Happy National Food Safety Month! Established by the food industry in 1995, this month is dedicated to spreading awareness and enhancing knowledge of how to keep our food safe.
Ensuring food safety requires coordination across the food supply chain, from producers and manufacturers to retailers and even home cooks. At all of these levels, proper housekeeping is essential for preventing cross-contamination. In honor of National Food Safety Month, we’ve compiled our top five articles about the role industrial vacuums play in that effort.
1. How an Industrial Vacuum Cleaner Improves Food Safety
Conversations about food safety and cleaning tend to focus on sanitation — sanitary equipment, chemical sanitizers, and so on. Industrial vacuum cleaners are more often discussed in the context of plant and worker safety, for example, combustible dust fire prevention. But an industrial vacuum cleaner can also play a critical role in your food safety plan.
2. How an Industrial Vacuum Helps You Keep Your Facility Allergen-Free and Gluten-Free
Listeria may get all the press, but did you know that almost half of all food recalls are the result of undeclared allergens? Food allergies necessitate emergency medical care for 200,000 people every year, and they’re responsible for about 150 deaths.
If you manufacture allergy-friendly or gluten-free foods, it’s absolutely essential to keep any trace of these contaminants out of your products. Cleaning and sanitation are your best friends in this effort because your food can’t be free-from unless your facility and your processing equipment are as well.
3. How Vacuum Filtration Helps Prevent Food Contamination
Every year, foodborne illnesses cost the economy more than $15.6 billion and send more than 53,000 Americans to the hospital. A large portion of these costs and illnesses are due to a group of usual suspects — 15 pathogens including E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes.
Preventing food from becoming contaminated with these and other harmful microorganisms requires a comprehensive plan that includes employee personal hygiene, equipment sanitation, and proper housekeeping.
4. Food Safety: Tips for Finding the Right Industrial Vacuum
Even with food safety and quality standards in place, there are still risks for cross-contamination when cleaning with mops, rags and even compressed air. Developing a strong cleaning and maintenance program with the right industrial vacuum can make a significant difference.
5. Top 10 Vacuum Solutions for the Food Processing Industry
You already know the value of an industrial vacuum cleaner for keeping your facility clean, compliant, and contaminant-free. The question is, which vacuum cleaner will best help you achieve these goals?