Sanitary equipment design is essential to ensuring food safety in the snack and bakery industry. To that end, the Baking Industry Sanitation Standards Committee (BISSC) has established standards and guidelines for the design and operation of equipment.
Leaders from top snack and bakery companies like Kellogg Co., PepsiCo, General Mills and Nestlé will illustrate cutting-edge best practices related to sanitary design.
Best practices for the design of snack and bakery facilities, whether building new construction or renovating an existing building, have undergone a significant evolution in recent years.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, the domestic baking industry consumes an estimated $800 million worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year, as noted in its guide, "Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Baking Industry" (Nov. 2016 update, available on www.energystar.gov).
Automation, advances in sanitary design, greater worker safety and additional flexibility in packaging have been among the top requests that manufacturers of cutting, slicing and portioning equipment say they've been fielding from their customers this year.
The latest form/fill/seal (FFS) packaging systems are designed to accommodate a wide range of packaging options at high speeds while ensuring food safety via sanitary design. The systems combine flexibility and automation, as they often need to pack different products on the same line. In addition, new designs enable quick changeover.
Snack and bakery equipment companies have been busy updating ovens and proofers in recent months. Recently released and updated ovens have included features like greater energy savings, shorter turnaround time and wireless remote monitoring, sometimes those provided by component subcontractors.