Floor of factory is damaged, is it ok for ISO 22000?

Dear Mr

I am working for a cheese factory

the factory is very old and we have a problem with our ground " ceramic tiles " in the production area where it is damaged and some area are broken

we try with many many solution but all of this fails , there is only one solution is to stopped the factory up to 1 month and change the ground completely and this is hard in this

but we hope to get iso 22000

is it mandatory to change the floor or we can maintain it and fill the broken area with Cement

and also we clean the floor with antiseptic soloution in the morning before starting and at evening after finish production to prevent any harmfull becteria in this brocken area

is it ok or , we must change the floor to get ISO 22000 or it is enought to fill the broken area with cement and still using the antiseptic

Dear Mr

I am working for a cheese factory

the factory is very old and we have a problem with our ground " ceramic tiles " in the production area where it is damaged and some area are broken

we try with many many solution but all of this fails , there is only one solution is to stopped the factory up to 1 month and change the ground completely and this is hard in this

but we hope to get iso 22000

is it mandatory to change the floor or we can maintain it and fill the broken area with Cement

and also we clean the floor with antiseptic soloution in the morning before starting and at evening after finish production to prevent any harmfull becteria in this brocken area

is it ok or , we must change the floor to get ISO 22000 or it is enought to fill the broken area with cement and still using the antiseptic

Assess the risk.

A few questions:

- Does product come into contact with the floor?
- Is there loose tiles / bits of tiles with the potential to contaminate product?
- Is the floor clean?
- Is it easy to clean?
- Can it harbour pests?
- Could it cause people to fall and injure themselves?

I do not know what it says in ISO 22000 relating to this but I'm sure that in standards such as BRC the requirements would say that construction / infrastructure of food facilities should be intact, impervious and easy to maintain and clean.

The floor is unlikely to be a work surface so provided it can meet with the above or be made to meet with the above I would think you would be OK.

Not fact - just a common sense opinion.

Regards,
Simon

Dear msh3egy,

Yes, as per the previous post, the minimum requirements should be that the floor will enable / maintain satisfactory (food) hygienic conditions and presumably not be an employee safety risk. These are basic GMP expectations IMO.

Ceramic tiles are indeed a well-known problem when damage starts due to the difficulty in localising/repairing. Hv seen yr solution successfully applied with respect to a basic HACCP audit but it obviously may depend on the exact production situation, ie as Simon said, the risk assessment. Asking for a (relevant) consultant's opinion would be one option if a lot of work is involved. Maybe no charge if future audit use clearly likely.

Rgds / Charles.C

I agree with Simon - access the risks. As long as you show the risk was accessed and what you are doing to handle it (regualr inspection/cleaning/etc) than you should be okay.

We have some damaged tile in our facility and were recently certified ISO 22000. We were able to show that it was considered in our risk assessment and through Master Sanitation Schedule and Walkthrough audits we were able to show that it was controlled and monitored.

What do you think msh3egy? Are you going to get a new floor or patch it up and keep it clean and tidy?

I would also question if the damage can hold water; standing water = Listeria risk. If it is only cracked, you could probably get away with inspection and swabbing to prove it's not becoming a Listeria hazard.

I'd also challenge the assumption you'd have to close the factory. I've had areas sealed off to do work on floors and drains before. It was difficult but not impossible if it's not too close to machinery. You need proper, coved white wall screening though, no half baked bits of polythene!

just one thing to add - but not easy to assess could be a good thing to hazve a photo to better understand what you say with the damaged floor : you wrote it 's in the production area, what is your definition of a production area - a packing area just near the production area etc?

For sure as written by Simon charles GMO etc you have to assess the risks but keep in mind that most of the time cheeses are directly eaten by the consumers - so if you have development of listerias or salmonellas which are fond of this kind of wet production areas I'm not very optimistic.

Last the obtention of ISO 22000 depends a lot on the abilities of the auditor - the perception is not the same from one to another one, from an auditor company to another one...

Emmanuel

To the original thread starter - did the members help you? It would be nice if you could take the time to provide some feedback.

Thanks for your input everyone and nice to see you again Emmanuel.

Regards,
Simon