Sanjeev Sareen, CEO of Trident F&B Consultants (P) Limited, is one of the most renowned mithai & food consultants in India. With 45+ years of rich experience, he has done more than 750 projects in the mithai & food sector.
Because good habits begin at home, home prepared meals are the safest option. However, whether we visit a sweets store or any other food establishment, we expect the brand from which we eat mithai, snacks, or any other food item to adhere to safety and sanitary standards. The sweets store owner may sell sweets without creating food poisoning or other health problems by following the SOPs for safety and hygiene in mithai, namkeen, and food processing.
The presence of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms and pathogens contaminates mithai and other food products. So, what are the methods and techniques of regulating it and making mithai and namkeen completely safe to consume without worry of getting a terrible stomach or illness? The solution lies in the end-to-end process’s secret, which contains five golden points, the most important of which are as follows:
1. Obtaining basic raw materials
2. Processing
3. Preparation
4. Storage
5. Dispensing/serving/selling
As a result, production heads/mithai kaarigars must follow the following guidelines:
1. Obtaining high-quality raw materials from reputable businesses and securing quality certificates with the products.
2. Getting milk, khoya, ghee, varq & dry fruit, and other ingredients tested by in-house lab.
3. Cleaning and drying cooking utensils, dusters and rugs.
4. Getting SWAB tests done for the mithai/food handlers.
5. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is an important factor to consider. It is a manufacturing process that begins with the raw material and ends with the finished product, in which all contamination sources during the preparation process that might cause food poisoning are thoroughly investigated in order to produce a healthy/consumable mithai and namkeen.
6. The sanitation of the manufacturing environment is also critical. The entire facility should be extensively investigated and monitored, with immediate actions such as disinfection of the namkeen line, plant, and machinery being prioritised.
7. Exhaust and fresh air are quite important in preserving hygiene. The mithai and namkeen manufacturing areas should have a highly adaptable exhaust and fresh air system with HEPA filters to guarantee that no airborne micro substances are present, and Treated Fresh Air (TFA) should be pumped into the production facility.
8. Because the shelf life of sweets varies depending on the finished product, such as ghee sweets, kaju sweets, khoya sweets, Bengali sweets, and others, entrepreneurs must closely monitor all finished items.
9. When handling sweets, employees must follow basic hygiene procedures such as washing their hands, wearing gloves, headgear, and masks, among other things.
10. Pest management should be carried out at night when no processing or production is taking place at the site.