How Polyurea Technology Helps Food Processing Plants

 

Food processing plants that create ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, particularly meats, cheeses, and other products that require refrigeration, unfortunately, offer ideal problems for microbiological contamination. Listeria monocytogenes, as an example, are frequently found in pasteurized milk, soft cheeses, gelato, raw veggies, fermented raw-meat sausages, raw as well as cooked fowl, and also deli meats. Among the keys to preventing bacterial contamination is the maintenance of smooth surface areas throughout the plant, including wall surfaces, ceilings, floorings, and cooking surfaces, which are simple to clean gas well as disinfecting. There have been numerous food recalls due to Listeria contamination, as well as this has stood out to the concerns of plant hygiene, style, and construction. As one possible service, ArmorThane, a supplier of high-performance polyurea coatings, linings, and joint sealants, has established a polyurea system specially made to give preferable surfaces, even in aging plants with tilted building and construction.

The largest Listeria broke out in the United States 3q in 2011 and was mapped to infected cantaloupes; 146 individuals across 28 states ended up being ill, 142 of which were hospitalized, and 33 died. Hispanic-style cheeses offered by Roos Foods were recalled after a Listeria outbreak was traced to the company's items early in 2014. An additional cheese-- Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese-- was a source of a Listeria outbreak in 2013. Apples were a current resource of contamination at Bidart Bros. apple handling plant near Bakersfield, CA (January 2015) and Appeeling Fruit Inc. of Dauberville, PA (September 2015). In the same month, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene exposed that countless items produced by Picnic Gourmet Spreads might have been polluted. On April 20, 2015, Blue Bell Creameries willingly recalled all of its products on the market made in any way of its centers, consisting of gelato, ice cream, sherbet, and icy treats, because of potential contamination from Listeria. According to details uploaded on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, ten individuals with Listeriosis about this outbreak were verified from 4 states, with three fatalities reported.

Listeria is gram-positive microorganisms that expand under anaerobic and aerobic conditions and can, unlike most microorganisms, multiply at fridge temperatures and endure freezing. They are likewise prevalent in the atmosphere, including in dirt and water, the manure of lots of animal types, and the feces of healthy and balanced human adults. In human beings, Listeria infections can be serious to deadly for the elderly, the young, and people with damaged immune signs, yet usually do not trigger healthy and balanced grownups great harm. Human beings are infected with Listeria just using consumption and usually with the consumption of contaminated food or water. Secondly, just to Salmonella in the number of instances of ailment in the United States due to foodborne impurities, it is no surprise that L. monocytogenes is taken into consideration as a significant public health issue. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stated the bacterium an adulterant in RTE meats and embraced a zero-tolerance policy for its visibility in these products.

Pasteurization can be used to eliminate Listeria; however, in larger bundles of RTE foods, the desired temperature is not always reached throughout the item, enabling some germs to persist. Furthermore, after pasteurization, some foods are combined with raw ingredients that can introduce contamination. Equipment, countertops, and any other surface areas that are available in contact with the food (handwear covers, and so on), can also be resources of contamination otherwise appropriately cleaned up and disinfected. That can be testing to complete in older processing plants that have wall surfaces and also ceilings constructed with tilted steel, i-beams, concrete block, interlocking steel and fiberglass panels, double-t ceilings, as well as tiles with concrete cement, which work as superb places for standing water and also the build-up of dirt, dirt, mold, and germs, consisting of Listeria, Escherichia Coli, as well as Salmonella. Frequently, the fractures, pits, and joints present in these plants provide surfaces for microbial growth despite the use of aggressive power cleaning and chemical hygiene strategies. Additionally, Listeria remains to grow at low-temperature levels. It can aerosolize and connect to equipment and individuals and is, as a result, tough to regulate in the handling environment.

Application

It should also be noted that other sources of pollutants are of real worry in older plants, such as breaking paint and spalled and also split concrete. The hostile cleansing protocols made use of in food handling plants only accelerate damages to coatings and various other surface areas, therefore bringing about the demand for frequent maintenance and repainting and or complete replacement. Not just is this method labor-intensive and also extremely expensive, in many cases, plant shutdowns are called for, having a different adverse influence on earnings.

Today, with accessibility to advanced food-grade polyurea coatings from ArmorThane, Springfield MO-based Rehabilitation Systems could achieve total rehabilitation of the wall surfaces and ceilings in food handling plants, often throughout intended upkeep weekends. Making use of a trademarked procedure consisting of structural recovery, specific surface area prep work, retrofit layout alterations, as well as ArmorThane's food-grade safety polyurea coatings provide a monolithic lining that gets rid of all existing chips, joints, as well as gaps, according to CEO Garry Froese. He likewise keeps in mind that as part of this process, the room is "reshaped" so that just smooth, rounded lines remain, and areas where water, dust, grime, and pathogens can accumulate, are eliminated.

The fast-curing pure polyurea coating from ArmorThane, which is specially formulated for food processing plants, is vital to the rehabilitation system. Froese notes that the material is a spray used, which implies it can be applied quickly by skilled applicators, built up to any required thickness, and formed into the changed wall surface and ceiling layout. Therefore, a one-coating system can be used to develop a monolithic surface, minimizing plant downtime swiftly. The majority of other coatings take one to four days to treat, which is also long when you require to obtain the plant back online. Polyurea sets up and can be gone back to service within mins," he adds. A custom-made polyurea overcoat gives a glossy surface area that stands up to standing water and also stops dirt, dust, and germs from taking hold. "VersaFlex worked very closely with us to make adjustments on the polyurea cure time, gel time, and the topcoat homes to fulfill our specific needs for the food handling sector," Cook observes.

With 15 to 20 employees, including an experienced coating applicator, Fixxus can complete a whole food processing plant rehab in 2 to 4 days. Cook notes that the whole workforce is completely learned the information and requirements for sanitation and sterilizing in food processing, cleanroom, and pharmaceutical-grade facilities. The rehabilitation process begins with the repair of any locations with spalled or broken concrete, damaging and peeling paint, or heavy corrosion. Extensive cleaning to get rid of oil and grime and various other surface pollutants is carried out utilizing particularly approved wash-down remedies and self-supporting high-powered water-blasting methods. Openings, gaps, seams, and penetrations are then loaded. Any improvement is completed utilizing, as an example, a combination of concrete and molded foam materials to change any level surface areas from 90 ° to 45 ° to stop standing water from collecting. Every tool, pipeline, floor covering, and other revealed locations are covered in plastic or covered before splashing of the polyurea coating, which is finished very carefully and uniformly to provide a great, clean look, according to Froese.

Often this technique-- complete interior wall as well as ceiling rehabilitation-- is the quickest and also most cost-efficient way for food processors with maturing facilities to break the cycle of continuous wear and tear and recurring repair while likewise minimizing the danger of pathogen-based product remembers," Froese wraps up.