Sanitary design principles should be used in making decisions regarding the location, construction, and maintenance of the facility. For example, the sanitary design principles should be used in choosing adjacent properties and building materials for both exterior and interior ventilation. They also need to be applied to waste disposal and management, restroom facilities, hand wash stations, potable water, ice, etc. To minimize cross contamination, the product should flow from raw to cooked areas. The facility should be designed so that traffic can be controlled in the production areas.

Each facility needs to make sure that its suppliers have effective food safety programs in place.

Specifications need to be written for all ingredients, products, and packaging materials.

All equipment should be installed and maintained according to sanitary design principles. Maintenance and calibration schedules should be in place and documented.

Procedures for cleaning and sanitizing equipment and the facility should be written down and followed.

Personal hygiene requirements should be written down. These requirements should apply to all employees and other persons, such as visitors and vendors, who enter the food service operation.

All employees should receive training in other prerequisite programs, especially those applicable to their jobs, such as personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitation procedures, and personal safety.

Documented procedures must be established to assure that chemicals (ex. cleaning chemicals, fumigants, and pesticides or baits used) are kept separate from food products and that they are used properly in the food service operation.

All raw materials and products should be stored under sanitary conditions and the proper environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, to maintain their safety and quality.

A recall system should be established for all raw materials and products. Part of which should entail documenting any USDA lot numbers of commodity items used in a given day for a given application.

Effective pest control programs should be established.

Procedures should be established and written down for (1) maintaining and monitoring proper food temperatures and (2) discarding food held too long at improper temperatures.

Other examples of prerequisite programs might include quality assurance procedures, personal safety procedures, glass control, labeling procedures, and employee food and ingredient handling practices.

Prerequisite programs must be well-documented and should communicate the following:

• What is expected (to be performed).

• The frequency expected (to be performed).

• The person/position responsible (for performing the task).

• Actions that must be taken if the activity is not performed according to procedure.

Note: Prerequisite programs are managed separately from the HACCP plan. However, the success of HACCP depends on the effectiveness of the prerequisite programs.