The world is facing an unprecedented risk from the COVID-19 pandemic. Keeping all workers in the food production and supply chains healthy and safe is critical while maintaining the movement of food along the food chain. This is also required to maintain trust and consumer confidence in the safety and availability of food.

The food industry should have Food Safety Management Systems based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles in place to manage food safety risks and prevent food contamination. A food businesses HACCP plan should also take into consideration the risks presented by COVID -19.

Food safety management systems are underpinned by prerequisite programmes that include good hygiene practices, cleaning and sanitation, zoning of processing areas, supplier control, storage, distribution and transport, personnel hygiene and fitness to work – all the basic conditions and activities necessary to maintain a hygienic food processing environment.

There is now an urgent requirement for the industry to ensure compliance with measures to protect food workers from contracting COVID-19, to prevent exposure to or transmission of the virus, and to strengthen food hygiene and sanitation practices. It is imperative for the food industry to reinforce personal hygiene measures and provide refresher training on food hygiene principles to eliminate or reduce the risk of food surfaces and food packaging materials becoming contaminated.

The EHAI and a number of our trainers continue to run our food safety and HACCP courses via video link or zoom during the Covid – 19 Pandemic. For full details on the training process and how to book an EHAI training course please view the following link https://ehai.ie/blog/cov/ or contact us at 01 276 1211.