Pre-operational Hygiene Inspection Procedure

Purpose. Describes how QA officers verify that production areas, equipment and amenities are clean, sanitised and ready before production starts each day.

1.When this procedure applies

This procedure applies every production day in the slaughter floors, offal room, boning room, packing area, chillers, carton freezer and amenities. The inspection must be completed and signed off before any product enters the area. The cleaning contractor's completion sign-off is required before the inspection begins.

2.Equipment and preparation

The QA officer must wear clean whites, a clean hairnet, sanitised boots and a fresh sanitised torch. Take the pre-operational checklist, swabs for adenosine triphosphate testing, sterile sampling bags for microbiological swabs and a sanitiser test kit. Confirm the sanitiser concentration at the boot wash and hand wash stations before entering.

3.Inspection sequence

Inspect each area in the order listed on the checklist, starting with the highest risk product contact surfaces and moving to structures, drains and amenities. Use the torch to check undersides of tables, conveyor rollers, hook ends, knife sterilisers and the inside of chutes. Record every observation as Pass, Marginal or Fail in the QA monitoring system.

• Product contact surfaces: tables, belts, hooks, saws, knives, trays
• Hand contact surfaces: controls, door handles, hoses, apron hooks
• Structures: walls, floors, drains, overheads, condensation
• Amenities: boot wash, hand wash, sanitiser, soap and paper towel

4.Failures and re-cleaning

Any Fail must be tagged, photographed and reported to the cleaning supervisor for immediate re-cleaning and sanitising. The QA officer must re-inspect and record the result before releasing the area. If re-cleaning cannot be completed before the scheduled start, the QA officer must advise the department manager and the Quality Assurance Manager, who will decide whether to delay the start of that area.

5.Verification swabbing

Take adenosine triphosphate swabs from the rotating sample plan and at least one from any surface that was re-cleaned. Take microbiological swabs on the days scheduled in the sampling program and log them in the QA monitoring system with the sample identifier. Results above the action limit must be raised on a Non-Conformance Report.

6.Records

The completed inspection, swab results and any Non-Conformance Report references must be in the QA monitoring system before 5:15 am. The on-plant veterinary officer will review the records as part of daily verification. Records will be retained for the period required by the Approved Arrangement.