Six Advances That Are Improving Food Safety
By Laurel Maloy, contributing writer, Food Online
New practices and applications are being developed in order to provide food processors with the equipment necessary to more efficiently and economically comply with food safety requirements
Public and governmental focus is increasingly targeted on the food supply chain and its inherent food-safety challenges. Innovative solutions to the most common and confounding problems are being invented as the cost of food-safety violations rises, along with the negative publicity. As extensive changes are being implemented, from the field to the market, the manufacturers of processing equipment are becoming a more active part of the global food safety team.
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The benefits for the manufacturing industry are, admittedly, largely financial, but are also borne of necessity. Food processors are asking for designs that will increase efficiency and reduce maintenance, while enabling the industry to more easily comply with new regulation. Concurrently, the cleaning industry is also striving to provide the most effective sanitizing solutions also being demanded by food processors. We are experiencing a renaissance in the food processing industry; one with far reaching benefits. Every grower, transporter, processor, packager, wholesaler, retailer, and consumer in the food supply chain will ultimately see benefits.
These innovations are offered industry-wide and cover the gamut of food processing equipment:
- Dedicated Food Safety Departments — Realizing that food safety is a science, not just a happenstance, food processing equipment manufacturers are creating food safety-dedicated teams. These in-house crews provide the insight and knowledge necessary to steer more sanitary and laborsaving product design
- Creative Equipment Design — These changes provide food processors with equipment that does not require additional tools for cleaning, preventive maintenance, or repair. The benefit of tool-less equipment design is two-fold: a reduction in changeover times and fewer contact surfaces for potential contamination
- Highest-Grade Stainless Surfaces — Stainless steel, as in the medical industry, is utilized in food processing in order to reduce microbial infection. Stainless is, nevertheless, subject to deterioration by chemical cleaning processes and to the operating environment in which it functions. Higher-grade stainless steel finishes are being offered to withstand the cleaning chemicals and daily exposure to the processing environment. Though initially the monetary outlay may be significant, the long-term advantages are hard to ignore
- Non-Stick Surfaces — Industry sanitation practices and cleaning chemicals are not always 100 percent effective against the biofilms of bacterial colonies that can and do build up on processing equipment. Manufacturers have sought and achieved FDA approval for coatings designed to decrease the prospects for raw materials to adhere to production surfaces. The result is less time cleaning, more time processing, and safer products for the consumer
- In-House Testing — Equipment manufacturers are testing processing equipment for sanitary reliability. These tests are not only important in regard to marketing, but are proof-positive of the improvements, and therefore; the veracity of its claims
- Improved Chemicals — Higher concentration levels are being developed. Working with equipment manufacturers, chemical manufacturers are improving clean-in-place (CIP) procedures and clean-out-place stations (COPS). Based upon each unique equipment design, the most advantageous combination of chemicals, water, flow requirements, and temperature can be combined to realize time, cost, and safety enhancements
The FDA released FSMA’s proposed rules on Preventive Controls on Jan 4, 2013. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs are being improved upon, its importance the basis for the newest food safety applications. Tools, such as the American Meat Institute’s (AMI) Fact Sheet address Sanitary Equipment Design. All of these provide relevant guidance and instruction for food processors and food equipment and chemical manufacturers to ensure a continual rebirth of pioneering solutions to global food safety.