Holistic Hygiene: Integrated Environmental & Allergen Monitoring - A New Global Food Safety Standard

Two pillars of an effective food safety program, environmental and allergen monitoring are essential for product quality and public health. Although testing technologies have advanced over the years, there has been little progress toward integrating these critical, yet discrete, processes into a cohesive operating procedure and data-secure reporting system. Until now.

This article will review best practice environmental monitoring and allergen detection methods along with the tool to efficiently harmonize the two: SureTrend ^®. This seamless approach to comprehensive data integrity elevates good hygiene practices to a new global standard.

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Food Safety Pillar 1: Environmental ATP Monitoring

Accuracy, ease of use, time-to-result, and quantified, objective results have made adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence a widely adopted industry standard for rapid environmental monitoring. And with the advent of handheld luminometer technology, operators can quickly and easily verify the efficacy of cleaning protocols.

As an established leader in environmental ATP monitoring and data integrity, the smart Hygiena EnSURE^® Touch luminometer system places surface and water cleanliness verification, as well as indicator organism and enzyme residue testing, in the palm of your hand. Ergonomic and operationally intuitive, EnSURE Touch allows for the convergence of multiple sites and test device results by securely syncing to the SureTrend ^® data analysis program. Complete with dozens of preprogrammed report templates suitable for any food safety program, EnSURE Touch simplifies environmental monitoring with a user-friendly, touch screen graphical interface and industry-leading turn-around.

Learn more about Hygiena ATP Test Advantages.

But environmental monitoring is only half the picture. Recognized as a growing problem in most countries, food allergy affects approximately 2.5% of the worldwide population, with reported prevalence rates ranging from 1% to 10%. In the United States alone, food allergies impact tens of millions, with 1 in 10 adults and 1 in 3 children affected. These alarming statistics emphasize the need for integrated, secure and reliable allergen testing. Fortunately, Hygiena has the optimal solution.

Food Safety Pillar 2: Allergen Testing

From processing to sanitation to testing to educating employees, allergen control is a holistic process that will help prevent recalls, protect consumers and safeguard your brand.

Food allergen testing focuses on cleanliness verification at manufacturing and processing sites. This process includes frequent confirmation that established cleaning procedures effectively remove allergen residues and cross-contaminants. Commonly conducted with a high-sensitivity, qualitative immunochromatographic method, the Hygiena allergen detection lateral flow devices offer consistently reliable performance, with sensitivity thresholds established through FDA and globally recognized practices, including analytical, risk and safety assessment considerations.

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The Hygiena ^® menu of quick allergen detection tests is broad, including the Big 9 allergens and beyond. As a foundational aspect of any food safety program, Hygiena ^® has made it simple to integrate allergen results into one comprehensive cleaning verification SOP via EnSURE^® Touch and SureTrend ^®.

1. Open Allergen App
2. Select Allergen Test Type
3. Enter Test Results & Save

By following this simple 3-step process, allergen results are automatically uploaded to the SureTrend, and coupled with the appropriate EnSURE Touch environmental monitoring results, for optimal cleaning validation and reporting.

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Bringing it All Together: SureTrend ^® Data Analysis and Reporting

EnSURE Touch communicates automatically with SureTrend: a secure, state-of-the-art data storage, scaling, and security monitoring software package. With no additional steps or costs, you can now integrate all your environmental monitoring and allergen results in real-time, from every location, for easy, single dashboard reporting to meet your food safety program goals.

SureTrend Reporting: Use one of 30 preprogrammed reports or create your own from one intuitive dashboard.

Learn more about SureTrend.

The New Holistic Hygiene Paradigm

Foundational to food safety, environmental and allergen results are typically processed independently, and often manually, resulting in multiple procedure documents, risk of reporting error, delayed results and release. Hygiena offers a simple solution.

Our handheld, intuitive EnSURE Touch luminometer easily combines environmental and allergen results from any number of facilities via the secure SureTrend database. The user-friendly dashboard and library of preprogrammed reports further simplify holistic hygiene reporting for effortless safety and compliance.

Get Started Today!

To learn more, contact your local Hygiena sales representative or our team of dedicated service professionals Here.

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Resources

• https://www.worldallergy.org/education-and-programs/education/allergic-disease-resource-center/professionals/food-allergy Accessed Feb 2, 2022.
• Foodallergy.org. Accessed Feb 1, 2022.
• Allergen Detection & Control: Challenges and Strategies. Food Safety Tech. Oct 1, 2018. https://foodsafetytech.com/column/allergen-detection-control-challenges-strategies/. Accessed Feb 14, 2022.