WHITE PAPER The Hygienic Design of Food Industry Brushware - the good, the bad and the ugly Published in the Journal of Hygienic Engineering and Design, August 2015 INTRODUCTION: Cleaning is a critical step in the management of food safety. Consequently, the correct selection of cleaning equipment by the food manufacturing and food service industries is essential to minimise the risk of product contamination, and aid compliance to relevant regulatory, guidance and standard requirements. Thanks to organisations like the European Hygienic Engineering Design Group (EHEDG), and 3-A Sanitary Standards Inc. (3-A SSI), many food manufacturers already appreciate the benefits of using hygienically designed production equipment. Hygienically designed equipment is quicker and easier to clean, and minimises the risk of product contamination by microbes, allergens, foreign bodies etc. This in turn maximises food safety and quality, reduces the risk of expensive product rejection or recall, and minimises food waste. However, when it comes to the equipment used to clean food production equipment, very few cleaning tools are developed with good hygienic design in mind. Consequently, their use can jeopardise all of the above. Cleaning equipment are recognised as a major ‘collection’ point for the isolation of pathogens. Unpublished data from Campden BRI, used to establish guidance on ‘Effective microbiological sampling of food processing areas’ [1] , showed that Listeria monocytogenes was rarely present on food processing equipment, 17% of the swabs taken from floors and 25% of those taken from drains were positive for L. mono , maybe not unexpectedly, but more surprisingly and worryingly, 47% of the cleaning equipment sampled was positive for the organism (pers comm. Holah, 2015). Once contaminated, the cleaning equipment itself can then become a ‘vector’ of contamination, i.e. it can spread the contamination around the environment, increasing the subsequent risk of cross- contamination to the food. Additionally, equipment that is likely to come into contact with food and food contact surfaces should be constructed of materials that do not pose a risk to the consumer. This includes the risks posed by the migration of harmful chemicals and that from foreign bodies. It is therefore essential that cleaning equipment is made of food safe materials and constructed in such a way so that these risks are minimised. Investigations conducted by Vikan indicate that much of the cleaning equipment currently used in the food industry is of poor hygienic design, therefore increasing the risk of cross-contamination. Clearly the application of good hygienic design criteria would help minimise this risk. Vikan A/S - Department of Research & Development © Vikan A/S. Published, 2015. Revised, 2023 01
Download PDF file