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In next 5 years, demand for ready-to-eat foods poised to grow in India
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Wednesday, 04 March, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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fiogf49gjkf0d A recent survey by market research firm Netscribes revealed that over the next five years, India would witness an increase in the demand for ready-to-eat products. The factors driving this are the active lifestyles and rising incomes of consumers. As more players enter the fray, companies are trying to stay abreast of the evolving food safety regulatory environment.
In the United States, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), currently pending, has increased the regulation of many factors that impact the design and operation of equipment. It requires all food facilities to implement a Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Control plan. Sanitation procedures for food contact surfaces and utensils and food-contact surfaces of equipment is a significant component in preventative controls.
Sanitation procedures refer to cleanability and the resistance of surfaces and equipment materials to contamination. In preparation for the growing RTE food sector, collaborations with food processors are helping equipment manufacturers understand potential risks and vulnerabilities. To date, the most significant challenges are related to cleaning and sanitising, combined with equipment design and construction.
“The greatest industry need we have identified is a need for hygienically-designed equipment that can be cleaned to keep pathogens out,” said Steve Blackowiak, food safety manager, Bühler Aeroglide (which manufactures dryers, roasters and toasters for food processing companies around the world, many of whom produce ready-to-eat products).
“In the case of RTE cereals, processors need to be able to ensure the most hygienic cleaning possible and do so keeping downtime to a minimum,” he added. Many cleaning and sanitising problems stem from improperly-designed or manufactured equipment. Dryers needed for sugar-coated products, like breakfast cereals, can be challenging to thoroughly clean. Sanitising of food processing equipment begins before it is built.
Fabrication impacts sanitation
Inadequate fabrication could lead to cleaning problems. Improper welding, for instance, leaves crevices and cracks on internal surfaces and affects cleanability. Even the smallest niche could harbour pathogens like salmonella. The overlapping of sheet and structural members, along with bolted sections, could make areas hard to clean and should never be found in a food contact zone.
Bühler Aeroglide’s revolutionary Ceres RTE cereal dryer addressed an industry need with a new welding technique that involves a type of tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, creating a higher-quality, cleaner weld that could be made in all positions. Engineers gave Ceres an open channel frame structure, eliminating tubes with hinged panels. Its pitched floor and roof also make hygienic cleaning more efficient.
Material selection affects cleaning
The equipment’s age and materials could vary in a typical food processing plant. Common materials may include aluminum and stainless steel. But for repeatable hygienic food processing, the equipment has to be durable. While stainless steel is preferred, not all grades are recommended for food production.
Bühler Aeroglide launched a 300-series stainless steel Ceres RTE dryer with a 2B finish, which provides a smooth, non-toxic, non-absorbent finish that is both corrosion- and rust-free. The product side guides, typically constructed of stainless steel, are places where product accumulates and access is limited.
The newly-redesigned side guides on the Ceres dryer use a proprietary non-metallic material with excellent release properties to reduce product accumulation and aid in cleaning.
Installation & inspection for cleanability
Access to thorough inspections helps ensure adequate cleaning. Bühler’s new design allows 360-degree access for cleaning underneath. Supports are best constructed with no hollow areas, penetrated framework or exposed threads.
Therefore, the food safety team made sure all connections to equipment were closed with no dead spaces that could inadvertently be created when attaching gauges or thermometers.
Combined with its high-velocity airflow (unrivalled in current technologies), Ceres can now pack more production into a smaller footprint, reducing the need for expensive factory floor space.
Hygienic operations
RTE processors also wanted to mechanically clean with options to disassemble for manual cleaning. Ceres had to be faster and easier to clean and this influenced every single component.
Bühler’s integrated clean-in-place (CIP) system, a continuous belt washing system and comprehensive water management system, combine to not only reduce the average cleaning downtime from eight hours to two hours, but also to significantly increase the effectiveness and ease of cleaning.
Even with challenging products, the Ceres is able to be thoroughly cleaned in far less time than existing technologies. This allows processors to quickly change products without the risk of cross-contamination.
Best practices & newest innovations
There is a lot to understand about food safety, and much is still open to interpretation. Food processors and equipment suppliers all have the same objective, to provide food that is safe. In the United States, Bühler is a partner in One Voice, a uniform approach to the most common, non-proprietary sanitary equipment designs that meet a base food safety requirement for the manufacture of low-moisture foods.
“Interpretation is often left up to the processor and individual auditor,” said Blackowiak. He added, “But processors need to review their entire operations, looking at more than the critical control points to decide where else food safety controls could be needed. The safest food processing operations can be achieved by combining best practices with the newest technological innovations.”
As the RTE food sector grows to keep pace with consumer demand, Bühler understands the potential risks and vulnerabilities in India and around the world. With an unwavering dedication to food safety, its process design engineers and manufacturers are committed to making the highest hygienic standards possible that can protect global food supply.
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