What are the physical pollutants that can compromise chicken meat?
Poultry products must be exempt from the presence of pollutants capable of compromising consumer health.There is much talk about pathogen pollution, being forgotten that physical pollutants deserve equal attention to damage, a broken tooth to perforations in internal organs, which are capable of producing.
According to Codex Food, there are four types of pollution capable of affecting food safety: biological, chemical, radiological and physical, which gives the presence of foreign materials in poultry products a great importance.
Types and origin of physical pollutants
Chicken meat can be committed by the presence of physical pollutants of different types and origins, as the plant's environment offers multiple possibilities of contamination to the newspaper.
Maintenance and pollution area
The maintenance area work must also be considered, due to its significant pollution potential.At the end of the work and leaving behind nuts, screws, paint scales, dust or metal splinters or others, they can easily end up joining the products during the task.
Labor Force: Potential Pollution Source
The workforce is not immune and must also be treated as an important potential source of pollution.Pieces of rubber or steel gloves, masks, gum, pieces of packaging, jewelry, enamel, coins or objects that the employees bring in the external pockets of the uniform (that should not exist!) They can end up mixing to the products by simpleaccident or, believe me!Until by sabotage.
Pollution during processing
Finally, the process itself is, in the same way, a source of great potential for contamination of products.Pieces of plastic covers, cardboard and wood, staples or others can be mixed with products and becoming a threat to safety.
Although inherent to the business, but equally significant, it is the presence of bone and cartilage splinters, whose causes are the most varied - the uniformity of the raw material, the maintenance and operation of the machines and equipment, unattainable work of employees, toolsand/or inappropriate methods or others.
Preventive measures to consider to avoid physical pollution
As prevention of these threats and their dire consequences, the company must address the process in a systemic way and rely on a manufacturing practices program, in the implementation of a solid culture of safety that covers its entire workforce, and in theUse of inspection equipment, such as metal and ray-x detectors, to verify all finished products.
*Author's available literature by request.
