Hygieniapassi for Factory and Food Production Workers

The hygieniapassi rule is about the type of food handling, not the setting. If your job in a bakery, meat plant, dairy or ready-meal factory involves handling unpackaged, easily perishable food, the same three-month rule applies as in a kitchen.

Where it applies on a line

The passport requirement relates to unpackaged easily perishable food. Someone who only handles product after it is sealed in its final packaging is outside the rule. Someone who sorts, trims, portions or packs product by hand before it is sealed is handling unpackaged food.

Check with your employer which of your tasks count. The employer is responsible for guiding and training food workers and for making sure that everyone who needs a passport has one.

Full-time work reaches three months fast

Production roles are usually full-time, so the three months arrive in one stretch. Earlier work in tasks that required a passport also counts, so someone arriving from a kitchen may already be close to the limit. Employers may ask for the passport before hiring.

The plant's systems are additional

Your passport shows your personal food-hygiene knowledge. The operator's system sits on top of it. Operators must set up permanent procedures based on HACCP principles: identify the hazards, set critical control points and critical limits, monitor, take corrective action, verify and keep documentation. People responsible for HACCP procedures must have adequate training in HACCP.

Own-check also covers traceability. An operator must be able to identify who supplied it with food and to whom it has supplied food.

Your part

Your part is in the hygienic work practices the own-check describes:

• Wear the clean work and protective clothing the workplace requires. Its purpose is to prevent contamination of the food.
• Wash hands carefully and regularly. Take off rings, jewellery and watches before hand washing.
• Report illness such as diarrhoea or infected wounds to the employer immediately.
• Follow the cleaning plan. It is part of own-check.

Post-contamination

Contamination after heating is called post-contamination. Products packed hot into final packaging are protected from it. Ready-to-eat food handled after heating, such as slicing, is at higher risk of Listeria post-contamination. See the lesson on preventing post-contamination.

Getting ready

Read the lesson on own-check and try the free quiz.