In this episode of Behind Clean Lines, we invite you on a trip. A trip around your own food factory accompanied by your very own hygienic assessment committee. 

Or at least, we pretend. 

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Thomas Buehler from Ecolab, who will guide us through the different caveats, pitfalls, and hidden dangers in keeping your processing plan hygienic, and we’ll look at what initiatives you can set in motion to alleviate the risk from microbes, bacteria, and other contaminants. 

In the episode, you’ll learn about: 

• What are the focus areas of a production plan assessment.
• How hygienic assessments improve quality and profitability.
• The differences in assessing open vs. closed systems.
• How to prioritize and address food safety concerns effectively.
• How to engage large teams in maintaining food safety standards.

Guest:
The guest today is Dr. Thomas Buehler, Technical Excellence Specialist at Ecolab Europe. 
You host is Mikkel Svold.

Episode Contents
Listed below are the most essential timestamps from the podcast episode to make it easier for you to find the topics that interest you. 

00:08 Introduction by Mikkel Svold
01:07 Explanation of Hygiene Assessment
02:17 Initial Steps in Assessments
03:25 Differences in Assessing Open vs. Closed Systems
04:07 Necessity of Food Production Assessments
05:18 Report Delivery and Prioritization
07:01 Addressing High-Priority Issues
08:04 Customer Delays and Challenges
09:30 Balancing Productivity and Food Safety
11:10 Conducting Self-Assessments
14:22 Engaging Large Teams in Food Safety
15:45 Closing Advice and Key Takeaways

Production
This podcast is brought to you by NGI.
This podcast is produced by Montanus.