Until recently, the general approach in the health sector has been to treat only illnesses and cure patients. In other words, doctors' interest was limited to the causes of the disease and the treatment methods. However, it is a duty of doctors to take care not only of the patient but the health of the whole society. In this respect, people should also be concerned with the protection of diseases. Because it is now understood that treating only diseases is not enough. In fact, many diseases can not be achieved absolute and complete recovery.
The general approach to health is to investigate family, society, work and environmental conditions that play an important role in the development of the disease, to regulate them and to treat them if they are not successful. All of these studies are called health protection and hygiene.
Hygiene, which constitutes the basis of all health-related information, is very important for the protection and development of health as a human and society. In this context, when food hygiene is mentioned, it is meant that the production, storage and consumption of foods should be done under health-friendly conditions.
The word sanitation comes from Latin and is derived from the word health. In a broad sense, sanitation refers to the principles to be applied for the protection, improvement and recovery of human health in case of deterioration of health. When sanitation is mentioned in the food sector, it is understood that food production is carried out and maintained in hygienic and healthy conditions.
Sanitation is intertwined with the conservation of biological balance in nature and covers all of the studies carried out to protect human health and lead a comfortable life. Food sanitation refers to the production of foodstuffs that are chemically, physically and biologically reliable in meeting the nutritional needs that form the basis of human life. Sanitation is an application to provide hygienic conditions in order to obtain healthy and reliable food products.
Hygiene is intertwined with sanitation and these two concepts complement each other. According to Greek mythology, Hygienia was the goddess of health and the daughter of Asclepius, the father of medicine. Although hygiene is used today in the same sense as cleaning, it actually focuses on the causes of diseases and their elimination and covers an area called preventive medicine.
Food hygiene covers the studies carried out in order to provide suitable conditions in every process from fields to consumer table to produce healthy food. In other words, hygiene is a set of measures to ensure that food is healthy, reliable and of good quality.
In the meantime, food and environmental sanitation needs to be handled together and implemented jointly in terms of operations, production, storage, distribution, especially in terms of employees, equipment and infrastructure. Sanitation as a whole is very important for consumer health and product safety. It is necessary to identify the potential risks in the enterprise, to give them the necessary importance, to try to control and eliminate the risks, and not to neglect the cleaning and disinfection practices.
What is ISO TS 13027 Standard?
ISO TS 13027 Hygiene and Sanitation Standard in Food Production Facilities is a standard created to regulate general rules for hygiene and sanitation of food producing establishments.
The general requirements of the ISO TS 13027 standard are as follows:
- Rules on the structure of the food producing enterprise
- Production facilities of the enterprise and rules related to the production of food
- Rules concerning the offices, cafeterias, toilets, showers, dishwashers, dormitories, dressing and dressing places, infirmary and similar social facilities of the enterprise
- Business environment rules
- Establishments related to fuel tanks and fuel systems
- Tools and equipment used in production activities
- Rules for lighting and heating systems
- Rules regarding storage areas and shipment operations of the enterprise
- Rules related to the employees of the business
- General rules for cleaning, disinfection and sterilization
- Rules for business critical points
If the continuity of these practices is ensured in the enterprises that will operate within the framework of these rules, safe food production in terms of hygiene and sanitation is established on solid foundations.
With the ISO TS 13027 standard, basic production and environmental conditions are provided to produce safe food that will not endanger the health of the consumers. Thanks to this standard, risks that may threaten the safety of food are identified in advance and avoided.
In the meantime, the Regulation on Supervision and Control of Food Safety and Quality was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2008 and it is a necessity for food producing companies to comply with the provisions of this regulation. The purpose of this regulation is to determine the minimum technical and hygienic conditions of food producing establishments in order to ensure food safety and quality, to supervise and control the compliance of food and food contact materials with the relevant legal regulations and to regulate the responsibilities of enterprises in these matters.
ISO TS 13027 Certification Works
ISO TS 13027 standard needs to be applied at the beginning of the food producing enterprises, food outlets, canteens, kiosks, food warehouses, food contact materials producing enterprises, markets, cafes, restaurants, restaurants, hotels, catering businesses come.
When these companies and similar enterprises start to operate in accordance with ISO TS 13027 standard, they can apply for an ISO TS 13027 Certificate by applying to an accredited certification body.
Certification bodies examine the infrastructure, facilities, working environments, machinery, tools and equipment, technical equipment, environmental factors, qualifications of employees, the conditions of the standard and the relevant legal regulations. The staff of certification bodies includes food engineers, chemical engineers, veterinarians, biologists and microbiologists who are experts in the field of sectoral risks and related legislation. ISO TS 13027 Certificate is issued and delivered to the company if it is found out that the company meets the necessary conditions according to the results of the audits, controls, tests and analyzes and measurements to be carried out.
For food producing businesses, having the ISO TS 13027 Certificate has many benefits. Here are a few of them:
- The food safety status of the establishment has been determined and proven
- Compliance with relevant legal regulations is ensured
- Existing or potential hazards are identified
- Strengthens the business image and gains reputation
- Complaints from customers are reduced
- Regular hygiene analyzes and monitoring of hygiene and sanitation development
- Controlled and careful work of employees is ensured through regular audits
- Business achieves significant competitive advantage
The main laboratory analyzes performed within the scope of certification studies are as follows:
- Measurement of ambient air microbial load: Air sampler devices are taken from the production facilities of the enterprise and analyzed in the laboratory. In these analyzes, microbial load of the ambient air is determined.
- Employee hygiene: Swap samples are taken from the hands of the employees and analyzed in the laboratory.
- Surface hygiene controls: Swap samples are taken from various surfaces such as benches, walls, tools, equipment and similar in the facilities of the enterprise and analyzed in the laboratory.
- Control of drinking and potable water: Samples are taken from the water used in the enterprise and analyzed in the laboratory.
The report is prepared after the analysis results are evaluated.
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc.is ready to help with any doubts about hygiene and sanitation certification.