Yearbook 2013/2014 - ehedg

170 EHEDG Subgroups
EHEDG Subgroup “Materials of Construction
for Equipment in Contact with Food”
Eric Partington, e-mail: eric@effex.co.uk
EHEDG Doc. 32 “Materials of Construction for Equipment
in Contact with Food” offers practical guidance about the
ways in which materials may behave such that they can be
selected and used as effectively as possible. The Guideline
is intended to serve as an aide-memoir during the design
process, so that equipment manufacturers and end-users
can together ensure that all aspects of materials behaviour
can be taken into account in designing safe, hygienic, reliable
and efficient equipment which can be operated, maintained
and managed economically.
The Guideline was first published in 2005. Its 54 pages
addressed legislation, materials behaviour, hygienic design
and cleanability. The materials covered included metallics,
elastomers, plastics, composites, ceramics and glasses,
and the characteristic ways in which each group of materials
behaves were discussed. Potential failure mechanisms were
identified, together with the conditions under which there is
the greatest risk of them occurring.
But since that first issue was written, much has changed in
the world of Food Contact Materials including revisions of
the Framework Directive and the Machinery Directive, new
constraints on the selection and application of some nonmetallic
materials, advances in composites, glasses and
anti-microbial materials and the advent of nano-materials. It
is now time for Doc. 32 to be reviewed and updated.
A successful first meeting of the re-formed SG Materials of
Construction was held on 27 June 2012. It established a
base for the revision of Doc 32 ― the structure of the new
Guideline would generally follow the format of the original,
each group of materials (e.g: metallics, plastics, elastomers,
ceramics) being discussed in its own separate section
prepared by a small team of experts in those materials.
The SG Materials of Construction currently comprises
experts in legislation, metals, cleanability and some areas
of plastics and elastomers but would welcome offers of
assistance in the fields of ceramics, glasses, composites,
anti-microbial surface treatments and biocidal materials,
metallic surface coatings and intelligent materials where
they apply to Materials of Construction. If you would like to
participate in the updating of Doc. 32, the secretariat and the
Chairman would be very pleased to hear from you.
Chairman:
Eric Partington
Nickel Institute
Well Croft
Ampney St. Mary
Gloucestershire GL7 5SN
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 1285 610 014
E-mail: eric@effex.co.uk
EHEDG Subgroup
“Hygienic Design of Meat Processing Equipment”
Dr. Aleksandra Martinovic, e-mail: aleksmartinovic@t-com.me
In March 2011, the new EHEDG Subgroup “Hygienic design
of meat processing equipment” again became active after a
long period since the first kick off meeting held in Belgrade
in 2009.
The purpose of the subgroup is to develop a guideline to
specify and illustrate the hygienic design of machinery
and equipment used in the meat processing industry. The
document will provide guidance by highlighting good and
bad design examples as well as by describing installations,
operations and maintenance of such equipment according
to the state-of-the-art achievements in the field. The scope
of the new EHEDG guideline in progress will focus on ‘Meat
processing between slaughtering and packaging’.
The subgroup consists of some 15 professionals from
companies and institutions. This underlines the industry’s
broad interest in the subject.
Poorly designed equipment may increase the risk of
contamination of food products such as meat and meat
products with micro-organisms, and different stages of
processing and manufacturing may demand different levels
of hygienic design. The fundamental principle, however, is
that the design of any piece of equipment must not allow any
increase in the concentration of relevant contaminants.
The guideline will cover the hygienic aspects of equipment
design, engineering unit processes, transportation systems,
production procedures, cleaning and disinfection procedures
and specific environmental requirements.