This webinar explores the role of continuous pathogen control technology in supporting sanitation protocols within food processing environments. While routine sanitation remains foundational, airborne and difficult-to-reach areas can present persistent contamination risks between cleaning cycles.
Water management in food processing is essential to ensuring the safety of employees and consumers. Disinfection and sanitation are other vital components, but they often influence each other. Hard water in food processing, while common, affects the performance of chemical cleaners. The workforce must recognize the dangers of using sanitizers on hard water — even if they are industry-approved — and implement strategies to mitigate their adverse effects.
Hard water is a persistent problem in the U.S., indicating calcium carbonate concentrations of 121 milligrams per liter or more. The presence of typical hard-water minerals is not a public safety concern for food manufacturers, but it affects how they clean and sanitize. Understanding the many points of entry is the first step in solving the problem.
It enters most structures from groundwater sources. As water travels through the soil and other rocks, it becomes laden with additional nutrients and minerals, such as magnesium and calcium. The density of these can vary based on numerous factors, like geography and how far the water has to travel. It also depends on the region’s and the company’s filtration and treatment infrastructure.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency outlines what food-grade sanitation chemicals are approved for use on contact surfaces and equipment. They include chlorine and peroxyacetic acid (PAA), with restrictions being even more noticeable in organic-certified organizations. However, many of these react poorly to hard water.
Common surfactants in sanitation chemicals are ineffective against most divalent cations. When hard-water ions interact with the active ingredients, they can form soap scum. The residue can accumulate quickly, reducing the effectiveness of cleaning agents.
The salt formation is insoluble, so other tools and sanitation chemicals are required to remove it. While it may appear as a mere visual distraction on a food-grade surface, the presence of the insoluble precipitate suggests the disinfectant had a reduced rate of kill against bacteria and other harmful microorganisms.
If biofilms and limescale form, technicians may feel incentivized to use more of their cleaners to remove them. However, research shows that sometimes increasing the amount of the chemical can also have an adverse effect. Tests using 200 parts per million of chlorine, 400 ppm of quaternary ammonium compound and 160 ppm of PAA led to a greater presence of Listeria on stainless steel surfaces. Neglecting targeted cleaning methods could lead to increased foodborne illness outbreaks and product recalls.
Additionally, cleaners such as chlorine and iodine-based options also react poorly to hard water in other ways. Hard water’s acidity can reduce the effectiveness of chlorine by making it less present in an active state. This reduction in efficacy is not visible to the naked eye, making it a deceptively common problem in food processing facilities.
If the workforce wants to abate concerns caused by hard water, they must institute a robust water management plan. It must be multipronged, including behavioral shifts and technological implementations to be as comprehensive as possible. Otherwise, it would introduce hazards into the workspace, which would go against the most prominent safety controls, including the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and Good Manufacturing Practices.
Sanitation and disinfection are required parts of workflows to keep food clean and nutritious, but so is the way it is stored. The appropriate storage solution amplifies the effectiveness of all cleaning efforts by preventing bacterial reproduction, machinery failures and scale buildup. It only takes one hour of downtime for an organization to lose thousands of dollars, so leveraging storage to prevent additional cleaning is crucial. Maintaining storage equipment is even more important.
Companies can remove minerals in the water they use before it hits the production floor. Ion-exchange water softeners and reverse osmosis technologies are among the industry’s most reliable methods for removing calcium and magnesium from water. They take both out of the equation so sanitation chemicals can work at maximum efficiency.
Teams can use conventional sanitizing chemicals with revised ingredients and compositions to fight against hard water if the organization is unable to soften or filter it. Chelating agents are powerful additives because they bind to minerals, preventing them from interfering with active ingredients. One common chelant is citric acid, which may cost more to implement, but it could be cost-effective in the long term by preventing other issues.
