Union Jack now offers our most popular cleaning and food processing tools
in three new colors. Our FDA-compliant and hygienically designed
shovels, scoops, brushes, silicon bands, buckets /lids,scrapers and wall brackets are
now available in Brown, Lime and Gray. These 22 products are currently available
in the following 12 colors: Pink, Green, Blue, Red, White, Yellow, Orange, Purple,
Black, Brown, Lime and Gray.
There are currently no regulations requiring particular
color choices for your GMPs / HACCP plans, but certain colors are typically
chosen for both practical and helpful purposes. For increased food safety, it’s
recommended to choose a color that contrasts clearly with the food produced. Choose
one color for the cleaning and food handling tools that come into contact with
food, and a different color for equipment and tools that do not. Also, select
one particular color for cleaning drains.
Consider
- More
common colors like green, blue, red, white and yellow for larger color
coded zones where many different kinds of cleaning equipment and food
handling tools are needed (green for non food contact, e.g. floors, and blue for food contact (few foods are blue)
- Less
common colors like pink, orange, purple and lime for high risk / allergen control
in smaller areas that use fewer cleaning equipment and food handling tools (color-coded
bands in these colors on more standard colored tools is also a good
option)
- More
discrete, subtle colors like brown and gray for highly visible areas like hallway
and corridors
- Brown
as a good replacement for wooden products
- Black
for drains and other heavily soiled area (doesn’t show dirt)
Benefit of Color-Coding
- Minimizes
risk of cross-contact and cross-contamination, product rejection/recall,
number of tools required, costs to replace equipment, and language-based
misunderstandings
- Improves
speed of processes and service life of product
- Promotes
a culture of safety, and visually and orderly/safety-focused work areas
Color-Coding Planning
Considerations
- Hazard
Analysis – HACCP plan
- Allergens
- assign a specific color code to the tools and equipment that come into
contact with each allergen
- Zones - facility and production line level
- Processes
Helpful Hints
- Use
contrasting colors to easily ID any small pieces of tools or bristles
- Use
colors that are color-blind friendly (high contrast colors/shades)
- Avoid
mixing colors on the tools (use the same color for handles and heads)
- Keep
your color-coding simple and logical; don’t use too many colors
- Color-code the tools according to the storage areas (wall brackets, shadow boards)
- Use
good signage to support your color-coding
- Fully
color-code and communicate the plan clearly
- Follow
through with the plan and set up a maintenance plan to follow
Check out our additional Color-Coding blog topics at
Understanding Color-Coding Basics - FSMA / HACCP Compliance and 7 Steps to Color-Coding in Your Brewery
If you need help finding colors for a particular product,
want samples, or would like to setup PO terms, just reach out to us!
Union Jack -- Your Partner in FSMA /HACCP
Compliance
