—— INTERNATIONAL
B31377
Marketing & Technology
Vol. 12 No. 1 - February 1998 US $10bylngoThathammer
More and more, the abbreviations
EHEDG, 3-A and CIP are to be found
mentioned in advertisements
company brochures and other types
ofliterature. What stands behind these
letters? Wat are they good for? Or
do they have something to do with
‘work therapy’? This article willhelpto
throw some light on the matter to the
benefit of the readers.
What is EHEDG?
‘The EHEDG (European Hygienic
Equipment Design Group) is a con-
sortium of equipment manufacturers,
foodindustries, research institutesand
public health authorities, founded in
1989 ith the aim ofpromotinghygiene
during the processing and packing of
food products.
The European Commission (EC) of
the European Union (EU) has provided
the requiredlegisiation on foodsatety,
in the form of two directives. The first
is directive 89/392/EEC and covers
the safety and hygiene of machinery,
including machinery for the food
industry. The second one, directive
93/43/EEC, covers the hygiene of
foodstufts in general. Both directives,
require that food is produced in a
hygienicway andthat food processing
machinery is of hygienic design.
However, it is left to the industry to
decide on how to comply with these
requirements. To assist in the design
of safe and hygienic machinery and
associated equipment, the EU has
mandated the European Federation of
Standardization Instituies, CEN, to
produce standards. The EHEDG is
well represented in the responsible
technical committee of the CEN (TC
153)and its working groups. Toassist
in the development of the standards,
the EHEDG has set up a number of
committees to produce guidelines ona
list of subjects surrounding hygienic
design criteria, ranging fromthe design
of components and process lines,
methods to verify compliance, through
to applications in process and pack-
aging lines, The production of stand-
ardsisatime-consuming process and
sofarnoCENstandardshaveyetbeen
issued. Ontheotherhand, the EHEDG.
guidelines have been published and
are available from the EHEDG secret-
ariat. 1997 the standard EN 1672-2,
97, July with the title *Food prcessing
machinery - basic concepts. Part 2
Hygiene requirements” has been
published,
Meanwhile, the EHEDG guidelinesare
widely used, and equipment manufac-
turers often mentionintheirpublications
compliance with the EHEDG design
criteria, There are currently ten insti-
tutesin Europe where EHEDG methods
‘may be used commercially to test the
cleanability and other hygienic char-
acteristics of food processing equip-
‘ment.
The EHEDG actively promotes har- |
monization of
hygienic design
requirements and
therefore co-oper-
ates with many
other organiza-
tions with an
interestin the sub-
ject, both inEurope
andinternationally
Of particular inter-
est is the co-
| EHEDG, 3-A, CIP - The Importance of Hygienic Design
in Measuring Systems - Part One
operation with the American 3-A
Organization, which has been pro-
ducing standards on hygiene in the
USA for a very long time (and in close
cooperation with the US authorities,
viz. the FDA and the USDA) and with
organizations suchas he Intemational
Standardization Organization (ISO),
International Dairy Federation (IDF),
National Sanitation Foundation (NSF),
the European Federation of Food
Science and Technology (EFFoST)
and others,
What is 3-A?
The 3-A undertaking represents a
voluntary approach in the USA to
safeguarding publichealth andproduct,
safety through an industry-regulatory
program of sanitary standards for
equipment used in processing dairy
foods and egg products. The task of
the3-ASanitary Standards Committees,
istoformulate standards and accepted
practices toapply to processing equip-
ment and systems. These standards
aredeveloped through the cooperative
efforts oflocal, state and federalsanitar-
ians, equipment manufacturers and
equipment users, so that they are
acceptable to those involved in the
sanitary aspects of the dairy and
related food industries. In the United
States, the 3-A Sanitary Standards
and Accepted Practices represent
criteria for cleanability of dairy and
food processing equipment. The ult
mate goal is to protect dairy and food
Figure 1: A typical measuring system
34
FOOD MARKETING TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 1998products from contamination and to
ensurethatallproductcontactsurfaces
canbe automatically cleanedin place
orcan bedismantled easily for manual
cleaning, and when necessary, for
inspection.
