Hygiene and Quality Control
This section covers Hygiene and Quality Control: GMP, sanitation standard operating procedures, personal hygiene, water and ice quality, cleaning and sanitising, and the sensory, chemical and microbiological tests used to release fish lots. The exam tests practical control points, not definitions alone.
Core rules
- Hygiene is built through GMP and SSOP, not by final inspection. Separate raw and cooked areas, use colour-coded tools, control condensation and pests, and keep floors drained.
- Personal hygiene includes clean outer garments, head cover, no jewellery, hand washing and a health check for food handlers.
- Water and ice must be potable. A common sanitising range for food-contact surfaces is 50-100 ppm available chlorine, with contact time and rinsing as specified.
- QC tests include sensory grading, TVB-N, trimethylamine, peroxide value, free fatty acid, salt, pH, total plate count, coliforms, E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and Vibrio parahaemolyticus.
Worked example
Prepare 200 L of 50 ppm chlorine from 5 percent sodium hypochlorite. Convert 5 percent to 50,000 ppm. Volume of bleach = 200 L x 50 ppm / 50,000 ppm = 0.2 L, or 200 mL. Reasoning: the dilution equation uses the same units on both sides; 5 percent is not 5 ppm.
Traps
- Mixing raw and cooked product on one table.
- Not measuring sanitizer strength or contact time.
- Using contaminated ice because it looks clean.
- Recording a sensory score without a defined score sheet.
- Treating one microbial test as a release certificate for the whole lot.