Inspection of FBO’S for as per Govt. Regulations and as per Hygiene requirements

Third-party inspection of the Food Establishment has been considered mandatory for every food business and food product these days and one of the crucial businesses is the food factories which provide proprietary eatables to reach the table. However, the health of the consumer is the major factor that needs constant monitoring with stringent inspection methods from the point of prerequisite planning to package.

We are an FSSAI Recognised Food Safety Audit organization. Our food expert inspectors visit the place of a food establishment unit which could include a Food Product Manufacturing, Processing unit, warehouse, a retail shop, or an outlet where food is served.  We do the inspection of FBO as per the FSSAI requirement -Schedule-IV.

We also undertake a pre-shipment inspection based on the inspection requirement of the client. Since there are many crucial stages in food production, we undertake conspicuous inspection and testing at all levels that are met with stringent analysis these stages:-

I. PRE Requisite Program

Integral to every testing, we follow a strict food safety plan while performing third party inspection that involves activities to address hazard control including biological, physical or chemical hazard on the product and foresee quality parameters if there is a possibility of contamination in food during handing, procurement, storage or infection from improper cleaning and sanitation.

A. Cleaning And Sanitation Program

Dirt and filth attract numerous diseases. Before handling the raw material, we check personal hygiene practices like cleanliness in the food factory, pest control measures to avoid rodents and lizards in food, proper waste disposal, staff hygiene, and training. Effective sanitation removes food residues near processed food items prone to food poisoning. For extra safety, we ensure:

• The areas and equipment to be cleaned.
• Apparatus is free of contamination and far away from chemicals.
• Rustproof equipment to be used.
• Each process is safely done in enclosed containers to avoid dust, pollutants and germs

B. Personal Hygiene Practices

Good personal hygiene is essential for food safety. Disease-causing bacteria may be present on the skin and in the nose of healthy people. Hair is also susceptible to many infections. So we check that food handlers maintain the highest hygiene possible because pathogens cause deadly reaction to foods. Our food inspector checks that:

• Each food handler is neatly groomed.
• There is extreme hair and nose hygiene.
• Nails are cut properly and mouth covered when handling raw material.
• Hands are thoroughly washed before each process.

C. Handling Methodology

Food packaging requires extensive quality management and speculation in every process because it must maintain superior consumption quality. However, handling of raw food is also crucial. We ensure these checkpoints:

• Raw food is properly closed in a tight container.
• Perishable items are preserved at a safe temperatures to avoid a biological hazards.
• Vegetarian and non-veg products are preserved separately in different utensils
• The storage place is neat and clean.
• The material should not be skin touched.

II. IN-Process

Being the intermediary process, we undertake all CCP analyses to ensure greater consumption value of the product. Critical control point (CCP) is the point where if standard guidelines for food operations are not met, they cause harm to customers or businesses.

We scrutinize every procedure which controls are applied and maintained so that a food safety hazard can be prevented and eliminated. Our staff ensure that the cooking temperature is maintained as per critical limits to a finished product. FDA India has established minimum internal temperatures for cooked foods. So we supervise these temperature values constantly as they also cannot be below the FDA limits. Again we have these points to keep in mind:

Third-Party Inspection Entity could not be involved in following tasks:

• Intermediary food maintains quality to sustain temperature change while cooking.
• Unused items are immediately kept in safe conditions and preserved.
• The age of each product is determined before packaging i.e. “best before” date.
• There is a proper waste disposal system of spoiled eatables.
• Every commodity is marked with date of expiry so it does not affect biological contamination.
• Personal hygiene is always warranted.
• Utensils and equipment is cleaned without residue.

III. Final Storage

The last crucial stage where the finished product is stored and packaged after the thorough inspection so that all criteria have been met and handling methodology followed. Our team initiates the process that finished food product is fit for consumption. We have the following responsibility to follow:

• Every item is labeled with date of manufacture and expiry.
• Separate processes and containers are kept for veg and non-veg products.
• Green label for a vegetarian and red label for non-veg is marked correctly.
• Workers have desirable health conditions so the food doesn’t become infected.
• Specification regarding the name of the manufacturer, product name, ingredients, quantity, the maximum retail price of the product, place of manufacture, and registered package designing must ensue.
• Also if a member of an international organization like SFA, then that name must be marked on the pack.

Apart from these duties, we do have an inherent responsibility to check if the machinery functions properly and if it does not contradict the safety of workers or compromises food quality. Our team ensures that the workers are in proper neat and sanitized attire during work. Finally we believe that it is our duty to be true to our inspection goals!