There are big changes underway for the egg industry following the recent passage of the Egg Products Inspection Regulations. Since 1970, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) has been operating under the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA), but the new regulations will now bring egg products more in line with the safety standards applied to meat and poultry products.
Under the new regulations, egg producers must develop and implement their own Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs). This new approach will scrap “one-size-fits-all” regulations, allowing egg producers to create and implement a plan tailored to their individual operation. Additionally, the new regulations only require inspectors to check in to a plant once per shift instead of being continuously present.
The new regulations do not change food safety standards for egg products which means very little will change in how they operate on a daily basis. Many companies may already have an HACCP in place, or at least their own food safety system, so these changes are actually giving them more freedom and responsibility.
Egg products require special handling to maintain food safety standards. With the new regulations in place, egg processors must outline potential hazards with critical limits for temperature and humidity. Detailed recordkeeping and verification are also required parts of a successful HACCP plan.
Temperature control and monitoring are both critical when it comes to keeping eggs safe for human consumption. Temperature fluctuations are a common critical point that must be monitored and limited to guarantee safety. Data loggers are a popular solution for verifying proper shipping and storage conditions and are an important tool for satisfying regulatory compliance.
MadgeTech offers the perfect monitoring solutions for egg producers looking for a simple approach to complying with new federal regulations. Coupled together, the MicroRHTemp and the EggTemp Thermal Shield work from inside egg cartons to provide a constant stream of temperature and humidity readings. The EggTemp data logging system responds to the ambient environment as a real egg would, simulating the temperature of the actual product with a high degree of accuracy.
For more information on implementing data logging solutions into your HACCP plan, call us at (603) 456-2011 or email [email protected].