ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) has introduced the Hygienically Clean Food Service Certification, the association reports. The new designation will certify cleanliness for laundry operators working in the food service sector.
The new Hygienically Clean Food Service protocol applies many of the same principles as Hygienically Clean Food Safety, according to TRSA. The association says that the existing program was introduced in 2014 to certify laundering for companies engaged in manufacturing/processing sectors including dairy, meat, poultry, seafood, baking, milling and agricultural businesses.
The new TRSA certification applies to textile services for restaurants, cafeterias, food service contractors, caterers, snack and beverage bars and similar organizations.
The new certification follows in the footsteps of comparable TRSA cleanliness certifications for laundry operators working with food processors and healthcare providers, says the association.
“Our emphasis is on verifying processes and quantifying the outcomes that various technical approaches achieve,” says TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci. “In some laundry functions, different procedures effectively implement a single best practice. Laundered-product testing evaluates the success of the range of techniques that a laundry chooses to deploy.”
Both Hygienically Clean food certifications refer to the Codex (United Nations/World Health Organization) decision tree for identifying and addressing hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) in laundry production and service processes, TRSA says. The certifications also incorporate a HACCP-Codex checklist in assessing the need for personal protective equipment and the Global Food Safety Initiative in detailing best-management practices for garment inspection and transportation.
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