Limescale buildup is more than unsightly — it has profound implications for poor sanitation in food manufacturing. Water hardness is a greater health threat in these environments than most realize because it is typically not a concern in other circumstances. However, food experts have a responsibility to understand why their chemicals may not work as well when interacting with hard water. Then, they must collaborate with leadership and local utilities to prevent its transmission into food facilities and protect citizens.
The Food Safety Hazards Conference will take place April 20-22 in St. Louis MO. The Program is two and a half days of high-level panel discussions and educational presentations focused on the detection, mitigation, control and regulations of food safety hazards through technology, best practices and data analytics. The Hazards addresses in the program include Listeria, e-Coli, Salmonella, Allergens, Chemicals and Foreign Matter.
The acquisition exemplifies the shared commitment and aligned values of Hygiena and Nexcor, aiming to enhance the safety and operational efficiency of food and beverage facilities through innovative technologies and comprehensive solutions.
Hygiena, announced that is has completed the acquisition of Nexcor Food Safety Technologies, Inc., the creator of KLEANZ and CAMS-PM, two software solutions for managing sanitation and equipment maintenance in food and beverage manufacturing facilities.
“Effective cleaning and monitoring of facilities with food safety diagnostic testing are essential for quality control and risk mitigation across all food processing environments. With our acquisition of Nexcor software solutions, we plan to integrate our SureTrend® analytics platform with KLEANZ’s sanitation software, delivering powerful tools to drive quality improvement, prevent food safety issues and enhance operational efficiencies,” said Steven Nason, CEO of Hygiena. “Hygiena’s extensive global customer base and commercial channels will introduce KLEANZ and CAMS-PM software solutions, along with our integrated SaaS food safety offerings, to a wider audience. This expanded portfolio provides our customers with a streamlined, prevention-focused approach to sanitation and food safety management. With a centralized platform offering comprehensive, real-time solutions, we are empowering businesses to enhance their food safety programs and operational effectiveness worldwide.”
Robert Burgh, President of Nexcor Food Safety Technologies, Inc., commented, “This collaboration with Hygiena allows Nexcor to create greater customer value by streamlining two critical, interconnected functions within food companies worldwide. Together, we accelerate market growth while staying true to our values of innovation, integrity and customer satisfaction. We are excited to merge our expertise, creating enhanced SaaS platforms and comprehensive solutions for sanitation, safety and compliance management. United, we are poised to lead the future of food safety with a shared vision and strong commitment.”
David Grant, General Manager of Software and Instrument Firmware at Hygiena, added, “We are excited to integrate Nexcor’s solutions into our existing suite of software offerings and extend the capabilities of SureTrend. SureTrend currently enables our customers to efficiently plan, schedule, test, capture, store, protect, analyze, audit and report on their critical testing data. Integrating Nexcor’s data will allow us to leverage sophisticated machine learning AI for predictive insights, enhancing risk mitigation and advancing food safety.”
The acquisition exemplifies the shared commitment and aligned values of Hygiena and Nexcor, aiming to enhance the safety and operational efficiency of food and beverage facilities through innovative technologies and comprehensive solutions. Nexcor’s dedicated customer base and strong market presence in the food, beverage and packaging sectors will significantly contribute to the partnership’s success, fostering global expansion, enhanced product offerings, operational efficiencies and cross-selling opportunities.
Q&A with Evan Reyes, Global Director of Sales, Sanitation Division, Goodway Technologies
Goodway Technologies provides cleaning and sanitation equipment for the food and beverage processing industry. They offer a range of products including dry steam cleaners, conveyor belt cleaning systems, industrial vacuums, and surface sanitizing equipment. They also specialize in innovative solutions such as CIP technologies and industrial vacuums. Their goal is to help improve hygiene and food safety, and increase production efficiency in food production plants.
QUESTION: Is steam safe to use around water sensitive equipment?
ANSWER: Thanks to the low moisture content of dry steam, we are able to use it to safely clean motors, conduit, control panels, and other areas where water use is typically not welcome. Some highly sensitive components like touch screen, power receptacles, and photo eyes should still not be directly steam cleaned, although you can steam clean in close proximity to these sensitive components without worrying about them getting wet.
