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Hygiene in direct marketing? Follow these 5 requirements!
Katharina Rösner
In the regionals direct marketing there are various sales channels setting different hygiene requirements.
The opening of a farm café requires registration as part of primary agricultural production, but not approval. An entry in the craft roll is not necessary if the café is run on an ancillary basis. For a main company, you would need a master craftsman's certificate. Approval is also waived for farm shops, which are led in sideline. For vending machines you need a business registration as well as registration with the competent food authority, as you sell food.
Every food processing plant requires a HACCP concept. To do this, consider which points in the processing process are critical due to potential contamination and which measures. You can take action to prevent them. The measures are documented and certified. such a HACCP concept is also required for farms.
In addition, you should not sell goods which best before date is exceeded. You must check the date regularly in order to be able to offer your customers the best goods as possible. You should also sort the goods by the best before date so that the ones that expire earlier are ahead.
Shelves in farm shops have to be clean at all times. This is important for hygienic reasons, but also because of the appeal of clean outlays and shelves to customers. After all, you don't want to come into contact with crumbs or anything like that while shopping. But the same applies to your shelves in the storage rooms. You must also store unpackaged goods in containers that are suitable for the contents. They must also be sealed and date stamped. Here, too, the goods are sorted after the best before date, i.e. by first-in-first-out (FIFO) principle: Products that expire earlier are ahead, those with the later expiration date behind, as it is also usually handled in food retail.
Vending machines must also be kept clean. The Display and surfaces which customers touch, should be cleaned or disinfected regularly. You also should remove heavy soiling regularly as part of a visual cleaning, whereas thorough cleaning is required every three months. In addition, regular checks are also a good idea in order to reassure the assortment: Which products are bought frequently, which rarely? Which are worthwhile, which are not and should you perhaps make a change?
The big advantage of vending machines is their 24/7 shopping experience. Conversely, this means that they should look beautiful at all times, because the condition determines whether customers buy something or not. The vending machines are often located in a type of hut, a salesroom, and should look just as appealing. Because the sales area represents direct contact with your customers at the point of sale. For a flawless shopping experience you also should check the quality regularly and refill the product range. Basic cleanings are required twice a year, maintenance cleanings are carried out more frequently around the surfaces, to clean interior surfaces and terrain. During deep cleaning, the air filter should also be cleaned of impurities in order to maintain energy efficiency and prevent damage. It also makes a good time, the price tags and the rates to check.
You should control and document the temperature of the vending machines every day because the goods must be properly cooled. This is also important for interim storage when you do the maintenance cleaning. However, temperature also plays a role at all other points in the cold chain. This applies both to the storage of the goods, whether fresh, processed or unprocessed, and to transportation. Of course, it depends on the products. Foods such as flour or pasta have a long shelf life. Milk or dairy products should be stored at a maximum of +8 °C. Eggs don't have to be refrigerated, but their shelf life is only up to 28 days after the date of laying and must be delivered to consumers by the 21st day. After the 18th day, you must also refrigerate them between 5 and 8 degrees. By the way: Once refrigerated, it's better to keep them refrigerated.
Compliance with cold chains also applies to your goods on market stand. Here, for example, it is important to ensure that perishable goods like milk, fish and meat are refrigerated and hygienically packaged. The floor and walls of the sales trolley must also be tiled to ensure easy cleaning. To sell them loose, you need a certificate in accordance with the Infection Protection Act. Customers are not allowed to touch the goods.
A farm café requires even more cleaning because tableware, work surfaces and devices such as coffee machines must be cleaned. You should clean coffee makers and their components daily. The surfaces that come into contact with dairy products should be wiped with cloths that you use exclusively for these surfaces - to avoid contamination.
Your employees need a certificate of hygiene instruction from the health department, which you should always have ready in case there are checks. You and your staff must always wash and disinfect hands. It is also important, for example, to wear cups only on the handles and avoid direct physical contact with customers.
The hygiene regulations vary depending on the sales channel of your regional direct marketing. Neatness, warehousing and refrigeration, however, play an important role for vending machines, farm shops, and farm cafés. Before you get started, you need to be well informed about what needs to be considered in detail. If you are still looking for a suitable softwares for your direct marketing, take a look at FrachtPilot, book a free webinar to get to know us or try FrachtPilot for free. We're looking forward to seeing you!
