< Previous20 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net HEALTH, SAFETY & HYGIENE SPOTLIGHT and weight. Though it may seem obvious, employers and employees, including managers not likely to use it, in accordance with regulation must be trained how to use their equipment and know why and where to use it. Employers have a responsibility to make sure staff are using PPE correctly or could face legal trouble in the event of an accident. It is also the responsibility of the PPE provider to make sure you are taught how to use the equipment. A useful piece of advice is using safety signs are said to remind staff where PPE should be used. Further, employers are considered responsible for making sure PPE is stored and maintained correctly. Regulation changes in recent years have drastically impacted PPE. The latest regulation does not particularly affect the staff using PPE, rather the duties of the equipment’s suppliers, distributors and producers, to include those previously © Shutterstock /steved_np3 22 Á Lorien named as world leader in health and safety by RoSPA Lorien Engineering Solutions has once again achieved an internationally recognised award for demonstrating the highest health and safety standards. The global engineering design and project management firm has received a Gold Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) - for the 29th year running. The Gold Award recognises continuous achievement at the highest level. Lorien has also been awarded RoSPA’s coveted Patron’s Award for the fifth year. The Patron’s Award is given to organisations that achieve consecutive Gold Awards for 25 years or more. Organisations receiving RoSPA Awards are recognised as world leaders in health and safety practice. Every year, nearly 2,000 entrants vie to achieve the accolade in the UK’s longest-running H&S industry awards. Elliot Follows, Lorien’s Head of Compliance, said: “We are absolutely committed to the highest standards of heath and safety in everything we do. Huge credit goes to our safety team, whose diligence and hard work ensures that our projects, clients, staff and contractors remain safe at all times.” The winning organisations will be celebrated at a virtual awards ceremony on 9 September. Elliot Follows 18-22.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:45 Page 3enquiries@john-lord.co.uk Hygienic flooring for the food & drink industry Minimising the risk of contamination is a priority within the food and drink industry. Flooring needs to be hygienic, durable, chemical and temperature resistant, and anti-slip. John Lord has a range of over 30 different resin flooring systems, designed to cater for all areas within a food and drink factory and, with one of the largest in-house installation teams in the UK, we offer a Total Responsibility service; from specification and product manufacture to installation and our unique aftercare service. www.john-lord.co.uk 0161 764 4617 18-22.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:45 Page 422 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net HEALTH, SAFETY & HYGIENE SPOTLIGHT unaffected by regulation, such as importers who are now being held accountable for the PPE’s quality. Ultimately, more people in the chain of PPE are being held responsible for the equipment doing what it should, not just the creator and user. If one is a manufacturer or distributor of PPE one must become more stringent in checking PPE. PPE protecting from high risk incidents now have a more rigid compliance procedure, and a declaration of conformity must be provided with the equipment, or online, as evidence that it meets regulation. This documentation must be held by the supplier for at least ten years once it is up for sale. Instructions must be also provided, labelling requirements met, the manufacturers name and address must feature on the product, and sample tests must be conducted. All of these regulations are in place to make sure the equipment is of a high enough standard for users, benefitting businesses and employees, as one can be more confident that the PPE is fit for its purpose, and will be effective at preventing injury. It is important to know these changes even if you are not the manufacturer or distributer as employers need to be able to identify that their PPE meets regulation. In addition, it is important to mention that the new PPE regulation makes changes to how certain pieces of equipment are classified in their risk categorisation, so that they are considered a product protecting from a serious injury or contamination of food products. Ultimately, we live in a time where hygiene is more important than ever, and the last thing anyone needs is a factory locked down due to a scare. © Shutterstock /Aleksandar Malivuk 18-22.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:45 Page 5Food & Drink International 23 www.fdiforum.net MEET THE EXPERTS Food and Drink International’s semi- regular ‘Meet the experts’ feature is a great way for companies across the supply chain to share their expertise. It’s easy to define an expert as an individual, company or organisation skilled in a given area but doing so eclipses the journey involved in reaching that point. Indeed, experts begin their careers in exactly the opposite end of the spectrum – as bright-eyed novices. From here, they accumulate understanding and experience, honing their skills through practical learning until, years later, they can be labelled as experts. Suffice it to say, when you take their advice, you’re getting decades worth of know-how in every single answer. In this regard, it’s always better to invest in experts in their specific fields, rather than those who claim to adept across all fields. One can’t help but think of the adage of the ‘jack of all trades being master of none’. It only serves to follow that someone who has dedicated their professional life to a specific part of a sector would have much more valuable experience and insight than someone who has only delved superficially across a plethora of different sectors. After all, PhDs aren’t awarded to those students turning their hand to as wide array of topics as possible, but the ones who dedicated their time and energies to a specific niche. ‘From field to fork’ is a buzzword Send in the experts 24 Á © Shutterstock /Olivier Le Moal Send in the experts 23-25.