The hygienic working practices of maintenance personnel and equipment hygiene in the Finnish food industry

Kaarina Aarnisalo (Corresponding Author), Kaija Tallavaara, Gun Wirtanen, Riitta Maijala, Laura Raaska

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The hygienic working practices of the maintenance personnel as well as the hygiene of the equipment in the food industry were investigated with questionnaires and microbial surveys. The protective clothing, washing of hands and tools as well as avoiding foreign bodies left on the production lines should be targeted when the hygienic working practices are developed for maintenance personnel. Based on the questionnaire to food processors, packaging machines, conveyers, dispensers, slicing and cooling machines were considered the most problematic pieces of equipment hygienically mainly because of poor hygienic design. In order to improve food safety, both the training of maintenance personnel in food hygiene and equipment design should be more emphasised.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1001-1011
JournalFood Control
Volume17
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Equipment hygiene
  • Hygienic working practices
  • Maintenance personnel

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The hygienic working practices of maintenance personnel and equipment hygiene in the Finnish food industry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this