615
27.3 Facilities, Establishments and Designs
GMP becomes easy when it begins right from the designing stage of the facilities.
In this case, the designing should envision how GMP will be implemented at the
time when the building plan is being laid out (Patel and Chotai 2011). Most processors find it difficult to implement required structural modifications years after the
facility was constructed because it is reasonably expensive apart from posing a risk
of developing material faults in the walls of the building. For the systems to be flexible, the structural design of the facility itself has to allow critical changes that can
take place any time without affecting the entire facility at the lowest cost possible.
Space as to be enough for orderly packing of materials and placement of equipment.
This ensures that there is no chance of mixing up unrelated materials, like raw peanuts and processed peanut butter, which could lead to the contamination of the finished product (Signore and Jacobs 2005). The construction should be done in a way
to separate defined areas to prevent contamination. For example, a raw material
storage room has to have everything required for the purpose and should be constructed separately from the finished product storage room, also with its own defined
characteristics. No rooms or sections of the building should be constructed without
purpose. Washrooms need to be located in strategic locations with less chance of
causing cross-contamination in the building and septic tanks be laid out away incase
in future they overflow for some reasons (Mtewa and Mtewa 2017). In addition to
the layout designing, the premises surrounding the processing unit should be
designed in a way that will keep the place safe from all potential product contaminants, accessible, attractive and re-assuring to customers and inspectors. This could
be as basic as minimizing the presence of earth surface with concrete, bricks or
bitumen and keeping surrounding grass surfaces minimal and always short.
Apart from general designing, the layout for functional food processing units
need to make sure that the facility has all food contact surfaces made of appropriate
materials that cannot pose a risk of contaminating the product (Vu et al. 2014). The
most commonly used surfaces are stainless steel and aluminum. Wooden material
should not be used inside the food processing unit due of the following reasons: (1)
Wood can easily absorb atmospheric moisture or flowing surface water during wet
cleaning sessions. This water and air is a good breeding environment for pathogens
which can find their way into the product. (2) The wooden material can easily be cut
off accidentally or otherwise and the small prices can find their way into the product.
Construct enough hand-washing facilities for all factory entrance points, break
areas, rest rooms and manufacturing areas, where there is no restriction of wet
cleaning. Water systems flow back potential must always be avoided to avoid contamination and spillage of the source by exposed or used water. A facility should be
free from any unnecessary openings to avoid entry of pests and insects. Cracks and
27 Good Manufacturing Practices and Safety Issues in Functional Food Industries
27.3 Facilities, Establishments and Designs
GMP becomes easy when it begins right from the designing stage of the facilities.
In this case, the designing should envision how GMP will be implemented at the
time when the building plan is being laid out (Patel and Chotai 2011). Most processors find it difficult to implement required structural modifications years after the
facility was constructed because it is reasonably expensive apart from posing a risk
of developing material faults in the walls of the building. For the systems to be flexible, the structural design of the facility itself has to allow critical changes that can
take place any time without affecting the entire facility at the lowest cost possible.
Space as to be enough for orderly packing of materials and placement of equipment.
This ensures that there is no chance of mixing up unrelated materials, like raw peanuts and processed peanut butter, which could lead to the contamination of the finished product (Signore and Jacobs 2005). The construction should be done in a way
to separate defined areas to prevent contamination. For example, a raw material
storage room has to have everything required for the purpose and should be constructed separately from the finished product storage room, also with its own defined
characteristics. No rooms or sections of the building should be constructed without
purpose. Washrooms need to be located in strategic locations with less chance of
causing cross-contamination in the building and septic tanks be laid out away incase
in future they overflow for some reasons (Mtewa and Mtewa 2017). In addition to
the layout designing, the premises surrounding the processing unit should be
designed in a way that will keep the place safe from all potential product contaminants, accessible, attractive and re-assuring to customers and inspectors. This could
be as basic as minimizing the presence of earth surface with concrete, bricks or
bitumen and keeping surrounding grass surfaces minimal and always short.
Apart from general designing, the layout for functional food processing units
need to make sure that the facility has all food contact surfaces made of appropriate
materials that cannot pose a risk of contaminating the product (Vu et al. 2014). The
most commonly used surfaces are stainless steel and aluminum. Wooden material
should not be used inside the food processing unit due of the following reasons: (1)
Wood can easily absorb atmospheric moisture or flowing surface water during wet
cleaning sessions. This water and air is a good breeding environment for pathogens
which can find their way into the product. (2) The wooden material can easily be cut
off accidentally or otherwise and the small prices can find their way into the product.
Construct enough hand-washing facilities for all factory entrance points, break
areas, rest rooms and manufacturing areas, where there is no restriction of wet
cleaning. Water systems flow back potential must always be avoided to avoid contamination and spillage of the source by exposed or used water. A facility should be
free from any unnecessary openings to avoid entry of pests and insects. Cracks and
27 Good Manufacturing Practices and Safety Issues in Functional Food Industries