microbial florain papermachinesthereis no single biocide that wouldalone be
effectivein microbial control. Resistance of microbes is a commonly faced
problem. Furthermore for environmental reasonsnew methodsare constantly
researched.Todaythe focusis moreon the combineduse of severalcontrol
methods. The extreme importance of goodhousekeepingin successfulmicrobial
management has beenemphasised.Importanthousekeeping-related precautions
includegood controlof the entireprocessand plantoperation,minimising
unnecessarydelaysfor easilyspoilingmaterials, and cleaningtanks, containers
and machinery sufficientlyand on a regularbasis.The processparametersare
generally not changed in orderto control the microbialgrowth. However,
especially in the tanks of microbiologicallysensitiveraw materials, the rise of
temperature from45 ÎC to 70 ÎC substantially reduces the microbial activity.
24.3.1 Hygieneand safetymanagementsystem
Mostof the paper and packagingplants havea qualitysystemwhich is basedon
ISO 9000 series of standards. Good manufacturing practice (GMP) is a
fundamentalpart of quality controland product safety assurance.GMP identifies
the basicrequirements and sets the basicrulesof operation.Preventive microbial
riskmanagementin the paper and packagingindustryis performedmostly
throughGMPand by building up a hygieneand safety managementsystem
(own-checkingsystem or HACCPprogramme) whichis recommended to be
basedon HACCPconcept. The HACCPprincipleshavebeeninternationally
accepted and approved and detailsof the approach havebeenpublished by, e.g.,
the CodexAlimentarius Commission(CAC,1997;NACMCF, 1998;Ewartt,
2000).Theprerequisites basedon GMP formthe foundationuponwhicha
hygieneand safety management systemcan be built(Fig.24.2).
Control of hazards that are generic, thosethat can havean influence at any
stageof the process and thosethat are not associatedwithspecificprocesspoints
are examples of hazardsthat are controlled underGMP. Conversely, the Critical
Control Points(CCPs) identifiedin HACCPevaluation are strictly associated
withspecific process steps and a monitoringsystemis implementedto ensure
that the threshold levelset by the HACCP teamis met.The HACCP systemis
compatible withthe implementation of totalqualitymanagement(TQM) system
based on the ISO 9000 series of standards. Integration of the HACCP
programme and the ISO 9000qualitymanagementsystemoffersthe best basis
for optimum businessoperations(Unnevehr and Jensen,1999).The HACCP
programme is often also certifiedaccording to standards, e.g. DanishStandard
(1998)or BritishStandard (BRC2001).In recentyears somepublished casesof
applying a HACCP approach on the paper and packaging industry have
appeared (Boveeet al., 1997;Blakistone, 1996;Galeanoet al., 1999;Sjo»berget
al., 2002).
Processphases determined as CCPsthat needsystematiccontroldependon
the nature of the process.Conditions in paperand boardmillsare favourable for
microbial growth as the processincludesmanywet processphases, and several
Managingcontaminationrisksfromfoodpackagingmaterials 387