2. Ventilation

There should be enough ventilation for all areas of the establishment including workrooms, processing, packaging, and welfare rooms to ensure sanitary conditions. A good ventilation system is important to the production of wholesome meat and poultry products. Without controlling the quality of the air coming in to the establishment, products may become contaminated with dust, insects, odors, or condensation. When designing your ventilation system s, you should consider the following guidelines:

  • The ventilation system should be designed so that turbulence is avoided. The longer the distance the air has to flow, the greater the resistance the air encounters not only from static air, but from solid objects such as walls, equipment, people, and product.
  • The ventilation system should be designed with the size of the establishment in mind. The larger the facility, the greater the volume of air that must be moved.
  • The ventilation system should be designed to compensate for changes in outside temperature and humidity that cause condensation problems with in the establishment.
  • Screens and filters should be used where needed to screen out dust, odors, and insects brought in from the outside to prevent product contamination.
  • Mechanical ventilation should be used to bring in fresh air to areas where natural ventilation is in adequate.
  • Ventilation should prevent vap or formation, such as steam or fog, that would affect sanitation or interfere with the inspector’s ability to perform inspection.
  • When exhaust fans are installed, provision should be made to provide enough outside make up air to prevent air from being drawn in to and through docks, coolers, and production areas to the area served by the exhaust fan.

3. Equipment (General Design and Construction)

Equipment materials should comply with 21 CFR, Parts 170–190 of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for direct food contact.
Equipment and utensils used for handling as preparing edible product or ingredient in any official establishment should be easily cleaned and not be a source of contamination. Consider the following guidelines when selecting equipment.

  • All direct product contact surfaces should be smooth; maintained free of pits, cracks, crevices and scale; corrosion and abrasion resistant; non – absorbent; shatter proof; nontoxic; and not capable of migrating in to food products.
  • Equipment should not be painted on areas in or above the direct product contact area.
  • Construction materials that are sources of contamination include cadmium, antimony or lead as plating or the plated base material, lead exceeding 5 percent in an alloy and enamelware and porcelain used for handling and processing product.
  • Equipment should be designed and installed in such a way that foreign materials, such as lubricants, heat exchanger media, condensate, cleaning solutions, sanitizers and other nonfood materials do not contaminate food products.
  • Equipment is self-draining or designed to be evacuated of water.
  • All product contact surfaces allow contact with cleaning solutions and rinse water.
  • Clean-in-place (CIP) systems should have sanitation procedures that are as complete and effective as those for cleaning and sanitizing disassembled equipment. To remove all organic and in organic residues, CIP systems should meet the following criteria:
  • Cleaning and sanitizing solutions and rinse water should contact all interior surfaces of the system.
  • The system should be self-draining, with no low or sagging areas.
  • The pipe interiors should be highly polished (120–180 grit) stainless steel for easy inspection.
  • Easily removable elbows with quick-disconnect mechanisms should be installed at each change of direction. Elbows should be short enough to permit verification that the interior has been cleaned.
Pages: 1 2