FRESNO, Calif. — May 22, 2017 — AmeriPride Services Inc. today announced its Fresno branch is one of the first uniform and linen facilities to earn TRSA’s ‘Hygienically Clean Food Safety’ designation. This voluntary industry certification provides third-party verification that products cleaned in the plant meet hygiene standards appropriate for food service companies.

“This achievement shows our ongoing commitment to our food service customers by demonstrating that our production facility meets all industry guidelines for processing garments and other textiles,” said Steve Plescia, general manager of the Fresno branch. “We want our customers to have confidence that our facilities meet and exceed their expectations and adhere to industry standards for hygiene and safety.”

Requirements for certification include on-site inspections and ongoing microbial testing to confirm zero presence of harmful bacteria. Certification verifies textiles cleaned in these facilities meet established industry standards for animal processing, dairies, fruit and vegetable, bakeries, grain and other food and beverage industry segments.

Independent, third-party inspections also confirm employees are properly trained and protected, managers understand legal requirements and the facility is OSHA-compliant. To maintain their certification, a processing plant must pass quarterly testing to ensure product quality is consistently maintained.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices are also examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process, as well as adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives.

“Congratulations to AmeriPride and their Fresno management team on the attainment of this industry milestone,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “Their customers can rest assured that AmeriPride goes to exceptional lengths to prevent human illness and ensure the cleanliness of its products.”

The Fresno branch was the first AmeriPride facility and one of the first commercial laundries to earn this certification nationwide. AmeriPride is also the largest company to earn Clean Green certification, which ensures products at all of its facilities are processed in an environmentally friendly manner.

Posted May 22, 2017

Source: AmeriPride Services

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — May 19, 2017 — An exhibit at the recent Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) annual meeting in Washington promoted the value of doing business with a Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified launderer. More than 120 attendees learned how the certification verifies laundries’ best management practices (BMPs) and quantifies laundered product cleanliness.

The display marked the first such promotion of Hygienically Clean Healthcare to an outpatient medical market. Previous exhibits touted the certification to hospital audiences: the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) and Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). Like members of those groups, most ASCA participants interviewed were industry customers, but represented a wider variety of professions, including M.D. owners and these job titles:

• Administrator;
• Business Manager;
• CEO, President, CFO, COO;
• Chief Medical Officer;
• Clinical Coordinator, Director;
• Nursing Director; and
• Regional Director, vice president.

Roughly 10 percent of the visitors to the Hygienically Clean exhibit on May 3-5 expressed concern about the product and service quality of their linen, uniform and facility services providers. Using a Hygienically Clean certified launderer addresses quality concerns, they were told, as inspectors focus on a facility’s quality assurance manual as the hub of control measures (BMPs) that minimize potential for error. In addition, unlike Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) certification, Hygienically Clean microbial testing measures finished product quality, enforcing a total microbial content ceiling, including yeasts, molds and bacteria.

Visitors received copies of the Hygienically Clean Healthcare standard and the brochure that explains benefits of using such a certified launderer. Also on hand was the new white paper, Environmental Safety in Outpatient Care, which provides hyperlinks to a variety of documents to aid in the prevention of transmission of environmental pathogens. Visitors also were welcome to a copy of The Six C’s: Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment, a training video for personnel provided on a flash drive. Both represent Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified laundries’ commitment to sharing textile product management expertise with customers so they make more effective and efficient use of linen and uniform services.

A laundry’s QA documentation is the focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points that minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected;
• Managers understand legal requirements;
• OSHA-compliant; and
• Physical plant operates effectively.

The Hygienically Clean standard provides for two inspections every three years. OSHA compliance is closely examined, particularly toxic and hazardous substance handling rules governing textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials. Microbial testing ensures that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Posted May 19, 2017

Source: TRSA

WASHINGTON — May 18, 2017 — Today, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally notified Congress that President Trump intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

“The U.S. textile industry welcomes President Trump’s decision to renegotiate NAFTA,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Auggie Tantillo.

“It is in America’s national interest to modernize the agreement,” Tantillo continued.

“Let me be clear: NAFTA is vital to the prosperity of the U.S. textile industry, and NCTO steadfastly supports continuing the agreement. With that said, NAFTA can be improved to incentivize more textile and apparel jobs and production in the United States, Canada, and Mexico,” Tantillo added.

“Eliminating loopholes that shift production to third-party countries like China and devoting more customs enforcement resources to stop illegal third-country transshipments are two changes that would make the agreement better,” Tantillo said.

“We look forward to working with our industry partners throughout the NAFTA region to improve this agreement for all,” Tantillo finished.

NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

• U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 565,000 in 2016.
• The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $74.4 billion last year, a nearly 11% increase since 2009.
• U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $26.3 billion in 2016.
• Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2 billion in 2015, the last year for which data is available.

NAFTA Textile and Apparel Trade Flows

Source for data in table: U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel

Posted May 18, 2017

Source: NCTO — National Council of Textile Organizations