EVENT PREVIEW: Focusing on Food Safety at PACK EXPO

A Safe Design

Beyond modularity, there are many ways machinery manufacturers minimize the risk for contamination through equipment design. For example, food and beverage conveyors are increasingly made for quick and effective cleaning. Features range from in-process wipe downs to comprehensive high-pressure cleanings with specialized cleansers. Equipment made from stainless steel is easier to wipe down and can withstand the harsh chemicals used to eliminate contaminants, decreasing downtime and extending its useful product lifecycle.

Applied to touch surfaces, antimicrobial coatings utilizing polymers with bacteria-resistant additives or metal-based coatings containing copper or silver ion, are another increasingly popular element in food and beverage processing and packaging equipment design.

Additionally, equipment is being designed with fewer and shorter exposed cables, as well as other areas where bacteria settle and grow, such as exterior slots and holes. However, the need to eliminate areas where water can pool and bacteria can thrive isn’t limited to machinery.

Bonar Plastics (Booth #L-7661) will display its MonsterCombo Bins at PACK EXPO. The stackable bins are designed to eliminate flat, horizontal areas where water can pool. The bins are lightweight, durable, and rotationally-molded from polyethylene material approved by the USDA, FDA, and CFIA. Drains can be added as an optional feature and specialty versions of the bins include the Duracart, which can be wheeled for easy handling, and the Versa-Totes and Tra-Totes that offer a 1,500 pound capacity for uses in field agricultural harvesting or the handling of seafood, meat, poultry, and other processed foods.

“Bonar Plastics has the widest offering of single wall and Insulated Boxes for handling of food products,” says Cullen Jones, director of sales and marketing at Bonar. “Additionally we have an extensive line of containers for liquid applications.”

Automate for Efficiency

Advances in automated packaging machinery are playing a big part in taking human error out of the food and beverage processing equation. Automated production and packaging lines can increase throughput while removing the potential for contamination through the handling of product by facility personnel. Automation can remove the threat of direct food and beverage contact, as well as user error from the entire process, including side- and top-loading case packing, horizontal and vertical cartoning, stretch/shrink wrapping, tray forming and loading, and even palletizing.

Other automated food safety-related processes can include metal detection and X-ray inspection of raw materials, as well as finished food and beverage products, to check for the presence of foreign matter that does not belong in the final product.

In addition to various vision, X-ray, and scale inspection techniques, vibratory separators also help remove unwanted materials from products during production. At PACK EXPO, Russell Finex (Booth #L-7128) will feature the Finex Separator. Designed for accurate grading, scalping, or sizing of wet and dry materials up to five fractions in one operation, the Finex Separator can remove undesirable particles and contaminants—or classify different sizes of product. According to the company, a combination of motors and weights enable the separator to move material through four different mesh screens for accurate grading nearly twice as fast as market alternatives.

“The Finex Separator is simple to use and the patented rubber suspension emits much less noise than spring suspension systems,” says Sarah Morris, marketing executive at Russell. “Superior quality control starts with the individuals on the floor. Minimizing noise makes for a more pleasant work environment and enables operators and inspectors to focus their attention where it needs to be—on preventing contamination.”

At the Show

Regulatory bodies, such as the USDA, have taken an active role, implementing mandatory food safety programs, and facilities are being designed from the ground up to protect against contamination. However, there is room for improvement. Food and beverage manufacturers continue to make strides in food safety, implementing processing and packaging technology to help prevent contamination outbreaks and protect the consumers—as well as their brand equity.