Hygienically Clean: Food-Safety Professionals Support Certification

Posted July 20, 2018 at 1:08 pm




An overwhelming majority of visitors to TRSA’s exhibit at the recent International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) expo voiced support for a uniform service industry certification verifying laundry cleanliness – as opposed to laundry operators contracting with consultants or labs on their own to validate their hygiene practices.

IAFP members are food-safety professionals in manufacturing and processing as well as consultants, vendors and academics in this profession. Regardless of their company or institution affiliation, they endorsed TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification. Most of the 120-plus visitors to the exhibit interviewed by TRSA staff learned about the Hygienically Clean program for the first time and responded by praising its 2014 inception as an important step for the uniform industry in serving food manufacturing and processing businesses.

The exhibit at the IAFP show, held July 8-10 in Salt Lake City, continued TRSA’s practice of investing fees paid by companies to earn the association’s Hygienically Clean and Clean Green certifications to familiarize industry customers with the designations. This creates a positive impression of the industry as a whole, while differentiating certified companies, helping to fulfill the certifications’ promise as a competitive advantage.

Typically attendees of one of these shows who glance at a TRSA booth are puzzled by the exhibit. Their businesses aren’t candidates for TRSA membership nor can these be certified by TRSA. TRSA has nothing to sell these individuals directly. At IAFP, TRSA capitalized on this by approaching them about their confusion and explaining that clarity would follow if they would answer two questions.

First, whether they thought a laundry would more effectively verify its cleanliness through a consultant arrangement or industry certification program. About 82% of those with an opinion indicated the latter. Second, which of the following verification options would be more likely to result in better laundry hygiene: inspection alone, or inspection plus microbial testing of samples of textiles pulled from the end of the laundry production line? Nearly 84% of respondents chose the latter.

Answering these questions enabled TRSA staff to identify TRSA as the Hygienically Clean Food Safety program administrator and emphasize the importance of testing for total microbial content and specific bacteria. Question terminology noted that both the consultant and certification options would evaluate a laundry’s compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) principles. The certification option added a reference to evaluating adherence with industry best-management practices.

The number of Hygienically Clean Food Safety certified plants is approaching 40. Click here to learn more about the program and contact Angela Freeman at 877.770.9274 or 703.519.0029, ext. 111, for more details.

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