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The Ultimate Guide to Safety and Hygiene for Home
Bakers
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Introduction
Registration of Food Business
What is FSSAI?
Is FSSAI Registration for Home Bakers mandatory?
Best Safety and Hygiene Practices to follow
Personal Hygiene
Always wash utensils and cooking surfaces
Hygiene Protocols
Equipment Maintenance
Food Storage
Training
Conclusion
Table of Contents
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Introduction
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Introduction
The bakery business is known for having the
highest standards of food safety and sanitation.
One minor misstep in handling foods and your
bakery can easily turn into a nightmare. So, what
can you do? How can you avoid being just another
recall statistic in the number of bakeries shut
down for failing your department of health food
safety inspection? This ultimate guide is aimed
at home bakers that use domestic premises for
their business. In this guide, we will outline
best practices that your bakery business can
follow to ensure handling food safely. You have
the creativity, passion, and drive to make an
ultra-successful bakery. Now allow us to guide
you through some of the more difficult aspects of
the food safety and inspection service components
of your business. Following are the suggested
standards that will help you comply with the
relevant Food Safety Standards.
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Registration of Food Business
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Why is FSSAI Registration necessary?
What is FSSAI? FSSAI stands for the Food Safety
and Standards Authority of India. This authority
implements the Food Safety and Standards Act,
2006 and Food Safety and Standards Regulations,
2011. This Authority is to ensure food
standardization and to make sure that people who
do sell food within India do so with some basic
safety standards, making the food safe to consume
for the general public. This authority covers a
large base of businesses - right from restaurants
and pubs and home bakers too. They have different
requirements depending on how many people you are
serving, your annual turnover, whether you have a
storefront location or seating area for your
customers, etc. Your food safety is guaranteed by
them. FSSAI Registration acts as a seal of
approval and confidence for customers.
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Why is FSSAI Registration mandatory?
Is FSSAI Registration for Home Bakers
mandatory? Yes! The law in India mandates FSSAI
registration and getting this will ensure you
have your home bakery license. If you avoid it,
you may face legal issues. You will not be able
to sell your products online through any delivery
app without this registration. The FSSAI could
ban you from continuing your business in the
future and impose a fine on you. Moreover, it
gives your customers trust in your products
because of the seal of approval by a government
institution, and protects you from unwanted
client trouble later on. If your clients come
back to you citing any quality-related issue, you
can always fall back on your FSSAI registration.
This shows that you take all the required steps
to ensure hygiene and safety while baking.
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Best Safety and Hygiene Practices
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Personal Hygiene
Personal hygiene may seem like an obvious food
safety best practice but is sometimes overlooked.
Some bakery owners and employers are so worried
about the food safety of the products and
ingredients without realizing that they
themselves could be the issue. Proper food
preparation and sanitation begins with every
individual in the bakery who may be handling the
products. By paying careful attention to personal
hygiene, it can make all the difference when
keeping the food free of any bacteria or
pathogens that exist on the baker. By being the
owner of the bakery, the onus is on you to
establish those strict rules and guidelines that
you expect every employee to follow.
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Always wash utensils and cooking surfaces
One major hazard to food safety is dirty utensils
being used over and over. A big mistake you want
to avoid is cross-contaminating your products by
not properly cleaning utensils, cooking surfaces,
and cutting boards. This rule can be hard to
follow when the workday gets busy and hectic and
you feel you do not have time to wash something
in hot soapy water every time you use it
however, by cross-contaminating, you are running
the risk of infecting a customer with a foodborne
illness, which is extremely risky for a new
bakery. In addition to cross-contaminating,
dirty utensils and surfaces can also attract many
unwanted customers to your bakery namely rats
and insects. All it takes is one sighting of
these pests by customers or a public health
inspector and your dream is over. By making sure
you are regularly doing a thorough cleaning of
your kitchen, you are putting yourself in the
best spot you can to defend against this issue.
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Hygiene Protocols

• Wear clean clothes
• Wear hair nets throughout the workday.
• Gloves should always be worn when handling
  products.
• Constantly wash your hands.
• One of the easiest ways a bakery can fail a food
  safety inspection is by the employees not
  following your rules of keeping clean.

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Equipment Maintenance
When you had a dream of opening up a bakery, you
probably pictured yourself creating everything
carefully by hand. As you grew closer to living
this dream and your bakery grew to where it is
now, you realized that you will need the help of
machines to keep up with the constant demand for
your products. Oftentimes, bakers rely on
mixers, dough sheeters, and bread slicers to
prepare their goods efficiently. As handy as
these machines can be, they can often be
cumbersome to clean. However, it is crucial you
take the time to properly rid the equipment of
any and all food bits and leftovers from the
previous job. Not only can this be another
potential cross-contamination hazard, but a lack
of maintenance on your equipment can also keep it
from running efficiently or it may even break
down, leading to a costly fix.
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Equipment Maintenance
Another piece of equipment that is vital to
maintain upkeep and cleanliness is your proofing
cabinets. This machine often creates a warm
environment. While this is perfect for getting
your bread to rise, it is also the ideal
temperature for bacteria to grow and develop. By
washing out these cabinets with warm water and
soap, you can ensure you are following the food
safety policies and your products are coming out
safe for the customers.
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Food Storage

• Maybe the most important aspect of food safety
  and sanitation is proper food storage and keeping
  everything to meet regulatory standards. A few
  important things to keep in mind include
• Food needs to be clearly labelled and employ a
  first-in, first-out policy. This means using the
  older, still usable, ingredients before the newer
  ones.
• Have your employees complete a thorough training
  on proper labelling and food storage to help keep
  up with labelling procedures.
• Food storage units should be regularly inspected,
  and all old food needs to be properly disposed of
  to avoid potential food poisoning.

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Conclusion
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Conclusion
You may create the most delicious products
around, but if you practice poor food safety
practices, you will not last long in this
industry. By following these food safety best
practices you can ensure a successful and safe
bakery business. Interested in learning more
about Food Safety and Hygiene and how we can help
your bakery business? Connect with Equinox Labs
to understand how to comply with the regulations
and maintain food safety and hygiene through
testing and inspections to make an impact in your
business.
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In the case you have any queries or questions,
feel free to connect with the experts on
91 8976974309
contact_at_equinoxlab.com
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