instore - May 2016 - COM10

Food Safety:

Making sanitizing easier

Top reasons for
sanitation

By Ryan Atkinson

hile food safety has been a vital issue for years, the emerging regulations under the Food
Safety Modernization Act have only intensified things. What may have been
the gold standard for food safety 10
years ago may not cut it today.

So it goes without saying that the need
for proper cleaning and sanitizing is
more important than ever. A huge part
of cleaning and sanitizing in a commissary setting is the ease of access to
equipment and its components.
"It's vital in today's industry - just as
vital as having proper guarding for personnel safety," says Jeff Klein, US service manager for Grote Company. "If a
machine is not cleanable, it's unsafe and
unusable."
For Grote, that comes from the mindset
that sanitation is an issue that affects

"If a machine is not cleanable, it
is unsafe and unusable."
Jeﬀ Klein, Grote Company
everyone. "We don't think of a sanitation problem as 'someone else's problem,'" Klein says, "because it could be
our families eating something that came
out of that machine."
And as Alan Lemieux, AMF Canada's
engineering product manager, told
Commissary Insider's sister publication Baking & Snack earlier this year,
sanitary design means more uptime for
producers. AMF Bakery Systems collaborated with the Tromp Group - both of
which are members of the Markel Food
Group - in the design of sanitary new
spiral conveyors to broaden its product
applications and meet more demanding
standards.

Allergens

Microbiological issues

Pest activity

Safety

Regulations

"Today, the equipment runs 24 hours,"
he says. "They don't want to stop them
for cleaning. Everything has to be done
in as short of a time as possible. By having a more sanitary, simple machine,
they need less time to clean it. It costs
them less in the long run, and they have
it up and running quicker after cleaning
and maintenance."
The easier and more simply a machine can
be sanitized, the better. And if it can be
designed to be disassembled and cleaned
without tools? Even better.
"From a design standpoint, we constantly evaluate our machines and
parts, often with feedback from customers, to make the machines easier to
clean," Klein says. "What we have found
is that streamlining designs where possible and making small modifications to
current parts allows for better access to
all areas. Additionally, we try to make
our machines easy to disassemble for
cleaning. This often means that our machines can be taken apart for cleaning
with little or no hand tools."
Grote also tailors its service to all of
its customers, whose sanitization demands will vary. "Our manuals have
general sanitation guidelines, but each
customer will be unique in how they
implement their own in accordance
with their sanitation and HACCP procedures," Klein says. "Our field service
group can also provide on-site training
for sanitation crews."

PHOTO: ADOBESTOCK

10 * MAY 2016

commissary INSIDER

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of instore - May 2016