Articles by Timothy Rugh

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.

What often happens to change the original state of ‘hygienic design’ in a processing system and, therefore, deserves attention when it comes to maintenance?

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.

Writing on hygienic design for today’s readership in this industry requires a new perspective from even one or two years ago. Why so?

Makers of dairy powders should select systems that conform to hygienic design and construction principles. Otherwise, validation of cleaning efficacy is difficult, if not impossible.

The FDA soon will publish the final rules on Preventive Controls for human food and animal food and on Sanitary Food Transportation. These rules are more proactive and processed-oriented than previously required.

It's certainly not the first cost of buying equipment. To calculate the true cost, look at your dairy plant holistically. Evaluate equipment, plant design, cleaning and food safety, among other factors.

The standard’s benchmark hygienic design criteria can help dairy processors and equipment fabricators meet the requirements of various third-party auditing schemes.

A new General Requirements Standard provides benchmark hygienic design criteria to help meet the requirements and objectives of GFSI auditing schemes and regulatory programs under FSMA.

Traditional applications for robot-based automation in food processing have been basic pick-and-place packing operations. On the processing side, dairy plants contain many applications that are repetitive or labor-intensive. These are perfect candidates for robot-based automation.