Practical application of multidisciplinary hygienic design standards in new protein plants

Abstract: New protein production facilities require coordinated and interdisciplinary engineering design effort to produce an environment suitable for the production of food grade ingredient products. Many feel the responsibility for hygienic design falls to the downstream manufacturer that produces the food product in a direct manufacturing to consumer table supply chain. This, however, disregards the current trend for further-reaching applicability of guidance applying not only to ready-to-eat products but also ingredients. As a result, processors are increasingly required to produce many of their products in equipment and facilities that must be designed hygienically. A key deliverable in achieving this goal is through utilizing effective engineering design strategies and food safety guidelines for facilities and equipment. The intent of this presentation is to outline design pitfalls in facility design and to provide illustrative cases for how rigorous coordination among engineering disciplines is necessary to deliver a functional facility for food ingredient production.

Engineering Interdependencies: It is straightforward enough to grasp the requirement for and specification of process and utility equipment and building furnishings which are capable of performing in a food grade duty. It is, however, often less clear how to effectively ensure that the surrounding facility is similarly properly designed. Engineering interdependencies require careful and coordinated efforts to ensure that the resulting building system is similarly capable of performing in food grade service.

Proper housekeeping, maintenance, environmental conditioning, and sanitary provisions are all necessary elements of a wholistic facility design and are all addressed, simultaneously, by numerous engineering disciplines necessary for facility design.