Good Hygiene Practices along the coffee chain
Module 3.2
The Codex General Principles of
Food Hygiene – Establishment:
design and facilities
Objectives
 To make trainees aware of the importance of
good hygienic design and construction of food
establishments
 To relate the general code to the handling and
processing of coffee
 To create awareness of the roles of different
stakeholders in ensuring good practices
Slide 2
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Content
 Scope and objectives of Section IV of the Codex
General Principles of Food Hygiene
 Discussion of food hygiene principles relevant to
‘Establishment: design and facilities’ and their
application to coffee handling and processing
 Discussion of the roles of producers and
government in ensuring good practices
Slide 3
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Establishment: design and facilities
 Objective of Section IV

Depending on the nature of the operations, and the risks
associated with them, food establishments should be designed
and constructed and equipped to ensure that
• Contamination is minimised
• Appropriate maintenance cleaning and disinfection is
permitted
 Codex definition of establishment:
‘...Any building or area in which food is handled and
the surroundings under the control of the same
management.’
Slide 4
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Establishment: design and facilities
 Section IV of Codex GPFH covers:
 Location of establishments
 Premises and rooms – design, layout and internal
structures
 Design of equipment and its placement in the
establishment
 Supporting facilities and services
Food hygiene considerations are important at the very
first stages of planning a food establishment
Slide 5
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Location of establishments
 Establishments should not be located near
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Slide 6
Polluted areas that pose a serious threat of contaminating food
Areas prone to pest infestation
Areas prone to flooding, high humidity, etc.
Areas from which waste cannot be easily removed
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design and layout of establishments
 Internal design and layout of establishment should
 Permit good hygiene practices
 Minimise possibility of cross contamination
 Raw material (fresh cherries)
 Intermediate product
(parchment, dry cherries)
 Waste (pulp, husk)
 Final product (green beans)
Waste
Raw
materials
 There should be separate
channels for
Work rooms
Offices
End-products
Warehouse
Generalised lay-out for processsing
facility showing product flow
Slide 7
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Layout of facility
 To optimize proper functioning of each
element of procedure
 Pulpers should be located near a clean
water source
 Fermentation vats should be located
near to pulpers
 Waste outlet should be directed away
from production and processing areas
 Drying yards and other processing
areas should be away from
contamination vectors
Slide 8
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design and construction of drying areas
 Coffee drying yards should have
 Adequate capacity
 Smooth drying surfaces
 Adequate provisions for drainage
 Full exposure to sunlight
Slide 9
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design and construction of
fermentation vats
 Fermentation vats should
 Be located in the pulping
house
 Be adequate in number and
capacity
 Have smooth surfaces
 Have a maximum depth of 1m
 Slope gently towards the
outlet
Slide 10
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Internal structures and fittings
 Internal structures should be
 Made of durable materials
 Easy to clean and maintain
Open beams and rafters
accumulate dust
Slide 11
Tiled and smooth surfaces
suitable for cleaning
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Internal structures and fittings
 General considerations
 Walls and partitions should be easily cleaned
 Floors should be constructed to allow adequate cleaning and
drainage
 Ceilings and overhead fixtures should be constructed to
minimise build up of dirt and condensate
 Working surfaces in direct contact with food should be durable
and easy to clean
Slide 12
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Facilities - air quality and ventilation
 Adequate ventilation is required to
 Minimise build-up of dust and husk particles from
handling operations
 Control temperature and prevent condensation
 Dissipate odours that might taint the coffee
Slide 13
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Facilities - lighting
Adequate natural or artificial lighting should be
provided to enable operations to be carried out
satisfactorily
Slide 14
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Facilities - storage
 Adequate storage facilities should be provided
for coffee to permit
 Adequate maintenance and cleaning
 Avoid pest access and harbourage
Slide 15
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Facilities - storage
 Adequate storage facilities should be provided
for coffee to
 Enable food to be protected from contamination
during storage
Thulha - Brazil
Slide 16
Storage in a wet room
with mouldy walls
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Facilities
 Containers for storage of dangerous materials
(fuel, chemicals for cleaning, disinfestation,
etc.) should be clearly marked and safely stored
 Water supply - water of acceptable quality
standard should be available for processing
 Systems carrying unsuitable water should be
separate
 Electricity supply – operators should ensure
alternative sources of electricity in case of cuts
to the central power supply
Slide 17
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Facilities
 Drainage and waste disposal
 Cleaning facilities - should
allow for adequate cleaning
of equipment and facilities
 Personal hygiene facilities adequate toilet,
handwashing and changing
facilities should be provided
for staff
Slide 18
One of a series of ‘pools’ for
treatment of waste water, at
one wet processing facility
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of equipment
Equipment should be
designed and constructed
to ensure that they can be
adequately cleaned and
maintained
Slide 19
Sharp corners and crevices
may create areas where food
material can lodge, making
equipment hard to clean
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of equipment
Where necessary, equipment should be movable or
capable of being disassembled to allow for
maintenance, cleaning, monitoring, etc.
