Should a secondary changing room be set up in a food factory?
In a food processing plant, the changing room is a critical area that serves several important functions related to worker hygiene and food
safety. The main purpose of the changing room in a food factory is to provide a designated space for workers to transition from their own
clothes into their dedicated food-safe uniforms and personal protective equipment (PPE).
The key features and functions of the changing room in a food processing plant include:
- 1. Segregation of Clean and Dirty Zones
- 2. Personal Hygiene Facilities
- 3. Uniform and PPE Storage
- 4. Airflow and Ventilation
- 5. Cleaning and Disinfection
- 6. Controlled Access
About the secondary changing room
The changing room is the transit area for food workshop personnel to enter the high clean area from the outside/low clean area, and is the
most important part of the personnel hygiene facilities. At present, some industries' mandatory standards/review rules mention the
secondary changing room. WONE sorts out whether to set up the secondary changing room and the setting requirements. Hope it would be
helpful to you.
01
Changing room
The room where personnel put on and take off clean clothes when entering and leaving the clean room[Based on] GB/T 25915.6-2010
"Clean rooms and related controlled environments Part 6: Vocabulary"
02
Location of changing room
- 1) Entrance of production site or production workshop
- 2) Entrance of specific work area when necessary
"National Food Safety Standard General Hygiene Specification for Food Production"
- 5.1.5.1: Changing room should be set up at the entrance of production site or production workshop; changing room can be set up at the
entrance of specific work area when necessary. Changing room should ensure that work clothes are separated from personal clothing and
other items.
03
Definition of secondary changing room:
No clear definition of secondary changing room has been collected so far, but judging from the requirements for secondary changing room,
the definition of "secondary changing room" in different fields varies greatly.
- Medical system: Distinction based on cleanliness level
[For example] "Basic Requirements for the Construction of Intravenous Drug Preparation Center" (published in 2021) The primary changing
room and clean laundry and sanitary ware room are Class D (100,000); the secondary changing room and preparation operation room are
Class C (10,000)
- Cosmetics system: According to the needs of production environment control
"Cosmetics Production Quality Management Standards" Article 20, Paragraph 2 The production workshop changing room shall be equipped
with wardrobes and shoe cabinets, and the clean area and quasi-clean area shall be equipped with non-hand contact hand washing and
disinfection facilities. Enterprises shall set up secondary changing rooms according to the needs of production environment control.
- Partial food system: Different industries regulate specific places
Which food industries need to set up secondary changing rooms
In some hygiene standards and review details (including local), the setting requirements for secondary changing rooms are proposed.
WONE sorts out some industry requirements for reference.
Filling protection areas within
the clean work area
of liquid beverages
such as entrances with higher requirements
for air cleanliness
(with exclusion conditions)
Centralized disinfection
of tableware and drinking utensils
Nutritional supplementary food
for pregnant women and nursing mothers
Product
Area
Basis
Packaged drinking water
Clean work area
Sanitary regulations (2018)
Beverages
Sanitary regulations (2016)
Packaging room
Sanitary regulations (2021)
Dairy products
Clean work area
Review details (2010)
Special medical formula milk powder
Clean work area
Review details (2019)
Infant formula milk powder
Clean work area
Review details (2022)
Infant supplementary food
Clean work area
Review details (2017)
Clean work area
Shanxi review details (2023)
Premixed powder for food
Clean work area
Quanzhou review details (2023)
Why should a secondary changing room be set up?
The changing room can be said to be a buffer zone for people flow in different areas (including the outside world and the production area,
and between different working areas). Its purpose is to ensure that when the staff enters a higher clean area, their personal hygiene can
meet certain requirements and will not bring hygiene hazards to the workshop.
The purpose of setting up a secondary changing room is also for this purpose. WONE sorted out the cleanliness requirements of areas with
secondary changing room settings in the industry standards. From this, we can see that not all clean working areas in the food industry
need to set up secondary changing rooms. The purpose of setting up secondary changing rooms is based on the maintenance of a relatively
"demanding" cleanliness level.
Filling protection area static air cleanliness (suspended particles and sedimentation bacteria should reach
10,000 mesh, and the filling area should reach 100 mesh; or the filling protection area static overall air
cleanliness reaches 1000 mesh
Meet the requirements of GB15979: the total number of bacterial colonies in the air of the assembly and
packaging workshop ≤ 2500 cfu/m³
The total number of colonies in the air of the clean working area should be controlled below 30 CFU/dish
(determined by the natural sedimentation method in GB/T 18204.1) and submit an annual air cleanliness
test report issued by a qualified inspection agency.
The air cleanliness (suspended particles, settling bacteria) of the clean working area should reach the
100,000-level production standard when static.
The requirements for special diets are more complicated and are not listed here one by one. The "Infant Formula Milk Powder Production
Product
Regional cleanliness related index requirements
Packaged drinking water
Beverage
Clean working area Settling bacteria (static) ≤ 10 / (φ90 mm·0.5h)
Centralized disinfection of tableware (drinking utensils)
Dairy products
Premixed powder for food
License Review Rules (2022 Edition)" stipulates that the air cleanliness of the clean working area and the quasi-clean working area shall
comply with the "National Food Safety Standard Powdered Infant Formula Good Manufacturing Practice" (GB 23790), and the air cleanliness in
the clean operation area must be dynamically controlled.
What are the special requirements for secondary changing rooms?
Secondary changing rooms are not just secondary changing rooms, but often represent a series of behaviors that enhance hygiene. Therefore,
there are many special requirements for secondary changing rooms and their related facilities that need to be paid attention to.
|
Products |
Special requirements for secondary changing rooms and related facilities |
|
Packaged drinking water |
Set up secondary changing rooms Set up air shower facilities Shoe changing facilities or work shoes and boots disinfection facilities
Hand washing, drying and disinfection facilities. |
|
Beverages |
Set up secondary changing rooms Hand washing and disinfection facilities, Shoe changing (wearing shoe covers) facilities or work shoes and boots disinfection facilities
Air shower facilities should be set up when necessary. |
|
Centralized disinfection of tableware (drinking utensils) |
Set up secondary changing rooms Set up running water hand washing, drying and disinfection facilities. |
|
Dairy products |
Set up disinfection station before entering the clean work area |
|
Special medical formula foods |
The secondary changing room should be equipped with a blocking shoe cabinet, an independent clean work area work clothes storage cabinet and disinfection facilities, and the work clothes before and after use should be store separately.
The doors on both sides of the different clean level areas corresponding to the changing room should be prevented from being opened at the same time.
The air cleanliness of the room where the work clothes of the clean work area are changed should meet the requirements of the clean work area. |
|
Infant formula milk powder |
In the secondary changing room, a blocking shoe cabinet or an independent shoe cabinet with blocking facilities, a clean work area work clothes storage cabinet and disinfection facilities should be set up.
The doors of the changing room corresponding to different clean areas should be prevented from being opened at the same time.
The purification process for entering the clean work area is generally to change shoes (or wear shoe covers), change (or not change) the first change of work clothes, hand disinfection (or hand washing and hand disinfection), change the clean work area work clothes, and hand disinfection. If other purification processes are adopted, the purification effect should be verified to ensure that it meets the personnel hygiene requirements. |
|
Premixed powder for food |
The air cleanliness of the changing room should meet the requirements of the clean work area. |
For more information about food industry safety and hygiene, please communicate with us!
