The requirements for changing rooms of food plants in “GB 14881-2013 National Food Safety Standard – General Hygienic Specifications for Food Production”:
- 5.1.5.1 A changing room should be set up at the entrance of the production site or production workshop; if necessary, a changing room can be set up at the entrance of a specific operating area as needed. The locker room should ensure that work clothes are kept separate from personal clothing and other items.
- 5.1.5.4 Hand washing, drying, and disinfection facilities should be set up at the entrance of the work area; if necessary, hand washing and disinfection facilities should be installed at appropriate locations in the work area; The switches of the faucets used in conjunction with disinfection facilities should be non-manual.
- 5.1.5.5 The number of faucets in hand-washing facilities should match the number of food processing personnel on the same shift, and hot and cold water mixers should be installed when necessary. Hand basins should be made of smooth, impermeable, easy-to-clean material and should be designed and constructed to be easy to clean and disinfect. Simple and easy-to-understand handwashing instructions should be clearly displayed near handwashing facilities.
In addition to GB 14881, there are many hygiene standards that have certain requirements for the changing rooms of food companies: check the next news.
01
Why do food production plants set up changing rooms?
Why do so many hygiene standards have requirements for changing rooms? This is because the changing room is a buffer zone connecting the outside and the production area. Its main function is to facilitate staff to change work clothes, work caps, work shoes, and other work equipment before entering the production workshop, and to effectively disinfect and sterilize their hands and soles.
The purpose of the changing room is to ensure that when staff enter the production workshop, their personal hygiene can meet certain requirements and will not cause any hygiene hazards to the workshop.
02
Setup requirements of the changing room
Through researching various regulations and standards, we believe that the general changing room requirements are:
2.1. Adapt to the number of processing personnel. An independent area connected to the workshop.
2.2. If necessary, separate changing rooms should be set up for processing employees working in clean areas and non-clean areas, and their access to and from their respective work areas should be separated.
- Common problem: Employees who handle raw and cooked food enter the workshop, entering the workshop, through the same changing room and the same aisle, and there is serious cross-contamination in the workshop layout.
2.3. Good lighting, appropriate brightness, and keeping clean and hygienic.
2.4. Maintain ventilation and dry air to prevent mold or microbial reproduction due to excessive humidity. There must be no potential risk of contamination of the workshop-air, microorganisms, foreign matter, etc. (design, hygiene).
2.5. Storage of shoes and clothing: personal clothing and shoes should be placed separately from work clothes and boots; hangers should keep the hanging work clothes at a certain distance from the wall and not touch the wall; personal belongings cabinets and shoe cabinets should be made of materials that comply with food hygiene Requirements (light color, no leakage, no adsorption, corrosion resistance, easy to clean and sanitize)
- Suggestion:
※ Set up a personal belongings cabinet (which can also be set up outside the changing room) to facilitate the storage of mobile phones, keys, and other personal belongings;
※ There are water shoe cabinets/racks and slippers cabinets/racks in the changing room, and slipper cabinets/racks and slippers cabinets/racks are installed in the shoe changing room;
※ Work clothes can be hung on a hanger or in a wardrobe; casual clothes can be worn in a wardrobe or on a hanger.
※ Casual clothes and work clothes should be stored in separate areas.
6. Area: The area per person should not be less than 0.5 square meters.
7. Clear changing procedures are clearly marked in a conspicuous place in the changing room. There is a full-length mirror for convenient self-examination.
8. By installing ultraviolet lamps, ozone generators, air disinfection machines, etc., the indoor air and work clothes can be sterilized and disinfected.
03
Layout of the changing room
The quality of the changing room layout is related to the hygienic and buffering functions of the changing room. If the layout of the functional areas of the changing room is unreasonable, the personal hygiene of the employees will not be guaranteed, and the locker room will be in vain, and it will even affect the hygienic conditions of the production workshop.
