Designing for Sanitary Equipment
In the food processing industry, it is essential that all equipment is built to strict hygienic design standards, ensuring everything can be cleaned and sanitized quickly and easily. Such standards help eliminate product contamination by any number of microorganisms known to cause dangerous infection and disease in humans. One poorly designed piece of equipment is all it takes for microorganisms to grow and fester, and eventually contaminate every product going across your line. One need only look back to the Listeria outbreak of 2002 to see the ramifications of a contaminated product.
When looking to replace worn-out equipment or expand your processing operations, it is imperative to find an equipment fabricator who knows and adheres to sanitary design. Doing so will save you time, money, and help in keeping your product from contamination.
The American Meat Institute’s (AMI) Equipment Design Task Force (EDTF) was tasked with developing equipment sanitary design principles that meet the expectation of the meat and poultry processing industries. Below is a brief overview of the list equipment fabricators and processors can use to ensure their machinery meets those principles.
10 Principles of Sanitary Design
- Cleanable to a microbiological level
- Made of compatible materials
- Accessible for inspection, maintenance, cleaning and sanitation
- No product or liquid collection
- Hollow areas should be hermetically sealed
- No niches
- Sanitary operational performance
- Hygienic design of maintenance enclosures
- Hygienic compatibility with other plant systems
- Validated cleaning and sanitizing protocols
You can download a PDF of the list, complete with design principle explanations, from the AMI website.
Leading the Way
Sanitary equipment design is crucial to creating a safe processing environment both for your employees and consumers of your products. Here at Fusion Tech, we take sanitary design seriously and guarantee our equipment meets all sanitary requirements of the meat and poultry industries. Every piece is designed for 100% cleanability, easy washdown, and are manufactured with continuous TIG welds to prevent bacteria from harboring and growing. Ultimately, our commitment to sanitary design and construction decreases your maintenance costs and increases your bottom line.
