Sanitation video latest service from food centre

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Food processors in Saskatchewan will have some help in keeping their facilities clean, well-sanitized and safe for production.

The Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre has released a training video, entitled “Sanitation – A Defensive Approach,” which provides important information to people in the food processing sector.

Carmen Ly, Communications Director for the Food Centre, says the project has proven to be very relevant to the industry. “Food safety has been a big issue in the food industry of late. We’ve had recent events like the E. coli contamination of spinach from the United States, as well as some other product recalls in the past few months. So the issue is on the minds of consumers, and on the minds of manufacturers,” she said.

“Proper cleaning and sanitation is a key step in reducing the risk of contamination of food products during processing, and that’s what our video is squarely aimed at. We found that the industry was very interested in this kind of training, especially smaller companies.”

Ly said the Food Centre wanted to make the video as comprehensive as possible to cover a wide variety of sanitation issues facilities might face. “It covers the appropriate steps to properly clean your plant to ensure there is no risk of contamination in your food products while manufacturing. It also deals with the appropriate usage of chemicals in the cleaning process. The video will assist processors in training their staff in proper plant sanitation to ensure the production of safe food.”

The video was developed through funding support from Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF). As a result, the Food Centre is able to make it available to Saskatchewan food processors free of charge. Processors interested in obtaining a copy can contact the Food Centre at (306) 933-7555, or by e-mail at info@foodcentre.sk.ca.

The video is just the latest service offered by the Food Centre to assist the food processing industry in the province. The centre was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1997, as a partnership between SAF, the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Food Processors Association.

This partnership has brought together a wealth of experience and expertise in a broad variety of areas, which the Food Centre has been able to deliver to the food industry. In fact, Ly says the agency can help food processors with almost any aspect of their operations, from the moment they come up with a product idea to the moment they begin operating their own plant.

“Our main focuses are product development, interim processing and industry training,” she explained. “We provide technical support to help clients with the research and development of new product ideas, production processes and such. We assist them with packaging options, nutritional labeling and sensory evaluation of products. Through our partnership, we provide business development support in terms of regulations, costing, marketing and getting into the retail aspect.”

The Food Centre has proven to be particularly valuable in assisting smaller entrepreneurs and start-up companies take their product ideas from the page to the store shelf. It can serve as an incubation-type facility that can get the products manufactured on a small scale for test-marketing, then pass the manufacturing duties back to the producers when they are ready to graduate to their own facilities.

One of the clients using the Food Centre’s services is Sandy Purdy, owner and operator of Prairie Berries Inc. in Keeler. The Food Centre is currently helping her to develop and test a dried saskatoon product.

Purdy says that, without the Food Centre, many small businesses like hers wouldn’t stand a chance of taking their product concepts to the next level. “Who do we have, resource-wise, to help us develop these ideas and thoughts? I’m certainly not trained in food science, so I don’t have the technical knowledge; nor do I have the equipment or facilities to test these ideas,” she stated.

“The people in the Food Centre are just a wealth of knowledge, and when they don’t have the knowledge, they’ll do the research to help us find the information we need to move forward. They work on my project with the same heart that I give to it, so I just can’t speak highly enough of this resource that we have here in Saskatchewan.”

For further information, contact:

Carmen Ly, Communications Director
Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre
Phone: (306) 933-7555
E-mail: info@foodcentre.sk.ca
Website: www.foodcentre.sk.ca

Sandy Purdy
Prairie Berries Inc.
Phone: (306) 788-2018
E-mail: prairieberries@sasktel.net