Abstract

Equipment sanitary design and food safety

Author(s): Dimitri Tavernarakis

Food safety legislation around the world is changing fast, by implementing emerging technologies in order to adapt to an increasing demand of consuming civilization. Also, food scientist and biotechnologists have become more familiar with enhanced detection protocols and as a result we observe increasing rates of outbreaks and recalls. At the same time the regulatory requirements for equipment remains the same and vague, without the proper guidance to engineers. As a result, the equipment manufacturing sector of the food industry create products that may differ from one another in terms of design principles to maintain the design for hygiene food products. At TOMRA food sorting, having been challenged for global compliant equipment, we have been investigating the industrial requirements from the different points of view of the design engineer, the end use and the regulator and have managed to establish a practical approach that creates a standardize framework for equipment deliverables that ensures the best possible compliance scheme and equipment that fit for purpose. But the industry needs further action and probably update the standards for development, providing more straight forward and easily applicable interpretation of the compliance requirements. Within this work we go over the food safety requirements for the food processing equipment in conjunction the regulatory requirements and at the same time we elaborate our understanding and the benefits of clarifying the compliance requirements and applied standards.