HACCP in food processing: zones, hygiene and inspection

For a line worker, HACCP comes down to a few habits: going through the hygiene lock, working in your own zone, washing hands at set moments and reporting symptoms of illness before the shift. The company keeps the system's documentation. The sanitary inspection (sanepid) checks documents and rooms, but on the floor it also looks at people: work clothing, handwashing and health.

What HACCP is and who it applies to in production

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. The duty to apply it in food production and trade comes from Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs. It covers the whole process, from receiving raw materials to placing the product on the market, and is applied flexibly, including in small firms. So it applies to every position in work in food processing.

The system rests on seven principles. A line worker mainly deals with two: monitoring at critical control points (CCP) and corrective actions when something exceeds a limit.

HACCP is supported by GHP (good hygiene practice) and GMP (good manufacturing practice). These describe most of the daily rules: washing, clothing, tidiness at the workstation.

Clean and dirty zones and the hygiene lock

The division into zones follows from GHP and GMP rules and from the layout of a specific plant, not from a single numbered regulation. The dirty zone is where raw material, bulk packaging or waste arrive. The clean zone is where the product is exposed or finished. Moving from the dirty zone to the clean one usually requires changing clothes or washing hands again. The exact rules for moving between zones are given in the plant's instructions.

The hygiene lock separates the changing room from the production floor. The plant's instructions set the order, usually like this:

1. You leave your private clothes and personal belongings in the locker room.
2. You put on clean work clothing and a head covering.
3. You change into work footwear.
4. You wash and dry your hands at the sink in the lock.
5. You enter the floor through a disinfection point, if the plant has one.

In many plants the hygiene instructions have pictograms, so they can be understood without good Polish. The plant must provide sinks with hot and cold water, soap and hygienic hand-drying, changing rooms and toilets that do not open directly onto the floor.

When to wash your hands in a food plant

Hands are washed at least at these moments:

• before starting work with food,
• after every visit to the toilet,
• after every dirty task, e.g. handling raw material, taking out waste, touching the floor.

On the floor you do not eat, drink, cough towards the product or clean your nose where food could be contaminated. Clean work clothing is put on before work starts, not during it. Rules on jewellery, watches and nails are set by the plant's hygiene regulations and covered in training before you start.

Symptoms of illness: report before the shift

A person who is ill or suspected of carrying an infectious disease is removed from work with food. The sanitary inspection lists respiratory infections, diarrhoea and purulent skin lesions here. If you have any of these symptoms in the morning, tell your shift supervisor or coordinator before you enter the floor. A wound on your hand is also reported before work, because it decides whether you can work with exposed product.

What the sanitary inspection checks on the floor

The inspection assesses the plant point by point. It checks the condition of rooms, machines and lines, pest control, HACCP records with cleaning and disinfection logs, training and medical certificates. As for people, it checks:

• whether work clothing is clean and complete,
• whether people wash their hands at the required moments,
• whether anyone eats or drinks at the workstation,
• whether people with symptoms of illness are working with food,
• whether workers have hygiene training and valid certificates.

The result of the assessment determines how often the sanitary inspection returns to the plant.

Training and the medical certificate before day one

Everyone who comes into contact with food must be trained in hygiene or supervised in line with the nature of the work. The plant provides the training and a record confirms it. This applies to both an employment contract and a civil-law contract (umowa zlecenie).

The old sanitary booklet has been replaced by a medical certificate for sanitary-epidemiological purposes. A doctor issues it based on an examination and laboratory results, including tests for Salmonella and Shigella carriage. You receive the referral before you start, and the certificate stays at the workplace for inspection. For our offers, we or the plant pay for the initial tests. We describe separately how pre-employment medical tests work.

Frequently asked questions

Does a line worker need a HACCP certificate?

You do not need your own certificate to work on a line. What is required is hygiene training or instruction, which the plant provides and confirms with a record.

Does the sanitary-epidemiological certificate apply to foreigners?

The rules do not differentiate this obligation by citizenship: the certificate is needed in positions where infection can be passed to food. How long the certificate is valid depends on the decision of the doctor who issues it.

Does HACCP also apply to packing?

Yes, HACCP covers the whole process up to placing the product on the market. In work in packing and repacking food, the same rules on handwashing, clothing and reporting symptoms apply.

How does HACCP differ from GHP and GMP?

HACCP identifies hazards and the points where they must be controlled. GHP and GMP are the daily hygiene and production rules on which HACCP is built.

This text describes the general rules. What you are entitled to depends on your type of contract: an employment contract (umowa o pracę) or a contract of mandate (umowa zlecenie). Your own contract and payslip are what count.