Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)

food processing

Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)

Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) or Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) are mandatory practices developed by the FDA to ensure basic processing and sanitary requirements are met to make safe food. Your GMPs are the first line of defense in keeping your product safe. Regardless of the product type, ALL food manufacturers and service professionals are required to follow cGMP according to the Code of Food Regulations (CFR). 

 Health inspectors will be looking for implementation of these practices. Failure to follow these practices puts your product and business at risk. cGMP cover details and areas of the facility in the following categories as stated in CFR Title 21: Part 117,Subpart B: 

  • General Personnel 
  • Plant and Ground 
  • Sanitary operations 
  • Sanitary Facilities and Controls 
  • Equipment and Utensils 
  • Processes and Controls 
  • Warehousing and Distribution 
  • Holding and Distribution of human food by-products for use as animal food 
  • Default Action levels. 

cGMP’s cover a wide variety of food safety practices- it can be difficult to keep track of all of them. Because of this, it is highly recommended that you print a copy of sections 21 CFR110 and 105 CMR 500  to use as a checklist for your facility. Maintaining written standard operations procedures (SOPs) and cGMPs that detail the instruction protocols for your process can serve as a great resource for your operational team. In addition, recording a log of your operational activities can help verify that your operation is correctly implementing cGMP’s, and can help troubleshoot mistakes that may occur. Furthermore, some food products require certain records to ensure proper food safety throughout your operation. 

Here at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, have created videos to aid in General Personnel such as proper handwashing, training requirements, and employee hygiene. As well as Plant Design outlining practices to clean and maintain a pest-free, healthy, and clean plant facility. 

There are also other trainings that will better equip you with the cGMP (and some courses with more): 

Similar rules, called Good Agriculture Practices (GAPs), are set for those early in the flow of food growers and farm workers.  Learn more about Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).