[Sanitation, Sustainability] Keeping it Clean and Green

Starting from scratch is inherent to the baking processes of Tastykakes, the regionally renowned product of Tasty Baking Company. But the Philadelphia bakery has found entirely new benefits of start-ing from scratch as its new plant and corporate center rise with sanitary design and sustainability blended as base ingredients.

"When you get to design a facility from the ground up, you have the liberty of putting things in the exact place you want as opposed to our [current] facility where we’ve retrofitted things that have changed over the years, that may not be as convenient or easy to use," said Autumn Bayles, senior vice president of strategic operations and overseer of the building project.

On the other hand, Bayles said, there are distinct challenges to building new. "We’re trying to replace an entity that has taken 80 years to be devel-oped. Things have been added, a piece at a time; now we’re trying to replicate 80 years of capability to make it better."

Sanitary Design. Probably the most beneficial design that was able to be incorporated into the new building was the sloped flooring in the processing area, Bayles said. Trenched drains are placed between each of the bakery’s seven lines, with the floors sloping beneath each line to the drains. "Each line can be easily hosed down and washed down and all the particulate matter will flow into the trenched drains," she explained.

This is a vast improvement and creates significant efficiencies over the practices in the current building in which puddles which form during washdown must be squeegeed over to the floor drains. Also, in the new building, Bayles added, "we’re smarter about where we designated our hose stations."

Other sanitary design factors incorporated into the new facility include:

• all lines and equipment are designed to meet washdown standards, including waterproofing according to electrical standards, complete sanitation accessibility, and compatibility with the chemicals required for cleaning.
• five of the seven ovens have automatic pan washers, increasing efficiencies and general cleanliness of the ovens.
• floors are coated with an epoxy finish to protect against cracks and crevices in which bacteria could grow. "The epoxying of the floor is meant to keep the floor from being breached," Bayles explained.
• adequate clearance is being built beneath lines to assure ease of
  cleaning and sanitation.
• a sanitary ceiling runs over the processing area beneath the lines, wires and pipes to protect product from dust, drops or particulates which could otherwise fall onto the lines.
• only specified types of vegetation are allowed on the property and all vegetation must be a specified dis-
  tance from the building. For exam-ple, "there are no shrubs directly on the perimeter of the building," Bayles said. "We don’t want to attract insects, birds or animals."

Sustainability. In both the bak-ery and corporate offices of the new building, Bayles added, "Sustainability is a concept that we’ve focused on. Anyplace that we could use an energy-saving design or reusability type of concept, we’ve put into the plan."

The new building is LEED regis-tered, Bayles said. Introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustain-able buildings.

While Tastykake expects to meet LEED certification, the company does not expect to be able to attain the highest LEED rating because of limitations of it being a baking facility. Some key areas in which sustainable initiatives are being implemented include:

• The buildings are being constructed on a brownfield site, defined by LEED as "damaged sites where development is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination, reducing pressure on undeveloped land."
• Water-saving designs have been used on all the applicable fixtures, such as sinks and toilets, and rainwater is being caught to be reused for irrigation.
• Grease trap are installed in the floor trenches to process matter before draining into the sewer system.
• Five of the bakery’s seven ovens will use thermal-oil heating systems in which the oil re-circulates through the pipes to be reheated and reused.
• LEED’s chemical standards are being followed to restrict use of chemicals unsafe to the environment.
• Ducts are being covered to meet LEED construction guidelines and maintain cleanliness.
• Lifestyle initiatives are being implemented, including bike racks, select parking for carbon-conscious cars, and restrictions against smoking in the facility or within 25 feet of a dock.

Existing structures. While there are certain advantages of designing from scratch, Bayles also believes that existing plants should periodically ap-praise their facilities and equipment for improvements in sanitary design and sustainability.

"I think you just have to make sure that you don’t have any gotcha points in your line," Bayles said. A "gotcha point," she explained, would be any area where matter can collect but you can’t reach with your sanitation equipment. "You have to make sure every part is able to be cleaned thoroughly to your specifications and if you have any part of your equipment that doesn’t facilitate that, you should replace it."

The author is managing editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@giemedia.com.

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Sanitation:

10 Principles of  Sanitary Design

Charged with developing equipment sanitary design principles, the Equipment Design Task Force (EDTF) of the American Meat Institute identified the critical nature of equipment design in reducing the risk of contamination of food products by Listeria. Although written to meet the expectations of the meat and poultry industries, consideration should be made for EDTF’s 10 principles of sanitary design for equipment in any plant:

1. Cleanability. Food equipment must be constructed to ensure effective and efficient cleaning through the life of the equipment and designed to prevent bacterial ingress, survival, growth and reproduction on its product and non-product contact surfaces.

2. Compatible materials. Construction materials must be completely compatible with the product, environment, cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, and the meth-ods of cleaning and sanitation.

3. Accessibility. All parts shall be read-ily accessible for inspection, maintenance, cleaning and sanitation without the use of tools.

4. Self-draining. Equipment should self-drain so liquid, which can harbor and promote the growth of bacteria, can not accumulate, pool or condense on equipment.

5. Sealants. Hollow areas, such as frames and rollers, must be eliminated or hermetically and permanently sealed. Items such as bolts, studs, mounting plates, brackets, junction boxes, nameplates, end caps and sleeves must be continu-ously welded to the surface, not attached via drilled and tapped holes.

6. No niches. Parts should be free of niches such as pits, cracks, corrosion, recesses, open seams, gaps, lap seams, protruding ledges, inside threads, bolt rivets and dead ends.

7. Sanitary performance. During normal operations, equipment must perform so as to not contribute to unsanitary conditions or harborage and growth of bacteria.

8. Maintenance enclosures. Maintenance enclosures and human machine interfaces such as push buttons, valve handles, switches and touch-screens, must be designed to ensure food prod-uct, water or liquid does not penetrate or accumulate in or on the enclosure or interface. Enclosures should be slop-ed or pitched to avoid use as a stor-age area.

9. Hygienic compatibility. Equipment design must ensure hygienic compatibility with other equipment and systems, such as electrical, hydraulics, steam, air and water.

10. Validated protocols. Procedures for cleaning and sanitation must be clearly written, designed and proven effective and efficient. Chemicals recommended for cleaning and sanitation must be compatible with the equipment and the man-ufacturing environment.

Adapted from the Sanitary Equipment Design Fact Sheet, American Meat Institute, March 2008.