When it comes to food safety, following the USDA regulations is not exactly “optional.” With good reason, the requirements and standards for maintaining health codes and food safety storage and transportation are rigorous and inflexible. The goal of these regulations is to protect the consumer from any potential contaminants that may be introduced into foods that find their ways onto the shelves of grocery stores and supermarkets and into the kitchens of restaurants. At Minnesota Freezer Warehouse Company, we place great importance on meeting the standards of food safety in all aspects of our dry and cold storage in Albert Lea, MN.
Our standards, procedures, and facilities are inspected annually and approved by the AIB International and the USDA, giving us certification that we use to guarantee quality and safety to our customers. A large aspect of our food safety procedures includes the process of implementing Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) to create an optimally secure environment for the food we store in our freezer warehouses, refrigeration warehouses, and dry storage units.
Principles of HACCP
HACCP is an important standard for food safety regulation. Acting as a process of eliminating all possible areas and sources of contamination, HACCP follows seven basic principles:
- Hazard Analysis: This principle determines any current or future conditions of food safety hazards that pose contaminants in the form of biohazards, chemical hazards, or physical hazards.
- Critical Control Points: This principle determines the points in the cold storage process that may function as a control for any food safety hazards.
- Critical Limit Points: This principle determines the potential maximum and minimum at which a food safety hazard can be safely controlled without unnecessarily compromising the overall quality of the stored food.
- Monitoring Requirements: This principle determines the level of monitoring that is necessary to maintain control points and their limits to keep food secure in cold storage.
- Corrective Actions: This principle determines what corrective actions must be taken in the event that principles 2, 3, or 4 fail.
- Working Procedures: This principle determines the procedures that must be set into place for workers and facilities to successfully implement HACCP principles 1-5.
- Record Keeping: This principle determines the amounts of record keeping needed to keep principles in successful implementation and data-saving practices for potential needs of future system changes in HACCP for cold storage.
The principles of cold storage HACCP are critical in keeping MFWC facilities and procedural regulations at standards that will provide cold storage that keeps food in the safest possible conditions for consumers.
For more information about our food safety standards and dry and cold storage in Albert Lea, MN, contact Minnesota Freezer Warehouse Company at (844) 373-1477 today.