S A FE T Y, H YG I E N E & Q UA L I T Y A S S U R A N C E
Success depends on a lean and flexible facility The food and beverage industries remain important contributors to the manufacturing and FMCG sectors, as well as the local economy, writes Darryl Macdougall.
F
ood and beverage manufacturers
This has placed a lean, flexible
no preservatives added, which makes it
are some of the most highly-
manufacturing process as the engine
difficult to keep microbes out of
regulated (and penalised)
of a successful operation. The process
the food.
businesses – and rightly so, given the
needs to be consistent and reliable to
impeccable standards of process and
accommodate perishable
product quality, and safety, that must
ingredients, storage, short
food and drink products – with every
be maintained to protect consumers and
lead times for retail clients
batch – requires machines that are
end-users.
and maintain a safe and
Modern consumer tastes and corporate
hygienic production line.
With the above in mind, being able to produce high-grade safe and quality
100% reliable, meet today’s hygiene standards and can handle
retail demands for new flavours, fashions
This process also needs
and fads have created a demand for
to be repeatable, ensuring
order, but in reality – and
ever-greater quantity of product lines.
the quality of each batch, to
when the quality of the
This demand runs somewhat contrary to
maximise on outputs and minimise
the operation of traditional dedicated
on waste and potential losses. As a result,
process lines where there is one pipe-run
production efficiencies and product
behaviour of the customer, which directly
for one product.
quality remain key performance indicators
impacts the bottom line, then – there can
for food and beverage processors.
be no shortcuts.
Previously, if a company wanted to produce more lines of products,
There are challenges
they needed to build more
with the multi-product
production lines,
line approach that
products with care. A tall
product can directly impact the safety, experience and buying
Directives from the European Hygienic Engineering Design Group (EHEDG) – which have been accepted and are
recommission an
every production
widely applied across related industries
existing line or
line manager will
in South Africa – are aimed at setting
suffer downtime
invariably face.
universal standards that are founded
cleaning and
Deciding on how best
turning around a
to manage the transition
line in operation.
of one product to another
Modern production facilities – particularly in food and beverage
when using the same line for batch production is an example. A
on science-based knowledge in the hygienic engineering and design of food and beverage production equipment and facilities. As an example, a core aim of the EHEDG standards is to prevent
production – have moved from a
potential hazard to a multi-product line
contamination of consumable products
dedicated production line for each
approach is cross-contamination, which
– and directly related to this, one of the
product to an innovative multi-product
can result in spoiled product, shorter
major directives from EHEDG states that
line which could be processing several
shelf life, production downtime
every part of the production line should
different foodstuffs, liquids or slurries
and risks to employees during the
be accessible for cleaning.
every day.
cleaning process. A multi-product line can increase
“Modern production facilities – particularly in food and beverage production – have moved from a dedicated production line for each product to an innovative multi-product line which could be processing several different foodstuffs, liquids or slurries every day”
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Food Review | September 2020
The cleanability requirements – including, clean in place (CIP) and
the exposure risk to microbes, which
sterilisation in place (SIP) – to meet
present an ever-looming threat to food
hygiene standards alone present
and beverage manufacturers. This has
several challenges for processors, and
also been compounded by the current
particularly those operating multi-
consumer trends in food,
product lines. With a modular design,
as the sector
however, there is a great opportunity
has seen an increase in favouring fresh,
to address many of the challenges presented by a multi-product line and the
flavourful,
cleanability
easy-to-prepare
requirements.
foods with little sugar, salt, and less to
For example, modular design to the production line can allow