QUESTION: How can you get to a passing ATP level without introducing cleaning chemicals to aid in the process?
ANSWER: In the right applications, our belt cleaning systems will do the job of a cleaning chemical to break down the soils using dry steam, and then we follow up with vacuum extraction to physically remove the soil from the belt. This is a powerful cleaning combination that leads to a very clean and completely dry belt surface.
We frequently see 0 ATP readings after the belt cleaning is completed, and are always within a passing ATP level after cleaning. One other benefit is that we provide a consistent cleaning across the entire belt surface, every time, eliminating the possibility of an operator missing a spot on the belt, failing a swab, and needing to re-clean.
Learn more from Goodway Technologies
Visit Goodway Technologies’ booth at the Food Safety Consortium Conference, Oct. 20-22, Washington DC
On three recent occasions, I have talked with food safety leadership at mid- to large-sized processors about their food safety testing and sanitation programs. While these organizations each face some unique challenges, there was a common theme that was clear among them all: The creation of meaningful and timely reporting that is communicated effectively is typically just too cumbersome and manual today.
Other industries have digitally transformed the management of testing, diagnostic, and sanitation workflows. Take, for example, the healthcare industry, where the electronic health record (EHR) has become the standard means of system-wide communication of patient health and risk information. All testing and diagnostic data related to a patient is added to their EHR, making it far simpler for medical professionals to access and use in their assessment and determination of appropriate treatment programs and medications. In addition, the EHR makes it easier for health providers and payor organizations to access aggregate data to assess outcomes, risks, and other measures relevant to the organizations and the industry.
The banking industry, which years ago established online electronic banking as the standard means of transacting business, provides another digital transformation example. Each personal or business account holder can be seen as a source of transactions (analogous to a series of diagnostic results), where there is an expected outcome. The old way of banking, via manual, paper-based systems, had many limitations, including the risk of human error.
Resistance to change abounded in each of these examples, but the benefits of accelerating access to information, eliminating human error, and streamlining the ability to collect, assemble, and deliver impactful analytics, far outweighed the hesitancy to move forward with new digitally supported methods.
In the food and beverage manufacturing and processing industry, resistance has remained very strong within Food Safety & Quality functions. This resistance has largely been the result of food safety regulation being viewed as a “compliance” necessity, and it therefore does not receive the same attention as a business innovation that yields a business growth outcome.
New thinking on this conundrum is starting to generate a different perspective on the matter, however. Early adopters of digital food safety management platforms have found several business benefits beyond streamlined compliance outcomes. At the 2023 International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), a panel of food safety leaders from three different organizations discussed their experiences in adopting digital software for managing their testing programs. Excerpts from this event can be found in this video.
The main discussion centered on how each organization established a business justification for adoption of digital technology to manage their testing programs. Here are three effective justifications that I have heard from leadership, which also featured in the discussion at IAFP:
If you are challenged with building a business justification for adoption of digital technology in your organization, perhaps the thinking in this article will provide a starting point.
Novolyze, developer of food safety and quality digitalization technology and solutions, was recognized as the Most Innovative Food Safety and Quality Software Company of 2023 by New World Report’s Software and Technology Awards.
The Software and Technology Awards, now in their fourth year, recognize companies across North and South America that demonstrate excellence, innovation, and a commitment to advancing technology. Novolyze’s patented technologies provide a comprehensive view of environmental monitoring, process control, sanitation, and other critical aspects of food safety and quality.
“New World Report’s award affirms Novolyze’s mission to revolutionize the food industry,” said Novolyze CEO Karim-Franck Khinouche. “Our SMART Food Safety & Quality platform of solutions ensures product safety without the need for costly testing, empowering efficient and waste-minimized food production, transforming our customers processes so consumers can enjoy safe, high-quality products with confidence.”
