Food Industry Drains: The Food Safety Auditors Favorite

How to design a effective drainage system in food industry. What most of the food safety auditors say it should be easy to clean, self sloping, covered and much more... through our extensive project experience we have following recommendation for effective drains in food industry

8 Recommendations for Drain Selection

While planning the food factory drain always ignored or designed at end while it is most important considering food safety.

1. Prepare Wire Diagram:

Once master layout of entire facility is ready and zoning of utilities mainly raw water storage, water treatment plant and effluent treatment plant is finalized then immediately machinery placement, equipment layout should be finalized along with flow of material. It is advisable to prepare a drain wireframe while placing machinery and equipment.

2.Location

Consider the location of your drains and their spacing. Drains that are spaced too far have the potential to water stand, resulting in microbial growth, and other biological hazards that can be incredibly harmful.

It’s important to have enough drains placed appropriately throughout a space to allow liquid to flow freely to the collection point.

3. Material of Construction

Drains can be built in RCC, Cement, Tiles with Epoxy Coating, Nowadays ready stainless steel, HDPE, PVC drains are also available. Material selection plays a significant role in the food safety of a facility. While drains come in a wide variety of materials, not all are suitable for food and beverage processing.

Drain body materials need to be cleanable, rust-resistant, and capable of withstanding high-temperature and corrosive chemical cleaning solutions.

4. Grating and Drain Covers

While most trench drains rely on grates, these are hard to clean and can even be dangerous for workers. Grates need to be cleaned regularly. With constant exposure to fluids and natural acids from foods, as well as the heavy weight of machinery, they often weaken and break down over time. This can lead to injuries and add to drain maintenance costs. While selecting drain covers that should free from any blind spots and easy to clean. It should be heavy enough to carry load.

5. Ease of cleaning

Food-grade stainless steel is bacteria-resistant, it’s also important to consider the ease of cleaning. Removable grates and lids, drain baskets and P-Trap assemblies must be considered when selecting drainage devices. Avoid right angles for drain walls it should be properly curved or coving should be done. Drain should be compatible for cleaning with pressure jets or steam guns.

6. Slope and type of flooring

The floor where drain is being installed is equally important as the type of drain installed. For drainage systems to work, floors must have good slope to allow water to flow and prevent standing water.

7. Size of drain

Food industry needs water for many operations such as washing of fruits and vegetables, steaming, blanching and large volume of water required for CIP. Volume of water will be different for different area such pre-processing, processing and packaging so that drain size should be selected accordingly. Even peak water requirement at end of production and CIP drain out should be considered for selecting drain size.

8. Drain Traps and Sieves

Drain traps and sieves should be planned according to zone requirement. Size of trap and sieve and its cleanability is important. Proper sieve pore size will reduce BOD load on ETP

Open type, close type drains should be considered depending on requirement. Drain flow should be planned to avoid cross contamination. Selecting the proper type of drainage system is an essential component of designing a food-safe facility. Improper drainage can be hazardous for employees and harbor pathogens and bacteria that lead to food contamination, recalls and production pauses, all of which impact a facility’s bottom line and reputation.

We @foodcognics help in wireframing of drains, selecting right drain structure according to modern food factories requirement. To understand more in detail about drain and their costing reach us at +91-7218024999 or visit our website www.foodcognics.com

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