Generally, two or more changing rooms should be set up to distinguish different sections of the workshop. The size should be determined according to the number of employees, and there must be an entrance and exit. Nowadays, it is generally recommended to change into slippers before entering the workshop, and then enter the changing room.
- Example of the basic layout of a changing room
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- As shown, staff enter the changing area through the personal aisle. After completing basic operations such as changing and disinfecting, they go through the hand-washing and disinfection process and then enter different production workshops.
Food production enterprises that have strict requirements on the production environment can install an air shower device at the exit of the changing room, and workers can enter the workshop after passing through the air shower.
When moving from a low cleanliness grade area to a higher cleanliness grade work area, a second changing room is required. The second area is mainly to protect the product from cross-contamination. The flow of air, personnel, and logistics should be from the high clean area to the low clean area. Employees who leave the production workshop to eat food, drink something, go to the bathroom, or the breakroom, etc., should change into work clothes in low-clean areas.
04
Configuration of the changing room
Different layouts of the changing room will be equipped with different facilities to meet personal hygiene needs, including:
- It should be equipped with hand sanitizer, hand sinks, non-contact faucets, and hand dryers in the changing room.
2. Sole disinfection pool, wardrobe, shoe rack, clothes hanger, UV sterilization lamp, and other facilities. The wardrobe is used to store the staff’s personal clothes.
3. The shoe rack is used to place turnover shoes or work shoes (rain boots).
4. Clothes hangers are specially used to place work clothes.
5. Foot pool or sole disinfection mat
6. Hot water system (water temperature for hand washing is 37-43°C), hand washing and disinfecting tanks (front and rear tanks), hand sanitizer, sensor faucets, disposable hand drying devices, mirrors, and clocks (one faucet for 10 people)
7. Example of a foot-operated faucet
8. Example of an all-in-one washing, disinfecting, and drying machine
9. Wardrobe example
10. Examples of turnover shoe racks and rain shoe racks
11. Hangers can hang work clothes, work pants, and hats (the spacing needs to be 10-15cm)
05
An effective process for changing clothes
Staff should follow a certain order when changing clothes and shoes in the changing room, otherwise, it will cause cross-contamination and fail to achieve the effect of hygienic prevention.
The hygienic changing process will be different in different changing rooms, but the general sequence is as follows:
- a. Entering the workshop, put personal belongings, change clothes, and change into slippers in the first changing room → wear a hat, change clothes, and change into work shoes in the second changing room → wash hands and disinfect hands in the hand washing and disinfection channel, disinfect the soles of shoes before entering the workshop.
- b. The process of leaving the workshop is opposite to that of entering the workshop.
Through such operating procedures, the possibility of bringing pollutants and germs into the workshop can be reduced.
06
Daily management of the changing room
Changing rooms require regular maintenance, and dedicated personnel should be assigned to manage them.
1. Sanitary maintenance
- The changing room should be arranged for at least half an hour every day for UV light irradiation or ozone sterilization, and the sterilization time should be arranged after getting off work or when no one is around.
- Take effective protective measures, such as regular vinegar fumigation in the dressing area.
- Wash work clothes, hats, and shoes regularly, and expose them to the sun.
- Wipe the wardrobe, shoe cabinet, etc., regularly with a clean cloth soaked in alcohol.
- Replace hand sanitizer and disinfectant promptly. The concentration of hand sanitizer and disinfectant should meet the requirements and should not cause damage to skin and clothes.
2. Protective measures
- Changing rooms should have protective measures to prevent rats, flies, bed bugs, dust, and other pollution sources from entering the changing area, such as rat-proof boards, air curtains (or door curtains), screens, ceilings, etc. Ventilation openings should have filtration and sterilization measures.
3. Working record
- The daily management work of the changing room should have corresponding records, including time, personnel, work content, and other information.
The personal hygiene status of staff directly affects food quality. The role of changing rooms can strengthen staff’s hygiene awareness and play its due role in food safety production.
For more information about hygienic cleaning and sanitizing in the food industry, please feel free to communicate with us.
