Starting a food company
is the most common and easy thing for people who want to invest a little money
and expect big return. The food industry is large and can never go bad because
food is a necessity and Nigeria has the population to feed!
Yes there are plenty entrepreneurs
and many of them venture into the food industry since it is easy to think the
profit will be quick and the market is large. Then they face the reality, the
food sector demands a level of professionalism, have rules to be met and the demands
are strictly to be followed! It is at this point that startups see Nigeria as a
problem and think the requirements are too much.
Food is a life danger
product, if not properly regulated, it could lead to serious injury and death.
To avoid all the personal questions people are asking me, I will list the basic
requirements of the food industry and the things you need to know about them I
will also try to justify why you need these requirements for your start up food
business. Let me however say that some products require more requirements than
stated here and some may have exceptions to what I am about to say.
- Factory location and arrangement: I have seen many people ask me if they can not produce from their veranda, kitchen or backyard and I responded no. the food industry regulation requires that you have a designated factory premises where your production will be carried out. It also requires that the factory should not be pen to animals in range and must be demarcated to have different sections(at least three) for different activities. The facility is supposed to have a cloak room, a raw material store, production room, packaging/finished product store as well as rest room. A detailed write up on factory arrangement will be done later. Factory is also expected not to be located inside domestic premises! There must be a distinct demarcation between a domestic premise and a factory if at all they are close and within the range of each other.
- Production personnel: you need to have production personnel who are medically fit to work in a food factory. You will carry out a food handler’s test on all food production personnel to be sure they do not have any communicable disease. There must also be at least one of your production personnel with relevant qualification for the job as well as work experience (this requirement is not always serious for SMEs in Nigeria). Watch out for the post on who should work in a food factory in Nigeria.
- Machines and equipment: the food industry is peculiar in the type of equipment and machines you need to use for production. Any equipment to be used for food production must be made of food grade material (usually stainless steel) and the surfaces must be without crevices and holes. A major requirement for the machineries is the cleaning in place(CIP) mechanism. Equipment must be able to be cleaned while it is in position of use.
- Protective clothing: many people hate me for this in food factory, they say heat is too much or say gloves are not making the work easier. Top coats are very important in the food industry and they must be white. Many startups pay a lot of fine because they use other colours. I think the idea of the white is to make sure dirt is not covered up and the cloth is kept clean. Other equipment like gloves and protective footwear may also be important depending on the environment and type of product.
- Safety equipment: in case of emergency and accidents, there is need to have a well equipped first aid box and active fire extinguisher. I usually advice that you do not put pain reliever in your first aid box so it doesn’t lead to drug abuse.
- Standard Operating procedures: this is where people get quacks as consultants! Any consultant that writes your SOP for you is acting unprofessional unless you dictate and he writes it for you. SOP is very essential and I usually recommend that each personnel working for you should be made to go through his part so as to create and maintain efficiency.
- Raw material/product testing: a proper record of your raw material acquisition and final product produced must be properly kept. This is to ensure that you can easily trace back. It is also required that you should test the raw materials to be sure it meets quality requirements. Quarterly in a year, you are expected to subject your product to a comprehensive analysis carried out by an IPAN certified Scientist. You are also expected to have a laboratory to check your products daily and per batch that they meet requirement(this is not also very tight on SMEs)
- Pallets: you should not put your raw materials and finished product on the bare floor! You must provide pallets where the products can be arranged properly.
- Packaging: this is another very important part in the food industry. Food packaging is expected to be air tight. The sealing must be as not to allow any liquid or gas have access to the product. The packaging material must also be of food grade(E.G LLDPE in sachet water as against the HDPE formerly used)
- Labeling: food products must be labeled correctly all the time. You are to state a descriptive address of manufacturer. You are to state a descriptive address of manufacturer. Many start ups just put phone numbers and city of production, that is clearly wrong! You are to put a traceable address on the label of your product. The label must also show your size, the constituents of your products, batch number, manufacturing date as well as best before/expiry date as the case may be.
I
will be discussing registration and certification of products later, I hope you
find this useful, feel free to share and make your comments. Of course call any
of our outlets for help on your product at any time, we are here to work for
you. You can also drop your comments here or ask your questions, we will be
glad to answer
HEPHKEJI CONSULTS
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