Pulpers used in wet processing
Slide 20
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of equipment
Equipment should be designed such that their operation is
compatible with conditions necessary to ensure food safety
and suitability. Main types of equipment in coffee
processing include
Dryers
Pulpers
Hullers
Sorting equipment
Moisture monitoring equipment
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Several variations of basic coffee processing technology exist and
different equipment may be used
Slide 21
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design features of simple
sun-drying equipment
 Coffee is spread on a support (wire tray, woven mat,
etc.) raised off the ground. Air can circulate freely above
and below the support
 Trays might be movable or fixed
 When raining, trays are moved under a shelter or
covered with plastic or any other material
Slide 22
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of simple solar dryers
Parabolic solar dryers - the
shape of the transparent roof is
more or less cylindrical so as to
concentrate heat in the drying
zone and protect from rain.
Heat cumulates between the
coffee and the plastic and the air
starts to circulate. This dryer is
mounted on a pivot so it can be
turned towards the sun.
Slide 23
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of simple solar dryers
 Various solar dryer designs can give faster
drying times by
 Improving airflow and increasing
temperature of drying air
 Participatory approaches are necessary if
potential advantages of ‘solar
technology’ are to be matched with
farmers’ needs
 Capacity, capital cost, running costs, space
requirement, ease of management, etc.
 For additional information see Section 5
of ‘Introduction to coffee drying [.pdf]’
Slide 24
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of equipment – mechanical dryers
Mechanical batch dryers are used in coffee
drying - primarily for parchment
 Horizontal dryers
 Vertical dryers
 Fixed-bed type dryers
Slide 25
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design features of pulpers
 Traditional designs are ‘drum’ and ‘disc’
pulpers
 Main performance criteria include
 Capacity; separation efficiency; physical damage to
product; durability; ease of maintenance and
cleaning
Slide 26
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design features of pulpers
 Important innovations are
 Low water-use pulpers
 Pulping systems that
accept mixtures of green
and ripe cherry and
separate the ‘greens’
without crushing
Slide 27
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Design of hullers
 Considerations in the selection of a huller
include:
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Slide 28
Capacity
Energy requirement
Efficiency of husk removal
Extent of physical damage to beans
Separation of loose husk
Durability
Ease of maintenance
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Equipment for control and monitoring
Methods for the determination of water in coffee
can be categorised as follows
 Direct
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Removal of water and determination of weight loss
 Indirect
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Some variable that is dependant on moisture is measured
 Empirical subjective
 This includes methods such as biting, shaking and cutting
NB - These empirical methods of moisture determination in coffee
have been shown to be unreliable
Slide 29
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Equipment for control and monitoring
 Factors to be considered include
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Cost
‘Transportability’
Robustness
Stability
Repeatability
Sensitivity
Accuracy
Rapidity
 The choice of method / equipment depends on
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Slide 30
How the equipment is to be used
Who is to use it
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Equipment for monitoring
moisture in the field
 Restricting water
availability is the main
method for control of
mould growth and
development throughout
the coffee chain
 The ‘global coffee project’
has investigated methods
of moisture determination
so as to identify methods
suitable for use in the field
Slide 31
One type of low-cost
moisture meter
investigated under the
‘global coffee project’
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
‘EDABO’
distillation method
of moisture
determination
developed in Brazil
Location of equipment
 Equipment should be
located:
 To permit adequate
maintenance and cleaning
 In accordance with
requirements for proper
functioning
 To facilitate good hygiene
practices, including
monitoring
Slide 32
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Assessment of establishment
 A plant assessment can help processors determine if
facility design is appropriate
 A checklist containing all vital areas and items to be
considered should be prepared
 During the inspection notes should be made in relation
to all points contained in checklist
 Evaluation of the design and construction of the
establishment and facilities should be based on
thorough knowledge of operations and potential hazards
 Corrective action taken according to evaluation
Slide 33
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Assessment of establishment
Local coffee industry
Government
 Establish national standards,
codes of practice, etc.
 Support industry efforts to
meet required regulations
(information dissemination,
new equipment design etc.)
 Provide oversight to ensure
industry compliance
Slide 34
 Collaborate with government in
developing sound and practicable
guidelines and standards
 Entrepreneurs must ensure that
the design of their establishment
is consistent with principles of
food hygiene
 Entrepreneurs must establish
adequate hygiene and GMP
programmes to ensure that
equipment functions properly and
that they do not lead to hazards
in the coffee
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities
Summary
 Inappropriate site selection for coffee processing facilities
can lead to quality and safety problems in the product
 Plant layout should minimize the opportunity for cross
contamination
 Facility design and construction can affect the quality and
safety of coffee
 Equipment must be designed and located so as to facilitate
its correct functioning, sanitation and maintenance
 Government and industry must work together to improve
hygiene conditions of coffee processing establishments
Slide 35
Module 3.2 – The Codex General
Principles of Food Hygiene –
Establishment: design and facilities