The safety of food products relies on good food hygiene. CCFRA supports companies all along the food hygiene chain - from designing a hygienic manufacturing infrastructure to maintaining its hygiene during production. Our 'holistic' approach to food hygiene can pay considerable dividends, explains Karen Middleton, in her new role as CCFRA's Food Hygiene Contract Services Manager:

“Good hygiene starts with the design and construction or refurbishment of food production facilities and equipment. There is good evidence that the easier premises and equipment are to clean, the more effective cleaning regimes tend to be. Also, if the flow of people and materials is carefully planned, then there are far fewer opportunities for problems to arise through cross-contamination.

Our food hygiene specialists visit many factories and have considerable experience of what constitutes good design - from advising on building materials, surface finishes and air management systems, to assessment of in-place-cleanability of food processing equipment, for which we are UKAS accredited.

We also advise extensively on preparation of cleaning schedules, disinfectant selection and personnel hygiene, and offer factory audits and benchmarking for companies who wish to assess their food hygiene management systems. From experience we are aware that with regard to food hygiene, good planning prevents problems - and we are on hand to help.“