Preventing Microbiological Contamination with Product Inspection Equipment

Every year almost 1 in 10 people worldwide fall ill after consuming contaminated food, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) first global estimates of the burden of foodborne diseases in 2015.

By Daniela Verhaeg , Mettler-Toledo

Approximately 90 percent of all foodborne illnesses are caused by microbiological bacteria, with insufficient cleaning and sanitizing programs, as well as poor equipment design, construction and maintenance to blame for many outbreaks.

Hygienically designed product inspection equipment can play a critical role in helping to prevent the growth and spread of microbiological contamination in manufacturing plants but, despite this, many manufacturers continue to take risks by purchasing less hygienic equipment.

Several serious foodborne illness outbreaks have occurred in the U.S. and other parts of the world in recent years. Examples include a Listeria Monocytogenes outbreak in cantaloupe melons in 2011 which was caused by equipment that had been inadequately cleaned, poorly maintained and was not of cleanable design and construction. Prior to this, an extensive and well-publicized Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak was associated with peanuts in 2009. Investigations revealed that equipment design and maintenance, as well as cleaning and sanitizing programs were major causative factors.