FOOD SAFETY INSIDER: Sanitation Solutions
The Role of Expertise in
Ensuring Food Safety
Processors today are looking for the most hygienic ways to deliver their products to customers. Effective and efficient sanitation of production equipment is at the heart of this goal, and having the
right cleaning process and parameters is critical to achieving good sani-
tation results. A conveyor belting supplier should possess an experi-
enced, industry-specific team, a line of hygienic belts designed for
different applications and the ex-
pertise to recommend the right belt
for each application.
Although Intralox has more than
35 years of experience producing
hygienic, food-grade conveyor
belts, it established its FoodSafe
Team in order to further research
and develop the most time-efficient
and cost-effective means of ensur-
ing hygienic conveyance. Gary
Larsen and Roger Scheffler are the
company’s full-time food safety
consultants, dedicated exclusively
to hygiene and sanitation of conveying systems. Larsen is a published
food safety consultant who has worked with major U.S. meat companies
and global food producers for over 20 years in the areas of food safety
and quality assurance. For the past 10 years, Larsen has been involved in
the development and launch of Intralox’s most significant sanitary con-
veyance offerings, including SeamFree™ belting, EZ Clean Angled
Sprockets and Clean In Place System, and most recently, ThermoDrive®
belting.
With a background in design engineering, Roger Scheffler has a
thorough knowledge of the machinery and equipment used throughout
food processing plants. For the past 12 years, Scheffler has focused on
protein processing plants for the company in Europe. He has field-tested
experience in food safety practices throughout this area. Since 2008,
Scheffler has narrowed his focus to assist customers in their efforts to increase sanitation efficiency and meet food safety regulations.
The FoodSafe Team is intimately familiar with each application and
has the tools to ensure that any belt technology recommended is exactly
what is needed. Through close ties with industry agencies such as the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and NSF, they stay on top of the latest
food safety regulations and news. They regularly attend industry conferences and continually test company products in both the lab and the field
to discover the most effective cleaning practices.
are often presented in a workshop format
in order to train a plant’s cleaning crew
so that they may become better versed in
conveyor and belt sanitation.
In order to help customers prioritize,
all recommendations are listed in terms
of their urgency as related to each specific plant’s initiatives, cost versus benefit
and return on investment. “We know that
every plant is limited in resources, so we
break our recommendations down by
those that are most necessary for achieving or maintaining hygienic conveyance,”
explains Larsen. “Often the fix is something simple. For example, the wrong
water temperature can have a detrimental effect on your sanitation results. If the
water is too cold, you cannot adequately
clean the belt. If the water is too hot, it
can cook the food proteins onto the belt.
Simply making a small fix like that can
yield huge results.”
www.intralox.com
The Intralox FoodSafe Audit
Larsen and Scheffler visit plants across the globe in order to perform
Intralox FoodSafe Audits. Through the audit, they are able to identify a
plant’s critical sanitation needs and provide information to help optimize
its conveyance and attain its food safety and sanitation goals. The FoodSafe Audits give processors a plan of action for addressing issues, such
as hygienic conveyor and belt design attributes, reducing risk of cross
contamination, sequencing sanitation steps and equipping a sanitation
crew with the most effective sanitation methods. The results of the audit
Food Safety Research
Senior Food Safety Scientist, Dr. Zhi-nong Yan, is the latest addition to the
FoodSafe Team. Dr. Yan has been involved in food microbiology and food
safety for over 20 years, and his focus
area is the study of the prevalence, survival, cross contamination, and control of
food-borne pathogens including Listeria
monocytogenes, Salmonella, Escherichia
coli and Campylobacter in the ready-to-eat food, meat, poultry and fresh produce
industries. In particular, Dr. Yan is highly
experienced in microbial analysis of food
processing equipment, such as conveyor
belts and slicers, and processing environments. He has worked extensively in
the development of various pathogen reduction strategies including sanitizers, X-ray and chlorine dioxide. His current
research and testing for the FoodSafe
Team focus on assessing the microbial
risk of alternative belting options compared to Intralox’s ThermoDrive belting.
One thing that is stressed repeatedly
by all three members of the FoodSafe
Team is that having the right belts in
place is essential to delivering optimal results. Scheffler says, “If you can select a
conveyor belt that was designed specifically for a particular application, you’ve
exponentially lessened the sanitation efforts you’ll need to employ later on. Instead of reactively making improvements
when a risk is identified, you’ve proactively ensured that the belt you’ve installed is going to act as a deterrent to
contamination.”
