21 CFR § 120.6 - Sanitation standard operating procedures.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t21/s120.6"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "21 CFR § 120.6 - Sanitation standard operating procedures."
title_number: 21
title_name: "Food and Drugs"
section_number: "120.6"
section_name: "Sanitation standard operating procedures."
chapter_name: "FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION"
part_number: "120"
part_name: "HAZARD ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (HACCP) SYSTEMS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "21 U.S.C. 321, 342, 343, 346, 348, 371, 374, 379e, 381, 393; 42 U.S.C. 241, 242l, 264."
regulatory_source: "66 FR 6197, Jan. 19, 2001, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "120"
---


# 120.6 Sanitation standard operating procedures.

(a) *Sanitation controls.* Each processor shall have and implement a sanitation standard operating procedure (SSOP) that addresses sanitation conditions and practices before, during, and after processing. The SSOP shall address:

(1) Safety of the water that comes into contact with food or food contact surfaces or that is used in the manufacture of ice;

(2) Condition and cleanliness of food contact surfaces, including utensils, gloves, and outer garments;

(3) Prevention of cross contamination from insanitary objects to food, food packaging material, and other food contact surfaces, including utensils, gloves, and outer garments, and from raw product to processed product;

(4) Maintenance of hand washing, hand sanitizing, and toilet facilities;

(5) Protection of food, food packaging material, and food contact surfaces from adulteration with lubricants, fuel, pesticides, cleaning compounds, sanitizing agents, condensate, and other chemical, physical, and biological contaminants;

(6) Proper labeling, storage, and use of toxic compounds;

(7) Control of employee health conditions that could result in the microbiological contamination of food, food packaging materials, and food contact surfaces; and

(8) Exclusion of pests from the food plant.

(b) *Monitoring.* The processor shall monitor the conditions and practices during processing with sufficient frequency to ensure, at a minimum, conformance with those conditions and practices specified in part 110 of this chapter and in subpart B of part 117 of this chapter that are appropriate both to the plant and to the food being processed. Each processor shall correct, in a timely manner, those conditions and practices that are not met.

(c) *Records.* Each processor shall maintain SSOP records that, at a minimum, document the monitoring and corrections prescribed by paragraph (b) of this section. These records are subject to the recordkeeping requirements of § 120.12.

(d) *Relationship to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.* Sanitation standard operating procedure controls may be included in the HACCP plan required under § 120.8(b). However, to the extent that they are implemented in accordance with this section, they need not be included in the HACCP plan.

[66 FR 6197, Jan. 19, 2001, as amended at 80 FR 56167, Sept. 17, 2015]