GFS auditor.

Topic Background:

The CDC estimates that each year in the United States 148,000 people are hospitalized for foodborne illness and that approximately 3000 will die. Foodborne illness can be particularly lethal to the elderly, immune-compromised and very young children. For a food processor, packinghouse or storage and distribution center, an outbreak of a foodborne bacterial contamination can be the greatest threat to its survival. While resources are limited and margins are low, managers must decide how much resources they will put towards combating and eliminating foodborne contamination with their facility. Because foodborne bacteria are so tiny, microbial contamination is an unseen threat in the field or a food plant. The best tool for minimizing microbial contamination is knowledge.