According to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, more than 13 million pounds of beef, pork, poultry, and mixed-meat products were recalled in 2013 alone. More than 12 million pounds of these were “Class I” recalls, which means that there was a real threat to consumer safety and the potential for outbreak of illness as a result of eating the recalled food.
Many of the recalled products include packaged food, such as frozen meals and snacks, and ready-to-eat (RTE) meats and the majority were removed from store shelves because of the presence of dangerous bacteria, including Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella. Just as hazardous to some consumers, other causes for recall in 2013 included the presence of undeclared allergens and foreign materials that found their way into finished food products. In addition to the primary importance of product and consumer safety, recalls are also extremely costly to brand owners and can result in irreparable damage to brand reputation resulting from a loss of consumer confidence.
As food and beverage brand owners know, manufacturing consumer packaged goods is a complex process involving many steps, equipment, and personnel. In an extremely crowded and competitive marketplace, brand owners need to bring products to market in a hurry. However, from processing and packaging to storage and shipping, there are many potential sources of contamination that can jeopardize the safety and integrity of consumer products.
This November, processing and packaging equipment suppliers will help brand-owners by showcasing solutions that make sterilization easier, minimizing the risk of human error and preventing the cross-contamination of ingredients. PACK EXPO International 2014 (McCormick Place, Chicago; Nov. 2-5, 2014) will allow manufacturers to explore the latest packaging technologies and insights to meet safety demands and prevent contamination.
While food safety programs and zoning principles are key tools in maintaining a contamination-free facility, it is equally important to take a close look at where most of the direct food contact in a manufacturing facility takes place—the processing and packaging equipment itself.
Get Modular
Occam’s Razor, the well-known problem-solving paradigm, asserts the simplest answer is often the right one. Maintaining a contamination-free facility often comes down to a simple, yet key, factor—keeping equipment clean. While it might sound obvious, food and beverage manufacturing equipment can be large and complex with many difficult-to-reach areas. In keeping with Occam’s Razor, equipment design and material specification can play a major role in making required cleaning easier to accomplish effectively. Several recent advances in manufacturing technologies are specifically geared towards helping brand owners deal with the issue of contaminants in their processing facilities. Equipment is being designed with sanitation in mind, resulting in processing and packaging machinery that is easier to disassemble and clean with little operational downtime.
For example, the re-designed RPF Rotary Piston Filling Machine from Cozzoli Machine Company (Booth #S-2541) features a quick-change format, allowing operators to easily remove its pistons and fillers for cleaning.
“Changeover can take about 15 minutes,” says Jeff Ringel, director of sales and marketing at Cozzoli. “The simple removal and replacement of components can help manufactures streamline their cleaning process, minimizing downtime on the line, while ensuring proper sanitization and preventing any cross-contamination of ingredients between batches.”
The automatic rotary piston filler accommodates a range of containers and products of most viscosities at high production speeds of more than 600 units per minute. This series is available in different frame sizes and models; from four to 36 filling nozzles. To further prevent instances of cross-contamination, the machine can come equipped with an automatic clean-in-place feature to flush out product and safely move onto the next run without residue from the previous batch.
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.
Located in the South Hall, The Food Safety Summit Resource Center (Booth #S-2962), sponsored by the Food Safety Summit and GE Intelligent Platforms, will offer information on the latest research and advances technologies to improve cleaning, allergen control, and traceability. Subject matter experts will be on hand to respond to attendee questions on the Food Safety Modernization Act and related topics.
Additionally, PACK EXPO will offer free educational programming on and near the show floor with multiple Innovation Stage locations that will address the advancement of food safety initiatives.
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