Incorporating a Color-Coding Program

That’s why color coding is often applied to a food processing operation based on sanitation zones. It is critical that the cleaning of a production environment be effective and that the movement of ingredients, personnel, and materials be controlled throughout the environments in a facility. Sanitation zones are defined as: Zone 1—Food contact areas (e.g., utensils, conveyor surfaces, people’s hands/feet, hoses, and items that can come in contact with Zone 1); Zone 2—Non-food contact areas (e.g., equipment panels, aprons, conveyor rollers); Zone 3—Non-food contact areas adjacent to food contact areas (e.g., processing area drains, equipment frames, table legs, and floors); and Zone 4—Remote and/or non-food processing (e.g., non-processing area drains, doorways, walls, and hand-wash stations).

Under this zone-based scenario, let’s suppose there’s a color-coding program for a candy manufacturer. The area of the facility that produces chocolate bars may be designated red, while the area that produces peanut clusters may be designated blue. Then, within each designated area, there may be color assignments based on sanitation zones. For instance, in the chocolate bar area, the equipment and tools within each zone could be: Zone 1—Red (same as area zone color), Zone 2 —Yellow, Zone 3—Green, and Zone 4—Orange. Note, the color assignments mentioned in this article are strictly examples to demonstrate the concept of color coding. Color assignments are not standardized, as each company will choose colors that best suit their product, process, facility, and company objectives. For example, a meat processor for use in direct food contact areas may select white tools, while a processor of flour or white gravy would likely choose a different color, such as blue.

Intuitiveness

Second, make sure your color-coding system is intuitive. This may be the most important advice in developing an effective color-coding program. Too often food processors will designate a different color for every tiny aspect of their food operation, resulting in a myriad of colors. The key is to keep your color-coding assignments simple. Do not over complicate your system with too many colors.

Once you develop a draft of your color-coding plan, it’s a good idea to take a step back and look at the color assignments with fresh eyes. Better yet, ask someone outside of your development team to review the plan and see if they understand where each color should be used. If the system doesn’t immediately make sense, you run the risk of it not being successful.

When considering a color-coding system, it’s also suggested to involve key managers and personnel within your organization to help with its development. A typical team may include plant manager, quality assurance manager, engineering manager, line supervisor, maintenance manager, sanitation manager, and shipping and receiving manager. In addition, if you have someone in charge of maintaining your HACCP plan, then that person may also be included. Don’t discount the importance of gathering input from production line employees who will actually be using the color-coded tools. Their input can be invaluable in helping to identify colors that should or shouldn’t be used (e.g., taking into consideration employees who may be color blind and/or not capable of differentiating between certain colors).

Assuming your color assignments are easily understood, it’s important to properly communicate the details of your color-coding system to your employees. Employees should be instructed on why the program is important and how it should work. They also need to be trained on what to do when a breach in the system occurs. The entire company should be on board with your program’s objective and support it in daily practice.

Here are some other common-sense tips for an intuitive color-coding program:

• Contrast the food being produced. For example, a processor of tomato sauces would most likely want to stay away from using red tools in direct contact with food products. Should a red hand tool, for instance, fall into a mixing vat or tank of tomatoes being processed into spaghetti sauce, it would be difficult to quickly identify it and ensure the tool, in its entirety, was retrieved from the food product.
• Maintain consistency. Be consistent with how you apply your colors. Tools and equipment, as well as walls, floors, and clothing should be considered. If different departments implement more than one color-coding scheme without consultation with each other, it is likely that all of the schemes will fail due to confusion. The application of each color selected should be unique and identify the areas in a process where the risk to be controlled is apparent. The color should be acknowledged by all color-coding schemes and used consistently regardless of the time or place the color may be encountered.
• Match storage unit and tool colors. Mitigating cross-contamination within a food processing facility is further enhanced with proper tool storage. It’s recommended that color-coded storage racks coordinate with the color of the tools stored in each area. Proper tool storage also means tools should not touch walls or floors to maintain sanitary condition and further mitigate cross-contamination and assure food safety.
• Reinforce your color-coding program with proper signage. The more you can communicate with your employees to assure that color-coding standards are followed, the more effective the program will be.

Accessing Proper Tools

Sanitation zone “targets” with different colors for each zone.