Novolyze recently appointed Laurent Vernerey to its Board of Directors. Vernerey brings more than 25 years of experience in industrial software to the board. He is currently an investor and board member of Tulip.co, a leading provider of no-code software for the industrial workforce. Prior to that, he held executive positions at Acuity Brands, where he oversaw its Technology Group, and Schneider Electric, as CEO for North America with an extensive software portfolio including Wonderware and Foxboro.
“Novolyze is at a pivotal time in the company’s growth, which makes it an exciting time to join their Board of Directors,” said Vernerey. “Novolyze has developed a truly innovative platform that is transforming the way food and beverage companies collect, analyze and leverage data. I am confident that my experience will help Novolyze achieve its ambitious goals.”
Image: Laurent Vernerey
With 37 facilities and close to 500 suppliers, Kellogg works with a large and diverse workforce. Over the years, the company has implemented several strategies to teach and reinforce good food safety practices. As a member of the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, the company works with Stop to share what they have learned with fellow food industry professionals. We spoke with Sherry Brice, Chief Supply Chain Officer and former VP of Global Quality and Food Safety at WK Kellogg Company, and Vanessa Coffman, Ph.D., Alliance Program Director at Stop Foodborne Illness, to share their insights on training, rewards and free tools that can help food companies of all sizes enhance their food safety culture.
What are some of the strategies that Kellogg is using to strengthen its food safety culture?
Brice: Some of the things that Kellogg has implemented over the years—and every year we evolve—include a campaign called “Kellogg Food Safety Own It Every Day.” The campaign is about driving engagement at every level of the organization. We have behaviors that we expect of our employees at the frontline leadership level, the executive level and the management level. We provide training on engagement strategies to better articulate food safety culture, including the things they should recognize and how they should recognize them. We also do virtual reality trainings that help to educate our people. After education and engagement, the third pillar is recognition—recognizing and rewarding people around food safety culture.
Is food safety training part of all employee’s onboarding?
Brice: We do have onboarding for new employees. We also do quarterly and annual trainings, because doing it one time is not enough. You have to repeat, repeat, repeat. We have food safety videos that we have launched in partnership with Stop Foodborne Illness that include real life experiences and stories of people who have dealt with foodborne illness. These help team members internalize the training and personalize it, so they are thinking about the impact their actions have on the customers we serve every day. We use one of the videos for onboarding and also leverage them for our annual training and refresh trainings as well.
How did Stop Foodborne Illness get involved with Kellogg and what kind of resources are available for companies?
Coffman: Kellogg has been a member of the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness since 2021. We rely heavily on Sherry and her team’s insights in multiple work streams, one of which is the ever-growing video series that is posted to our food safety culture toolkit website, and these are all free and publicly available.
We created two customized videos with Kellogg, each featuring one of Stop’s constituent-advocates alongside a Kellogg executive. These remind employees why food safety is so important and emphasize the commitment that Kellogg has made to safe food. We’ve also worked together on gamified learning, leveraging some of the games that Kellogg uses in its training, and those can also be accessed in the toolkit that is free and publicly available.
Since Kellogg joined the Alliance, has that changed your training strategies or your recognition strategies?
Brice: Stop has given us access to their constituents, which really brings to life why food safety is so important at every level of the organization. Engagement with people who have been affected by foodborne illness is crucial to getting to the hearts and minds of employees, and emphasizing the importance what they do every day.
Since joining the Alliance, we have also added virtual reality to our trainings, starting with the most important one which is around sanitation. We created a virtual reality space where new employees—as part of onboarding—put the glasses on and go through our sanitation process. If you do not do the right step, it will not let you go forward. It’s a way to do hands-on training without having to actually be on the line.
The Alliance has been a great partner for Kellogg. It is an investment, but it is money well spent. When you hear the stories of their constituents, you cannot help but think, I never want a situation like that to be on my watch, what can I do to prevent this from happening?
Kellogg is a very large company. How do you ensure this training is happening and that you’re communicating a consistent message throughout the whole organization?
