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Creekside's
Mushroom Quality Care Program is a proactive approach to
addressing customer concerns for food safety. Quality,
Freshness, and Safety...reasons why we say Creekside's Miracles
Are... Grown like no other mushroom!
In
order to ensure a safe, fresh, clean, and healthy mushrooms for
customers, Creeksides Food Safety Team has Developed a Mushroom
Quality Care Program. This program examines each critical
link in the mushrooms production process and takes positive steps
to make any necessary adjustments to ensure product safety.
The end result being a safe, fresh mushroom that can be supplied
year-round.
The
following programs ensure we live up to our commitment that
Creekside produces the highest quality, freshest tasting mushrooms
on the market today.
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Good
Manufacturing Practices |
Beginning
with the first day a new employee orientation and continuing thereafter,
Creekside trains and educates employees on the importance of Good
manufacturing Practices. These are practices the employees must do
to ensure a clean environment and a safe mushroom. Such practices
include: good housekeeping, personal hygiene, wearing clean cloths to
work every day, proper hand washing including the usage of gloves
and the importance of keeping hair covered. All harvesting
employees are required to sanitize gloves, knives, and carriers prior to
entering each clean Harvesting Unit. In order to maintain a clean
environment, designated areas are provided to employees for the storage
of food, clothing, and personal belongings.
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Hazard
Analysis Critical Control Points Program |
Creekside
has developed a detailed and comprehensive program that keys on the
prevention of any chemical, physical, and microbiological contamination
that could occur during Growing, Harvesting, Packaging, and Shipping of
our fresh mushrooms. Our Mushroom Quality Care Program begins in
growing with the pasteurization of raw material and casting soil.
Harvesters follow GMPs and continuously inspect mushroom quality as they
are being harvested. All harvested mushrooms, once transported to
packaging, are visually inspected. In the case of Fresh-Cut
mushrooms, Creekside goes a step further in the inspection process by
running the product through a grading metal detectors prior to being vacuum
cooled and transported to shipping.
An
important part of our food safety inactive is the regular sanitation of
mushroom contact surfaces on all slicing machines and packaging lines.
Daily practices have been developed to ensure that proper cleaning and
sanitation procedures are followed.
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Microbiological
Testing Lab |
Routine
verification of established sanitation procedures are conducted through
in-house laboratory testing. An independent food safety lab
performs final product testing and monthly auditing to ensure our
testing procedures are providing maximum results.
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Integrates
Pest Management |
As
a result of strict and monitoring guidelines followed from growing thru
Shipping, Creekside is able to continually provide a fresh mushroom free
from pesticide treatment.
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Quality
Auditing Procedure Program |
Creekside's
Mushroom Quality Program is monitored for compliance by the food Safety
Team consisting of the Environmental/HACCP, Safety, and Quality
Assurance professionals who are dedicated to ensuring customer safety.
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