Interest in the formulation of sanitary
standards was recognized initially by
the fluid milkand ice cream industries,
Inthe 1920s, two trade associations,
known today as the Milk Industry
Foundation (MIF) and the Dairy and
Food Industries Supply Association
(OFISA), along with one professional
association, the Intemational Associa-
tion of Milk, Food and Environmental
Sanitarians |AMFES), formulated the
first uniform standards for fitings used
‘onmilkpipe lines. Ultimately, the stand-
ards became popularly known as the
S-ASanitary Standards, in recognition
of the three founding associations,
andthenamehasremained unchanged
since. Gradually, other associations
became aware of the fittings criteria,
and were drawn into a widening orbit
ofequipmentstandaraization,
| Today, the 3-A Sanitary Standards
‘Committees consist of representation
from the Dairy Industry Commitioe
(DIC), IAMFES, US Public Health
Service (USPHS), USDA, and the
United Egg Associaton (UEA). The
DIC for instance is made up of six
organizationsincluding five processor
organizations: The American Butter
Institute, The American Dairy Products
Institute; The International Ice Cream
‘Association, The Milk Industry Found-
ation and The National Cheese Insti-
tute, The sixth group, representing
manufacturers of mk producthandiing
and processing equipment, is DFISA,
| who acts as the on-going secretariat
for the 3-A Sanitary Standards
Committees. In addition the National
Milk Producers Federation and the
USDA-Dairy Grading Branch provide
representation andhave inputintothe
3-A program. The standards and
practices are published in Dairy and
Food and Environmental Sanitation,
the primary publication of IAMFES.
‘The 3-A Committees and procedures
remainasone of few vestiges seeking
democratic processes of voluntary
solutions to problems. The success of
3-Ais due to the mutual cooperation
and trust of manufacturers, users and
sanitarians in objectively meeting a
need for specific standards and prac-
tices. The value of this joint effort is
evidenced in the effective application |
ofthese standards andpractices within
the dairy and food industry over the
years. 3-A criteria is being used
throughout North American and is
gaining worldwide recognition, |
|
What is Cleaning In Place (CIP)?
CIPisa process in which cleaning and
disinfecting solutions are circulatedin
loop without having to dismantle the
‘equipment{or treatment. Such circula-
tory cleaning systems are often auto-
matic, controlled by special programs,
Itis necessary to meet the following
requirements:
1.Dedicated control system, separate
from the process/product control
system,
2 Use of valves which completely rule
STOCK ROTOMAT®
out any intermixing of product and
cleaning solution.
3.Appropriate design ofthe production
plant to ensure that all parts which
‘come into contact with the product are
also subsequently contacted by the
cleaning solution and allow a flowrate
sufficient to ensure cleanabilty
4.Use of corrosion-resistant materials,
forall parts of the process equipment
which come into contact with the
product or cleaning solution.
5.CIP can be carried outwhereveritis,
possible to form a circult, e.g. tank
systems, process lines in operational
facilities, processing equipment in
breweries, milk processing equipment
in dairies, or in drying equipment for
milk powder.
Control of a CIP process:
1.Automatic control of each individual
cleaning phase is carried out by &
control unit.
2.Control unitis programmable
3.Control ofthe concentration of the
solutions is determined inside the
Cleaning vessel through conductivity
measurements
STOCK
STERILISATIONSSYSTEME
THE REAL SOLUTION TO
AVOID OVERCOOKING
IN THERMAL PROCESSED
SHELF STABLE FOODS
KeyNo.1111
{Get acknowledged with this unto-date technology
Tiemann Stock Maschinenfabrik Gmibi .0.Box 2611 D2A516 Newmont Germany
Fa 494321 188205
FOOD MARKETING TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 1998
35New products to optimize a
measuring system
Cleaning oftanks orpipescan be easy
- as long as there are no dead legs,
large protrusions (such as sensors),
bad sealings or too rough surfaces in
them. Production companies are
completely at the mercy of the equip-
ment manufacturers and they in turn
areat the mercy of the suppliers ofthe
individual components for their equip-
mentor plant. Insome cases, hygienic
design is taken for granted, and the
user has to put his or her faith in the
| suppliers competence tomeethygienic
requirements.
Trustmay be agood thing, butacheck
isoften better. This phrase taken from
a German proverb should nowadays
alsobe applied during the evaluation of.
on-line measuring systems, usually @
critical part within a hygienic process.
Although @ measuring system could
include various other parts, in this
article our definition of a measuring
oh :
Figure 2. Optimum postionng of the O-ng
Photos: Meter Toledo
systems tobe understood as foliows:
‘Sensor (e.g. pH, redox, oxygen,
conductivity, and turbidity sensors)
Housing for mounting thesensor
ina vessel or pipe
‘Weld-insocketformounting the
housing (threaded socket, TriClamp
socket or other types)
Cable to transfer the signal
Figure 9: Rough surface of conventional scan material
Transmittertoanalyzethe signal
Only those parts which are in
contact with the medium are
relevant for hygienic tests. In our
case these are the sensor, the
housing and the socket. The
combination of these three parts
must be a hygienic unit’ and only
if all three parts have passed the
hygiene test, can we talk about a
real hygienic measuring system.
