What are the characteristics of installing purification workshop in food processing plants?

Purification workshop installed in food processing plants is designed around three major goals: food safety, microbial prevention and control, and compliance production. It is different from purification workshop in the pharmaceutical and electronic industries, and has remarkable characteristics in cleanliness level, material selection, functional layout, etc., as follows:

The cleanliness level adapts to the demand of food production, and it is clear that the purification workshop of food does not need to meet the high standards of 100-level and 1000-level in the pharmaceutical industry. Usually, it is graded according to the pollution risk of production processes:

High-cleanliness areas: such as aseptic filling rooms, ready-to-eat food packaging rooms and dairy fermentation rooms, the cleanliness level is mostly 10,000, and the number of dust particles and microorganisms needs to be controlled to prevent secondary pollution of products;

General clean area: such as food pretreatment room and semi-finished product processing room, the cleanliness level is 100,000, focusing on controlling the mixing of dust, hair and other foreign substances;

Auxiliary area: such as raw material warehouse and office area, there is no need for strict cleanliness requirements, but it needs to be effectively isolated from the clean area.

Buffer rooms, air shower rooms/cargo shower rooms are set between different areas to avoid bringing pollutants when people and materials cross the region.

Material selection pays attention to food-grade safety, and the enclosure structure and equipment contact surface of the workshop which is easy to clean and corrosion-resistant should meet the standards of materials for food contact, so as to prevent the precipitation of harmful substances;

304 stainless steel plate, food-grade color steel plate and epoxy resin self-leveling floor are preferred for walls, floors and ceilings. The surface is smooth and seamless, and there is no dead angle, which can withstand high-pressure water gun washing and acid-base disinfectant wiping.

Clean doors and windows are made of stainless steel and equipped with silicone sealing strips to prevent dust accumulation and water seepage;

The ventilation pipe is made of galvanized steel plate or stainless steel plate with smooth inner wall, which reduces dust adhesion and is easy to disassemble and clean.

The core control parameters focus on microorganisms and temperature and humidity, taking into account the difference between preservation and dust control in electronics industry. The environmental parameters of food purification workshop are set around inhibiting microbial reproduction and ensuring food quality:

Microbial control: kill bacteria and mold in the air through HEPA)+ ultraviolet disinfection/ozone disinfection combination; Maintain positive pressure in the workshop to prevent the infiltration of bacteria-containing air from the outside;

Temperature and humidity control: accurately adjust according to the type of food, such as controlling the humidity of baking food workshop at 40%-60% to prevent the products from getting wet; The temperature of fresh meat workshop is controlled at 0-4℃, giving consideration to cleanliness and freshness;

Airflow organization: adopt the air flow mode of upward delivery and downward circulation to avoid direct air blowing on food and reduce water loss or pollution on the product surface.

The functional layout follows the dynamic line of food processing to prevent cross-contamination. The layout of the workshop is strictly in accordance with the one-way dynamic line design of "raw materials entering → pretreatment → processing → packaging → finished products leaving the warehouse", and it is divided into clean area, quasi-clean area and contaminated area. The areas are physically separated, and it is forbidden for people and materials to flow backwards:

Dressing room, hand washing and disinfection pool and air shower room are set at the entrance of personnel, and they need to change clothes twice and disinfect their hands before entering the clean area;

The material inlet is provided with a transfer window/cargo shower room, raw materials need to be cleaned and disinfected before entering the processing zone, and the outer packaging needs to be removed in the buffer zone;

The drainage system is designed with anti-overflow floor drain, and the ground surface inclines towards the floor drain to facilitate drainage and cleaning. The floor drain is equipped with a water seal device to prevent sewer odor and bacteria from flowing backwards.

The design and installation of food purification workshop that meets the food industry regulations and standards and is convenient for supervision and acceptance should meet the requirements of relevant national regulations, such as Food Safety Law and General Hygienic Standard for Food Production (GB 14881), and some sub-categories should also meet special standards (such as GMP standard for dairy products and canned food). Monitoring points (such as cameras and temperature and humidity recorders) should be reserved in the workshop, which is convenient for the supervision department to check the production environment in real time; At the same time, it is equipped with an independent clean area detection channel to facilitate regular detection of microorganisms, cleanliness and other indicators to ensure production compliance.

Considering both production efficiency and maintenance cost, the performance-to-price ratio is higher. Compared with the medical purification workshop, the equipment selection of food purification workshop pays more attention to practicality and economy;

The ventilation system can choose variable frequency fan to adjust the air volume according to the production load to reduce energy consumption;

Disinfection equipment gives priority to low-cost equipment such as ultraviolet lamp and ozone generator to replace the high-efficiency sterilization system in pharmaceutical industry;

The maintenance cycle is more flexible, and the frequency of filter replacement can be adjusted according to the production environment, reducing the later operation and maintenance costs.