UniFirst Corp continues to score Hygienically Clean Food Safety points

19 May 2020


USA
UniFirst Corp’s Tulsa, OK and Goldsboro, NC, laundries have recently qualified to renew their Hygienically Clean Food Safety certifications. This accomplishment reflects UniFirst’s commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and its capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. The third-party validation includes inspection of HACCP guidelines.

UniFirst has 55 laundries that hold this certification; their locations are (one in each state except where noted): AZ; CA (four); CO; CT; FL (three); GA (two); IL; KS (two); LA; MA (two); MD (two); ME (two); MI, MO, NC (four); NH (two); NJ; NV; NY (two); OH; OK; OR; PA (two); SC (two); TX (seven); UT; VA; WA; and WI. Canadian provinces represented are Alberta (two) and British Columbia.

The Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification confirms the laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing garments and linens using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points (CCPs) that minimise risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

Employees are properly trained and protected

Managers understand legal requirements

OSHA-compliant

Physical plant operates effectively

To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean garments and other reusable textiles with diminished presence of harmful bacteria.  Testing ensures that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for animal processing, dairies, fruit/vegetable, bakeries, grain and other food and beverage industry segments.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices are examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process, evaluating the plant’s techniques for:

Conducting hazard analysis

Determining CCPs, monitoring their control, correcting them if not under control

Validating and verifying HACCP system effectiveness

Documenting and record-keeping to show ongoing conformance

On-site inspections also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. Introduced in 2014, Hygienically Clean Food Safety brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for laundering garments and other textile products for food manufacturing used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

“More and more, we’re seeing our customers in food-related industries looking for third-party validation that our specialized Product Protection Process and our Hygienically Clean standards are consistent with HACCP and GFSI guidelines,” said Adam Soreff, director of marketing and communications at UniFirst Corp, Wilmington, MA. “Working with a Hygienically Clean Food Safety certified laundry helps reassure them that their managed uniform program is working in concert with their own food-safety protocols to help them ensure food safety for consumers.”

 



Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.