Benchmarking Compressed Air Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for GFSI Food Safety Compliance Parker ENGINEERING YOUR SUCCESS.

Lee Scott, compressed air and gas treatment product manager, Parker Industrial Gas Filtration and Generation Division. Lee has over 30 years of experience in pneumatic and filtration technologies for the food and beverage and industrial manufac turing industries. At Parker IGFG, one of his primary focus areas is on compressed air treatment solutions for food safety compliance. Lee has an B.S. in Business Administration and Management and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire. Any modern food manufacturing facility employs compressed air extensively in the plant. As common as it is, the...

Compressed air is not as clean as it appears to be. Untreated compressed air contains many potentially harmful or dangerous contaminants that must be removed or reduced to acceptable levels in order to protect the consumer and provide a safe and cost-effective production facility. Along with moisture and particulate matter, inlet air to a compressor generally carries 5 to 50 bacteria per cfm. A 75-hp compressor with a capacity of 300 scfm therefore takes in 100,000 to 1 million bacteria each hour. These bacteria get compressed along with the air and begin their journey through the compressed...

Almost** rit conlaminaliOn entering the compressor Tonal contamination entering Ihe compresaed air distribution system - Water Vapor - Water Aerosoia - Condensed Liquid Water - Pipe scale Compressor room drying and filtration are good, but they are not enough for a food processing plant. System filtration can do a good job reducing the amount of contaminants introduced into the downstream distribution system. However, that alone does not meet the requirements of the published GMPs that address compressed air — nor is it fully effective. In this scenario, the risk of food adulteration is still...

The warm, dark, moist environment inside a compressed air system is the perfect condition for microbes to flourish and grow. Drying the air to a low dew point is an effective way to inhibit this microbial growth. Inhibit — not kill. Microbes need food, water, and the right temperature to grow. Take one or two of those nutrients away, and the growth stops — temporarily. Some of the microbial pathogens that are hazards to food safety form spores and/or protect themselves by moving into a dormant stage when nutrients in the surrounding environment are depleted. These dormant spores resume propagation...

Due to the risks mentioned previously, the number of food manufacturing companies adopting GFSI-endorsed food quality schemes is steadily growing. One of the most popular schemes in the U.S. is the SQF Code. Beginning with the 7th edition of the SQF code, released in July of 2012, awareness of potential contamination from compressed air was highlighted. Edition 8 of the SQF code, published November, 2017, includes verbiage relating to compressed air in Module 11: Good Manufacturing Practices for Processing of Food Products. SQF has also published a Guidance Document to accompany the Edition 8...

Recommendations for Meeting GFSI Standards in Food Plants To help companies adhere to GFSI standards, Parker has developed recommended GMPs for compressed air systems in food processing plants based on benchmarking published practices. The following three simplified GPMs are recommended for food processing facilities using compressed air. 1 Remove as much moisture as possible from the air before distributing it throughout the plant. A dew point of -40F/C is ideal. 2 Use point-of-use sterile air filtration wherever compressed air comes in contact directly or indirectly with food or food contact...

Identifying the risks and potential hazards compressed air introduces in a food processing plant is the easy part. Determining — and following — Good Manufacturing Practices for effectively treating the compressed air is not so straightforward. In the end, the best and final defense against all types of compressed air contamination is point-of-use filtration. For more information, contact the author, Lee Scott by email: [email protected] or call him directly at 978-478-2750. You can also visit our website at www.parker.com/igfg. 2. https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/ guidancedo cumentsregulatoryinformation/...