The North American trade association, TRSA, awarded 10 Hygienically Clean designations to textile services facilities this month, a record pace for the three-year-old programme.
Initially dedicated to certifying healthcare laundries, Hygienically Clean has expanded to set standards for laundry for food processing and foodservice businesses, which accounted for half the November certifications.
By inspecting laundry plants, Hygienically Clean verifies that laundries’ processes adhere to the programme’s best management practices (BMPs). Through third-party biological testing, the program quantifies laundered product cleanliness for compliance with its standards. BMP and microbial-level requirements vary according to industry served.
One operation, Crown Linen Service, Brockton, Massachusetts, earned both the food safety and food service designations in November. It also renewed its Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification. Other companies receiving certifications during the November included:
- Angelica Textile Services, Inc., healthcare: Austin, Texas; Columbia, S.C.; Durham, N.C.; Ooltewah, Tenn.
- Crothall Laundry Services, healthcare: La Mirada, Calif.
- Huebsch Services, food safety: Eau Claire, Wis.
- UniFirst Corp., food safety: Kernersville N.C., Richmond, Va.
“Hygienically Clean has become the fastest-growing textile services certification by focusing on processes and outcomes,” observed TRSA president and CEO Joseph Ricci. “It’s the only laundry certification in North America that does both, modelled after programs found elsewhere in the world, such as those of the European Committee for Standardisation and the German-based Certification Association for Professional Textile Services.”
