Three free tools to build a food safety environmental risk assessment

An environmental risk assessment is a big part of a food manufacturing company’s plate of armor defending them from a number of food safety and quality concerns. This assessment is used by food production, processing and packaging facilities to keep tabs on anything and everything that could present a food safety risk — especially in regards to the plant environment itself. This includes the wear-and-tear of machinery, the age of equipment, areas that might harbor bacteria, and beyond.

Environmental risk assessments are powerful tools that facilities can use to protect themselves and their consumers. Here are some free tools that can help a company put their own assessment plan together.

1. Food Safety Plan Builder
   This software tool is put out by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s designed to help food facilities develop environmental risk assessments alongside a variety of important food safety plans — ones that are specific to their own facilities while meeting regulatory requirements.
2. USA Dairy Food Safety Equipment Design Checklist
   This checklist, coming in a Microsoft Excel document, was created by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. It offers a detailed set of considerations for equipment in the facility, allowing the user to mark each part as “satisfactory,” “marginal,” or “unsatisfactory.” Users award themselves points for each mark, culminating in a useful score for facilities to grade themselves by.
3. Guide to Assessing Sanitation Needs
   This form, another spreadsheet from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, allows the user to assess the sanitation needs and current procedures for equipment within the facility. It addresses areas including personal protective equipment for workers, details about cleaning chemicals needed, procedural steps for pre- and post-cleaning, and more.

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