Ready to start improving your food safety culture? Join the Food Safety Culture Design Workshop on October 16, at the 2023 Food Safety Consortium.
Brice: We have a global quality council made up of members from regions around the globe. We all come together on that council to align and make sure we’re all on the same page in terms of what we are going to do to impact the broader organization, and then we disseminate that action out into the regions. This way, we ensure that we have the right ownership, and that everyone is clear on what needs to be done and how we’re going to do it. We also use the council to track and make sure that people are getting access to the videos and completing the training in the time that we have identified.
We created a toolbox tool that is crafted and geared toward Kellogg employees based on the region they’re in, and the council helps to disseminate that and then track that the work is being completed. We also incorporate this into our audit to make sure that people are internalizing the information and getting something out of it.
You mentioned training on engagement strategies, is that through role playing?
Brice: Yes, it really is about how to drive good behaviors, ownership, escalation and empowerment. If you’re a technician and you have to give feedback to a manager, that can really be intimidating, so we want to make sure we’re arming employees with the right tools. We do this in our training by simulating how to have these crucial conversations. If I go into a plant and I’m not following protocol, somebody is going to give me feedback, and I hope that they give it to me in the right way. We want to arm people with the knowledge on how to do that so that they’re comfortable giving that feedback no matter who they are.
Does Kellogg work with its suppliers to help train them as well?
Brice: We do work with our supply base and also our co-manufacturers (co-mans). Our co-mans get a lot of the same training that our plants get. We have an “owner” from the supplier management team that oversees each of the suppliers and that owner manages what training the supplier needs, depending on where that supplier is in their journey. We provide them with the toolbox from Stop, so they can leverage those resources. and we have found that very helpful because if that supplier has a great food safety culture that means we’re going to great materials. Likewise, if our co-mans have a great food safety culture then we feel more comfortable with what they’re producing for us.
In addition to the videos, what are some of the other ways that the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness partners with companies?
Coffman: The Alliance was formed in 2018, and we have worked with companies across the food system from farm to fork. We utilize the power of Stop Foodborne Illness constituents and their stories of foodborne Illness. These are people who survived a harrowing experience or the loved ones of those who did not. They will go onsite, take part in town halls, write down their stories and share them on our website, and they have also participated in the videos. We make customized videos for companies like Kellogg, and we’ve been able to leverage that content to create shorter videos that are more generic for the toolkit website.
We also work with companies to develop other materials. As Sherry mentioned, we have some gamified learning. People can download those games and tweak them to their own needs, and some of those have been provided by Kellogg. We’ve also been able to create communication plans based on the nearly 20 Alliance members’ experiences and food safety culture journeys, and we share those plans with the small and medium-sized companies at no cost.
Sherry mentioned recognition of employees, what are good ways to publicly recognize good work in protecting food safety?
Coffman: Like many aspects of food safety culture, it is going to be company dependent. You do want to solicit input from your employees before implementing a rewards program. For example, some people love employee of the month recognition, while others would rather not be publicly recognized. They would prefer a gift card or time off. If you go to our YouTube channel, you can watch some of our past webinars, including one on rewarding and recognition.
Brice: We implemented an “Achievers” platform. Through the platform, we give points to employees and those points can be used to purchase items. We also do on the spot recognition and recognition dinners. It depends on the situation and the person, but “Achievers” is our main recognition platform because we have found that our employees like this. They can trade their points in for a gift card, a T-shirt, a vacuum cleaner—there are many different things on the platform.
It is often said that every company has a food safety culture whether positive or negative, how do you go about assessing where you’re at to understand what you need to implement?
Brice: You can do this through surveys and small group sessions. Asking open-ended questions so people can provide content that helps you understand truly where you’re at and listening are important. Anonymous surveys maybe the best place to start because people may not be very open to speaking up during a small groups. The surveys help you understand where you’re at and what areas do you need to focus on first. Stepping back and looking at what’s happening every day in the company will also give you an understanding of where your company is. How do people feel about stopping a line if they see an issue? Are they comfortable speaking up?
