Hygienic design is a design process or a set of design principles to manage hazards and reduce food safety risks in food processing equipment, processes and facilities. For this article, we will concentrate solely on equipment with one very big proviso – equipment design is only one of many inter-related elements. We must take a holistic approach to hygienic design and consider all of these elements: facility design, cleaning and sanitizing, operational design and good manufacturing practices (GMPs), and the food safety/quality programs and related regulations for each industry segment. Failure to address hygienic design during development and implementation will result in failure of these programs. A “holistic approach” is also threaded throughout the compliance requirements of regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
3-A Sanitary Standards are often viewed as uniquely applicable to equipment for milk processing. Today, these standards are widely applicable to virtually all types of food systems, for both human and animal foods. It does not matter whether you are processing dairy products, meat products, fruits, bakery products or any other food product, the equipment design basics are the same. For functional reasons, equipment may vary in specified materials, surface finish and/or radius size, or may have additional requirements for a specific process.