Still using safety masks in food manufacturing ?

Hello everyone, I have recently joined a new company that will be making gummies and my role as QA is to implement food safety - I've heard that since Covid, many food manufacturer have made mandatory the safetyy mask in food processing areas. 

 

Have any of you kept the safety mask for employees working directly with exposed product or has you company returned to pre-covid way - without the mask ?

 

Thanks for your help

 

Agree with Pratikgore. Plus, there is no risk to food safety.

If people want to wear them, we are OK with it. We are not supplying them any longer.

Same. We have a few who still wear them, but most of us do not.

Individual choice now in all my plants, some people now like them to keep warm in the processing/storage areas.  The problem now is trying to tell people they don't count as beard covers lol.

NO!  We do not intend to hurt our employees with chemical laced masks.

In my company , mask is not mandatory now by the management but If the individual feels like to wear them while then we are not stopping them wear the mask.

As it not a regulatory or health Canada requirement any more, but individual's choice. 

 Hi Pratikgore,

 

I 've looked over Health Canada's recommendation regarding safety mask and their recommendation only applies to General Public - There seems to be no formal recommendation for the food manufacturing industry.

 

 

https://www.canada.c...-coverings.html

 

COVID-19 mask use: Advice for community settings 

This advice is intended for the general public and is not intended for occupational health purposes, including health care settings.

Individual choice now in all my plants, some people now like them to keep warm in the processing/storage areas.  The problem now is trying to tell people they don't count as beard covers lol.

 

Warmth and also strong smells/spices. Masks seem to work better than scarves that employees used to wear. 

 

The beard covers - Ha. 

They stopped being mandatory a long time ago, but we still provide them for people who want to wear one. 

 

I'd say around 40% of our production personnel use one, and about 5% of them wear it correctly.

When Covid had been around a few months, our Technical Director tried to bring in holds and destruction if there had been someone who had later tested positive in the vicinity. Due to the nature of the manufacturing it was a stupid suggestion. To my knowledge there has been no strong evidence of infection from food. Covid is a respiratory illness and it’s spread mostly by inhaling droplets. I even think I saw something suggesting the hand contact surfaces stuff was pretty much debunked too.

So no requirement on masks I’m aware of and the levels of touching the mask and face we had when we were using them was frustrating. I doubt they improved food safety, possibly the opposite.

No we removed it but allow staff to wear them if they choose to. We keep the item on our GMP list.

At my prior employer we removed them from being mandatory, but they're still recommended for anyone working with spices, hot peppers, etc.