ALEXANDRIA, Va. — November 29, 2016 — TRSA awarded 10 Hygienically Clean designations to textile services facilities this month, a record pace for the three-year-old program. Initially dedicated to certifying healthcare laundries, Hygienically Clean expanded to set standards for laundry for food processing and food service businesses, which accounted for half the November certifications.
By inspecting laundry plants, Hygienically Clean verifies that laundries’ processes adhere to the program’s best management practices (BMPs). Through third-party biological testing, the program quantifies laundered product cleanliness for compliance with its standards. BMP and microbial-level requirements vary according to industry served.
One operation, Crown Linen Service, Brockton, Mass., earned both the food safety and food service designations in November. They also renewed their Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification. Other companies receiving certifications during the month:
- Angelica Textile Services, Inc., healthcare: Austin, Texas; Columbia, S.C.; Durham, N.C.; Ooltewah, Tenn.;
- Crothall Laundry Services, healthcare: La Mirada, Calif.;
- Huebsch Services, food safety: Eau Claire, Wis.; and
- UniFirst Corp., food safety: Kernersville N.C., Richmond, Va.
“Hygienically Clean has become the fastest-growing textile services certification by focusing on processes and outcomes,” observed TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci. It’s the only laundry certification in North America that does both, modeled after programs found elsewhere in the world, such as those of the European Committee for Standardization and the German-based Certification Association for Professional Textile Services.
BMPs are driven by TRSA, the world’s largest association of textile services operations, with unmatched connectivity to laundry professionals, providing Hygienically Clean with unparalleled access to emerging best practices and technologies. Laundries who receive the certification document their compliance with legal, voluntary and professional standards in accordance with BMPs for sorting, handling, processing and finishing reusable linens and garments.
Most launderers have sought the Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification for the benefit of their customers who are medical providers, with 100 plants receiving this designation. Hygienically Clean Food Safety and Hygienically Clean Food Service also emphasize achieving BMPs verified through facility inspection and microbial content standards verified through testing of reusable textiles. The food-related certifications add evaluation of a laundry’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices and other techniques relevant to handling and processing textile products for this market, including testing of laundry work surfaces and adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directives. Some 25 plants have received one or more Hygienically Clean food designation.
In the past two years, 100 percent of Hygienically Clean plants have renewed their certification, reflecting launderers’ confidence in the designation as meeting customer requirements for clean textile products and an accredited laundry provider.
Posted November 29, 2016
Source: TRSA
