The subject of harmonizing and aligning standards specified for food processing equipment in the United States, with design criteria intended for European equipment, can be rather complex and abstract. We will describe the importance of such harmonization, current activities between 3-A Sanitary Standards Inc. and its European counterpart to support this effort, and the common mission in the future for both organizations.
First, a little background on both organizations may help illustrate some commonalties between 3-A SSI and the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG). In addition, we will describe certain points of differentiation that reflect slightly different approaches to the qualification of food processing equipment to hygienic design criteria.