Coffman: Assessment isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It has to be carefully thought out and will vary from company to company and even from location to location within the same company. I would like to add that assessment without action is fruitless. If you put forth the time and effort to collect and analyze data, you must take action.
Once you’ve done your assessment and are ready to improve your food safety culture, what are some of the steps you can take to get started?
Coffman: We have a page on our toolkit website dedicated to this, and it leverages learning from our 20 Alliance members from across the industry, looking at both the successes and the bumps they’ve encountered. It is going to look different for each company so I encourage everyone to go to the toolkit website and look at the Plan Your Journey tab.
Brice: The best plan includes people from all areas of the organization. You don’t want just the manufacturing base or the managers, you need to understand why people have the behaviors they have today and what needs to change. If all employees or departments feel that they have ownership in the plan, then the plan will come to fruition faster, and you’ll also create food safety champions along the way.
An affiliate of private investment firm Peak Rock Capital has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rochester Midland Corporation (RMC), in partnership with RMC’s founding family and management team.
Founded in 1888, RMC is a leading supplier of specialty chemical products and value-added services across water energy, food safety, facility hygiene and other applications. The company works with thousands of businesses worldwide across diverse end markets including food and beverage, healthcare, packaging and facility services. RMC is headquartered in Rochester, New York, with additional facilities in the U.S., Canada and U.K.
“RMC represents an exciting opportunity to invest in a supplier of mission-critical services that enable customers to operate safely and efficiently. We look forward to helping the company accelerate its growth trajectory while pursuing complementary acquisitions to extend RMC’s production capabilities, geographical presence, and service offerings,” said Jordan Campbell, Managing Director of Peak Rock.
With food safety as a top priority for your business, keeping all pests out should also be top of mind. Stored product pests are tiny insects that can quickly damage your products and lead to lost profits. Glen Ramsey, board-certified entomologist and Director of Technical Services for Orkin, explains how facilities can keep stored product pests out of their facilities and why quick action is essential to successfully managing these pests if your facility confirms an infestation.
What are stored product pests?
Ramsey: Stored product pests are small insects, commonly beetles and moths, that feed on the ingredients in food manufacturing and handling facilities. These pests mainly target dry foods such as grains, cereals, seeds, chocolate and fruit. Depending on their feeding habits, they are categorized as external feeders, internal feeders, secondary feeders or scavengers.
Why are they harmful in food-handling facilities?
Ramsey: While they don’t cause structural damage or spread diseases, stored product pests can cause significant damage to stored goods resulting in lost product and lost profits for your business. These pests breed rapidly, so it’s important to look for signs of their activity and act quickly if you notice their presence. In addition to damaging your ingredients, many stored product pests can produce chemicals that alter the taste of food, and some of their larvae can irritate the digestive tract or even cause allergic reactions in vulnerable people.
What prevention methods can I implement to help avoid this pest issue?
Ramsey: Managing stored product pests takes a comprehensive strategy, which is where Integrated Pest Management (IPM) comes into play. Instead of relying on chemical treatments, IPM focuses on a proactive cycle of inspection, sanitation and monitoring tactics. Here are a few ways you can be proactive in helping to prevent stored product pest problems in your facility between pest control visits:
Storage
Sanitation
Ingredient Care
When it comes to monitoring and managing stored product pests in your facility, you should work with a pest management provider. Make sure the provider you select is reliable and knowledgeable about the food and beverage processing industry.
About the Expert:
Glen Ramsey, MS, BCE
Director of Technical Services, Orkin, LLC
Glen Ramsey is Director of Technical Services for Orkin. He is a board-certified entomologist and provides technical support and guidance across all Rollins brands in the areas of training and education, operations, and marketing. For more information, email gramsey1@rollins.com or visit www.orkincommercial.com.
