Proactive Corrective Action Plans for Food Processing

Posted on: July 25th, 2022 by Valerie Wetlaufer | No Comments

 

The goal of any food processing facility is to preserve the nutritive quality of food and make it safe for consumption. In order to do just that, the food processing industry has unique USDA compliance regulations by which they must abide. This is what lead CITY to develop proactive corrective action plans. We know that it is important for these types of businesses to maintain a high level of quality and compliance and one way to do so, is by partnering with companies who have a high standard for quality as well.

CITY Laundering made the decision to become the region’s most responsive provider to the food processing industry, and it has become one of the core businesses that we service.

On top of having a quality management system called CQM (CITY Quality Management), CITY has developed a system of corrective actions that help take us to the next level when it comes to providing a uniform, floor mat, towel renta

l program.

This involves maintaining our third party hygienically clean certification and handling any service concerns with urgency.

The transparency between production, service, and our customers is important to ensure that if something occurs out of the ordinary, we are as responsive as possible in investigating, repairing the problem, and providing a corrective action within our processing cycle.

Corrective action is an aspect of quality management that aims to rectify a process when faults occur because of a deviation from an intended plan. CITY corrective actions are improvements to an organization to eliminate undesirable effects for the customer.

Ken Schnor, Manager of Customer Relations, worked in both production and quality control in the meat packing industry before coming to work at CITY, and he saw firsthand the need for a corrective action system like CITY has.

We are unique in the industry with our Corrective Action Plans, and customers appreciate the transparency and our commitment to continuous improvement.

“Any feedback—whether it’s good or bad—helps us do better next time, and we welcome that,” Ken says.

The Corrective Action plans are a learning process for both sides—CITY and our customers— to track down what went wrong, and how to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future. Customers are always happy to see we are doing something to fix issues that arise, Ken mentioned as it allows them to close the books on an issue.

“Our immediate responsiveness is always appreciated,” Ken says. “There’s no reason to hide a problem. If you do hide it, it comes out eventually, so it’s best to acknowledge any issues and get them fixed.”

When it comes time to fix a problem, Ken says it’s “all hands on deck.” No matter what part of the cleaning process the issue occurred, “it’s not a production problem, it’s a CITY problem,” Ken says.

Our strict processes that allow us to be Hygienically Clean certified mean that such issues requiring corrective action seldom occur, but when they do—whether it’s a frock that damaged or gloves that go missing, —we want to make it right.

We know that food safety is essential in the food processing industry. The uniforms our food processing clients get from CITY will come in contact with food and employees at those food processing facilities, so they must be clean, free from bacteria, and fit into a client’s HACCP plan.

It is vital that employees at these facilities can reliably have the clean garments required to meet USDA compliance, and we know that our customers rely on CITY to make sure clean garments are available when they’re needed.

Since 2017, CITY remains the only laundry in the region to have TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Certification. This certification recognizes linen, uniform, and facility services companies’ commitment to cleanliness through laundry plant inspection and third-party, quantified biological testing. The certification exhibits CITY’s commitment to producing a quality garment rental program that meets food industry standards in the following segments: meat processing, ingredients, dairies, fruits/vegetables, bakeries, grains and other food and beverage segments. With detailed quality assurance plans and procedures, CITY provides textiles with zero presence of harmful bacteria.

The need for a Corrective Action Plan is infrequent, but having a proactive plan to address needs as they arise is crucial for businesses in the food processing industry.

“Customers are always glad to know we have a process in place to address any concerns as they arise. This keeps us from scrambling to fix an issue, because we already know what we need to do to correct any problem, and we get to the bottom of it fast,” Ken said.

This is one more way CITY helps keep businesses clean and simple.


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