Almost everything we eat goes through a processing plant—from meat and dairy to veggies. With our entire food supply going through manufacturing processes, you may wonder how it stays safe from containments like E. Coli or Salmonella.
When someone manages or owns a food processing plant, there are regulations that they must know when designing a plant to prevent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.
Learn the ways to ensure food safety in a processing plant and how they keep customers healthy.
Production Line
Of course, cleanliness is of paramount importance, and it begins with the line. Engineers design the production line so that maintenance tasks, such as regular machinery cleaning, can be easy.
There are standard food processing principles of sanitary design with more detailed instructions. Every plant needs to follow these. Some of them include:
- Engineers need to seal hollow areas in machinery hermetically.
- Plants must avoid unintentional liquid or product collection.
- The line needs to be cleanable at a microbiological level.
Cleaning
Strict protocol on cleaning and disinfecting the plant must exist to remove the threat of food-borne illnesses. Employees need to disinfect both food preparation areas and machinery regularly. Routine disinfection also helps eliminate the risk of pests, such as rodents and insects.
Waste Management
Another aspect that goes hand in hand with cleaning is ensuring proper waste management occurs at the plant. Again, there should be a procedure for storing and removing waste to help remove the threat of food poisoning.
Facility Design
When deciding the location and design of a food processing plant, owners and engineers need to settle on sites safe from pollution and pests. Selecting an area with limited exposure to possible contaminants is the first step in protecting food products from contamination.
The design needs to factor in machinery accessibility for cleaning and maintenance, but there must also be systems to remove waste and standing water. Installing a drainage system in a plant helps remove the threat of food-borne illnesses.
Creating practical industrial design solutions and cleaning procedures at the planning stage is one of the most important ways to ensure food safety in a food processing plant.