With the help of EHEDG, CENand
3-A guidelines it is now possible to
design sensors, housings and sockets
insuchaway that complete cleanabilty
at and around the sensor is ensured
land risk of contamination thereby
severely limited
The three basic critical parameters
which decide whether a design is
hygienic or not are:
Shape: Especially poorly accessible
places like edges, angles, joints, gaps,
tube connections etc, are difficult to
clean. Such points should be avoided
or, if this is not possible, optimally
formed.
Material: Mostly stainless steel, plastic
or rubber. The cleaning conditions
have to be adapted according to the
material specifications (e.g. temper-
ature-resistance of rubber and corro-
sion of metal.
Important: Two different metals
together with electrolyte create a
galvanicelement!
‘Surface: Mechanicalor chemical hand-
ling, corrosion etc. can be the cause
ofa too high surface roughness. This
influences both the intensity of fouling
‘and soll separation. Milk and milk
‘components, micro-organisms or dirt
from different sources etc. adhere
easily to rough surfaces but scarcely
on smooth surfaces. Especially
corroded surfaces, plastic or rubber
tendto increase dirt scaling. Metal
surfaces etc. are often coated,
‘This knowledge can be carried over
into the design ofa sensor housing by
implementing the following measures:
36
FOOD MARKETING & TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 1998Fguie 5 (ot Rough welis
Figure 6 Smoath welds
1. Optimum positioning of the O-ring
Through optimum positioning of the O-
ring, a practically crevice-free sealing
between sensorandhousingiscreated
This feature, together with aquaiitative,
| high standard O-ring, forms the basis
for the successful accomplishment of
CIP procedures.
2. Surface of O-ring material
The rough surface of conventional
silicon material, even if FDA positive-
listed, providesalarge contactsurface
for germs, making hygienic cleaning
difficult. There is a latent high risk of
| contamination through process and
bacterial residues,
The smooth surface of the specially
| manufactured O-rings of FDA positive-
listed siicon materialensures maximum
sterility and cleanabilily. The risk of
contamination of the product after
cleaning is thereby minimal
3. Smooth crevice-free welds
‘Smooth crevice-free welds in the pro-
duct area are a must for hygienic
processes,
| Part2 of this article will be published
in the next issue. There, we will dis-
cuss the sense of a hygiene certi-
fication test and describe an EHEDG
test for housings and sensors in full
detail,
Key No. 38568
Literature
Kunze, W. (1986): Technology Brewing and
Matting, VLB Bertin
| Spreer'E. (1995): Technologie der Mich
| vorarboitung, Behr eVeriag, Hamburg
ss
The Author
Ingo Thathammer stuciadfaod chemisty at
the University of IsnyfGermany where he
worked on research and development of
‘Sensors for more than 4 years. Today, he is
Product Manager tor Bilogical Procassesin
the Business UnitProcess at Mtier Toledo
GmbH in Switzerland and specifically
A responsitie tor products and systems to
meet the hygienic demands of heFeod and
Beverage industry
New High-Capacity l|QF
Freezer Introduced
‘A Swedish company's complementing
its IQF coverage with the market
introduction of the 'FLoFREEZE M’
IQF freezer, a new line designed for
capacities up to 12 tons per hour and
for long, continuous production runs.
As the IQF market continues to grow,
certain processors have expressed
the need for bigger IQF capacity as a
way ofexpandingormaintaining market
share. This new line is in response to
that need.
Inthe new freezerthe airlowinthetwo
freezing zones interact, creating atur-
bulence thatensures fast, gentle crust-
freezing in the initial zone, when the
product is in its most fragile state,
Moisture is locked in, thereby preser-
ving taste, texture, appearance and
weight
‘The easy-to-clean IOF Track’ is also
incorporated in the new line. The all-
stainless interiorand builtin air defrost
system provide further assurance of,
food safety.
‘The freezer can be run continuously
for extended periods, with or without
beltagitation to accommodate products
as small aslong-grainrice andas large
as corn on the cob. The user-friendly
controls feature aquick-selectionmenu
of preset operating parameters that
allowinstantswitching fromone product
toanother, as wellas pre-programmed
cleaning and defrosting
‘The company draws onanexperience
in IOF technology dating back some
35 years.
Key No. 38578
FOODMARKETING& TECHNOLOGY FEBRUARY 1998
Not only
steam-
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Approved steam-
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with capacities from
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and low peeling waste.
Delivery of complete
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Manufacture of
special products of
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Development and
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Test us!
PKC GmbH
Maschinen- u, Anlagenbau
Buchenweg 3
D-57632 Seifen * Germany
Plant
Istrae 9-11 {
1.56305 Dottesfeld
Tel. +49.2685.1017,
Fax 149.2685.1010 |
Ss
Key No. 1189