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As the food processing industry continues to flourish, many manufacturers are faced with the need to increase capacity. Whether it’s adding a new process line, building an additional plant or expanding an existing facility, conducting a supply chain analysis in partnership with your design team can lead to better decision-making and more efficient capital expenditures.
Continue Reading “Why Your Expansion Plan Needs Supply Chain Modeling”
Whether you’re designing a new food processing plant or upgrading an existing facility, determining necessary upfront water treatment is a critical step in protecting and maintaining your plant’s systems. Many plants forgo thorough analysis resulting in poorly or untreated water that can lead to scale and bacterial buildup on equipment. Stellar often partners with water treatment professionals such as Southern Waters Company, Inc. to effectively manage clients’ clean water requirements.
Continue Reading “Eight Critical Steps in Water Treatment To Protect Your Products and Equipment”
Odor complaints from those who live and work near food processing plants have been making headlines lately, resulting in bad press and poor community relations for the manufacturers. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act was created to reduce emissions of hazardous and odorous air pollutants and outlines specific requirements for food processors. Subsequently, odor control should be a part of any food processing plant’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) program.
Continue Reading “Eliminating Noxious Plant Odors Through Incineration: A Case Study”
As food safety regulatory requirements become more stringent, equipment manufacturers are stepping up to the plate and increasing the role they play in the industry. The American Meat Institute’s (AMI) 10 sanitary design principles offer baseline standards for equipment design, yet many suppliers are going above and beyond these standards by offering improved surfaces, cleaning chemicals, and construction processes.
Continue Reading “New Trends in Sanitary Equipment Design are Improving Food Safety Standards”
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is front and center for most food processors yet managing the regulatory and reporting requirements can be taxing and time consuming. Many food processors are investing in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to more efficiently manage the process, allowing for better data collection, analysis, documentation, and reporting tools. Using an ERP program to manage your plant’s food safety program will improve your audit results, reduce food safety-related incidents and investigations, improve product quality and ultimately increase operational efficiencies.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a new strategy document that outlines the agency’s guiding principles for implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This latest move by the FDA is designed to encourage dialogue and collaboration between the agency and the food industry as FSMA moves into its next phase – the effective and efficient implementation of the new standards.
Continue Reading “The FDA Invites Comments from Food Processors on Proposed New FSMA Rules”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that PSM Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) provide instructions clear enough that employees will be able to effectively utilize them. SOPs must be documented in sufficient detail and provide specific direction so that employees can follow the procedures and determine how to safely perform service and maintenance activities.
Continue Reading “The Importance of Detailed Standard Operating Procedures”
Piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) are designed to communicate a general layout of your facility’s process system piping, valves and equipment. These diagrams are the foundation for every Process Safety Management (PSM) program.
Continue Reading “Ten Essential Components of Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams”
Efficiency and low cost are the major reasons ammonia is the preferred industrial refrigerant in the food processing industry. Ammonia is often a natural refrigerant and has no ODP/GWP. However, ammonia is a dangerous substance and there are several advantages to lowering the overall amount of ammonia used at a facility.
Continue Reading “Two Approaches, One Goal: Reducing Your Ammonia Charge”
Numerous substances used in industrial refrigeration are believed to be responsible for ozone depletion, especially a common low-temperature refrigerant – R-22. While R-22 is widely used in numerous food plants and cold storage facilities, an international treaty, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, calls for a halt in the production of R-22 and other chemicals damaging to the atmosphere.
Continue Reading “The R-22 Used to Cool Your Plant is Being Phased Out. Now What?”
