By Michael Barazia, M.S.
FOCUS: Sanitation SOPs
SOPs Spell Out Procedures
Cleaning and sanitation activities are at the heart of food safety: Food manufacturing equipment must be clean of product residue as well as bacteria, else we place our cus- tomers and consumers at risk with allergens,
pathogens or other forms of cross-contamination. Additionally, while we may not like to be “told” how to do
our job(s), in our industry it is necessary that certain
tasks—including cleaning and sanitation activities—be directed by written procedures.
Many quality codes, including Safe Quality Food
and other recognized standards, as well as those of the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or U.S. Department of Agriculture, have written instructions in
place to direct food company employees in their jobs.
These quality codes or government agencies have no
mandated format or content for written instructions—
often called Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), or
for sanitation, SSOPs.
Sanitation Standard Operating
Procedures (SSOPs) drive
food safety forward.
Just What Is an SOP?
Where a batch production record can be compared
to a recipe, an SOP is an instruction manual on how to
execute a certain task. An SOP should contain the fol-
lowing: chronological step-by-step instructions; informa-
tion on specific tools or equipment, including chemicals
and safety equipment required for the task at hand; who
is specifically responsible for completing the task; spe-
cific parameters such as times, temperatures and dura-
tion of events; and the required means of documenting
the task’s completion. It should detail the work in a
manner that is instructive to and easily
understood by an employee, but also in-
formative to an inspector or auditor.