While everyone is practicing social distancing and remote buying…does it occur to anyone to wonder how clean the things they’re buying actually are? Well..I think about that all the time, but that’s because I’m a hygiene freak. If you know me well, you are surely rolling your eyes, because you KNOW that if you know me at all. But..since hygiene practices in general have come into everyone’s recent awareness, I thought it might be worthwhile to share with you what our practices are to keep our food products and you safe, healthy and uncontaminated from gluten, allergens, dust, pests and “other contaminants", since the beginning of time, now and always.
Purity standards. We order from vendors with stringent purity standards. Most of our raw ingredients are made in facilities that only process that one thing. This keeps the possibility of contamination to an absolute minimum. Most of our vendors test for gluten and some test for other allergens. Some of them, in addition to being organic and non GMO certified, test for glyphosate, to make sure that your foods are not contaminated. We have dropped suppliers and reformulated products when a supplier failed to adhere to our standards. We’re proud of this. We care about purity and keeping your family healthy and safe as much as you do. After all, we eat our own products and we care about our own family’s safety too.
Receiving. When we receive shipments, we place the shipping boxes or containers that have been outside on surfaces that will not come into contact with clean products, utensils or anything used for food production. We then repackage the shipped product into clean, sterilized containers for storage before being made into our food products.
Cleaning. We use a shared commercial kitchen, and we take cleanliness very seriously. Before we start food prep, we scrub the entire kitchen—every surface gets cleaned and sanitized. The sink gets special attention. We wash and scrub out the 3 compartment sink with the available kitchen sponge, rinse and repeat. Then we wash and scrub it again with our own dedicated kitchen sponge, rinse and repeat. Even though the kitchen is outwardly clean when we find it, this gives us peace of mind that we’re eliminating any invisible pathogens or contaminants. The other kitchen tenant is gluten free, but not plant based or allergen free. We take these extra measures to make sure your food is clean and pure.
Hygiene. Our employees bathe and put on freshly washed clothes before reporting to work. They don’t have to be gluten free themselves but keeping body and clothes clean is a sure way of preventing contamination of any kind. They of course wear hair nets and gloves. Our glove etiquette is the way it’s SUPPOSED to be. Wearing gloves is all fine and good, but not if you scratch your head, touch your phone or your earbuds, pick your nose or drink your soda while using them. Our employees do not eat or drink, touch their clothes or touch ANYTHING else while making food. There is a separate break area for all refreshment needs, and we make sure they get enough breaks to stay hydrated, healthy and happy. Regular glove changes are part of the regimen. If you/me/we/I touch garbage, a cell phone, a countertop that hasn’t been washed or the outside of a food container that hasn’t just been sterilized, we throw away that set of gloves, wash hands and put on fresh gloves again. You get the idea. You could say we’re obsessive about hygiene. I would hope every food company would be. But I can’t speak for others.
Contact with food. Our hands don’t touch your food, period. Occasionally our gloves do, but only when important or appropriate, and they’re only ever fresh gloves as described above.
Storage. We store ingredients in washed, dried, sterilized food buckets. They have snap on lids and if there were ever a pest infestation, we’d know. We’ve never had one. Of course the finished products are heat sealed, then stored in a cool, dry place.
Anyway. You get the idea. I just wanted you to know we’ve always been “onto it.” Here’s to your happiness and health!