GMP AND THEIR APPLICATION

GMP refers to the good manufacturing practices. It is a tem that is recognized worldwide for the control and management of manufacturing and quality control of foods. It is a good business tool which helps to refine both compliance and performance for company. Generally GMP defined; Combination of manufacturing and quality control procedures aimed at ensuring the products are consistently manufactured to their specifications and safe in all respects. GMPs are the pre-requisites for HACCP system. Without GMP you cannot implement HACCP.

FUNDAMENTALS OF GMP & THEIR APPLICATION

Some fundamentals of GMP and their applications are given below; 1. PREMISES & FACILITIES: This prerequisites program addresses the requirement for the location, design, construction and maintenance of building and all facilities and essential services required in food processing establishments. Many sections of this prerequisite program need to be considered during the design and construction stages of a food plant. 2. PERSONNEL TRAINING AND PRACTICES: Employees in a food plant play a critical role in ensuring the safety of foods produced at the plant. In addition, employees should not contribute to or be a source of contamination of cross-contamination of foods. In this prerequisite program, the primary considerations are to ensure that both temporary and permanent employees have the required education and training, are adequately supervised, and follow their required work-related tasks, personal hygiene requirements and acceptable personnel practices during their work. 3. SANITATION AND CLEANING: The maintenance of sanitary conditions in a food plant, including clean and sanitary environment, structures, facilities, and equipment is essential to ensure

that food is produced under sanitary conditions, to prevent contamination from these sources and to prevent breeding of pests. Food processing operations in a food plant should only commence after all the required cleaning and sanitizing activities have been completed. In this prerequisite program, the primary considerations are the activities for maintaining sanitary conditions by means of a sanitation program, and ongoing monitoring of the sanitary conditions during all operations at a food plant. 4. PEST CONTROL: This prerequisite program covers the specic activities that are directed at controlling, preventing and excluding the occurrence of pests, particularly rodents, insects and birds, from a food plant. Pet animals such as cats and dogs should not be allowed to enter food plants. The pest control program includes the specic activities directed at detecting pests and pest activity, both within a food plant and its immediate exterior, preventing pests from entering the building, eliminating pests from the building and the immediate surroundings, and monitoring of the pest control program for its effectiveness. In addition, the program includes control of the use and storage of chemicals or other materials used for pest control to prevent contamination of product. 5. EQUIPMENT: The particular types of equipment that are used in a food plant depend on the specic type of products that are processed. The performance of equipment should ensure that the safety or quality specications of a food can be achieved. In this prerequisite program, the primary considerations are to ensure that the equipment are capable of processing products that meet the safety and quality requirements, while at the same time the equipment must not be a source of contamination of the product. 6. TRANSPORATION, RECEIVING AND STORAGE: In this prerequisite program, the primary consideration is the prevention of contamination, cross-contamination and deterioration of products by (a) control of incoming raw materials, ingredients, packaging materials, and processing aids

from the time they arrive at a food plant, their subsequent inspection, acceptance and storage until they are utilized, and (b) control of the storage of semi-nished and nished products from the time they are produced, their subsequent move to designated storage areas or containers, their shipment, delivery, and distribution to their point of use or sale. 7. TRACEABILITY AND RECALL: This prerequisite program addresses the requirements for identifying and tracing all raw materials, ingredients, and products, including all semi-nished, nished, reworked, or recycled products, and the procedures to be followed for conducting a recall of a food that has reached the marketplace, should this become necessary. In the food industry, it is quite common for foods to be recalled from the marketplace. This occurs in spite of the enforcement of and compliance with regulatory requirements of GMPs in food establishments. GMPs are not prescriptive instructions on how to manufacture products. They are a series of general principles that must be observed during manufacturing. When a company is setting up its quality program and manufacturing process. There may be many ways it can fulfill GMP requirements. It is the company responsibility to determine most effective and efficient quality process.