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:46 Page 1The fabric building experts at Rubb have listened to direct requests from clients over the years to provide a portfolio of unique solutions, which ensure its fabric structures, hangars and shelters meet customers’ and end users’ direct requirements. A Rubb fabric building can be used for many applications. Highlights include its ground-breaking military hangars, sunshades, shelters, warehouses and workshops. Rubb also provides custom designed specialist sports buildings and storage buildings for a variety of sectors including aviation, ports, emergency relief, energy, construction, bulk storage and environmental (waste and recycling). Dukesway, Team Valley Trading Estate, Tyne and Wear, Gateshead, NE11 0QE, UK Tel: +44(0) 191 482 2211 • Web: www.rubbuk.com Email: info@rubbuk.com 24 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net MEET THE EXPERTS beloved of the media for its apparent ability to capture the length and breadth of the food and drink supply chain in one term. While undoubtedly easily applicable, the phrase does the industry a disservice, downplaying the complexity of the supply chain and the massive number of players working within it. There are many moving parts tessellating together to ensure that the journey from field to plate is as smooth, safe and efficient as possible. That’s why our ‘meet the experts’ pages look to highlight all the players that enable the supply chain to function and have them share their expertise and insight. In this edition of ‘Meet the experts’ we’ve got leaders in bespoke fabric buildings, bottling and packaging systems, industrial measuring solutions, hot air equipment, and food safety. Each are respective leaders in their fields so you can rest assured that their services, advice and offering are among the very best available. Moreover, each has cemented itself as an asset to the food and drink industry, providing invaluable services. All suppliers aren’t made equal, and it pays to search for the best available whether that’s for a new or refurbished piece of equipment, or another kind of industrial solution. When it comes to your business, only the best will do and you can trust that the companies featured in this issue are exactly that. As the COVID-19 pandemic has proved, health and safety are more important than ever – and an area where companies can’t afford to cut corners. That’s why out ‘Meet the experts’ pages are designed to introduce you to, and put you in touch with, the suppliers and solution providers that can take your business to the next level. © Shutterstock /Aleksandar Malivuk 23-25.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:47 Page 2Food & Drink International 25 www.fdiforum.net Rotronic AwTherm Rotronic Instruments (UK) Ltd Crompton Fields, Crompton Way, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9EE. Tel: +44 (0)1293 571000 Email: instruments@rotronic.co.uk Web: www.rotronic.co.uk Company profile: Rotronic is a global company manufacturing instruments for the precise measurement of water activity, humidity, moisture, temperature, CO2 and differential pressure. Rotronic devices are specified throughout the food and other industries. Experienced engineers can provide measurement solutions for any application. Rotronic has UKAS / ISO 17025 accreditation for Temperature, Humidity and Dew Point laboratory calibration. Product profile: Rotronic manufactures water activity analysers to determine the free moisture within food products - a good indicator of product stability and shelf life. Controlling the moisture present improves product quality. Analysers provide measurements in typically less than five minutes. The wide product range includes the AwTherm analyser with full temperature sample control; the HygroLab laboratory analyser for up to four probes, handhelds for making spot-checks and a PC-based solution which is ideal when visiting suppliers’ sites. The sensors can be calibrated to confirm performance. Full technical product information is available on the website. The fundamental aim of Food Care Solutions is to provide expert consultancy to its clients so they can achieve their objectives for food safety, food quality, customer satisfaction and legality. Whether you are just starting up, have reached the point where you want to progress to certification against one of the standards, or have been certificated for some time and have “dropped a grade”, Food Care Solutions has the knowledge, skill and experience to help you. 10 High Street Place, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4HP Tel: +44(0) 7811 192545 Web: www.food-care.co.uk Email: fcs@food-care.co.uk The LHS 210 / 410 Air Heater Series profile Welwyn supply the full range of Leister plastic welding and industrial process heat equipment and offers highly competent technical support by its team of dedicated engineers. Leister’s new series of compact and powerful LHS 210 / 410 air heaters are suitable for installation in industrial plants where space is limited or tubular air systems such as furnaces for heat curing processes, due to their compact design and ease of integration. With a choice of eight air heaters with single (SF) or dual flanges (DF), the innovative design allows for easy electrical connection, with connection housing separated from the airstream, which allows unhindered air flows through the air heater with minimal loss in pressure. The air heaters are equipped with an extension on the housing connection. The ceramic inside this extension ensures that the electrical connection on the tubular air heaters is sealed off and protected from high temperatures or backflowing hot air. Unit 2, Little Mundells Business Park, Welwyn Garden City, Herts., AL7 1EW Tel: +44(0) 1707 331111 • Web: www.welwyntoolgroup.com Email: info@welwyntoolgroup.co.uk For over sixteen years, Evolution BPS have been providing state of the art, innovative equipment for all parts of bottling and packaging lines to food and drinks sectors. The company provides quality, innovative equipment delivering maximum value, with first class after-sales and service back-up. In addition to its core portfolio, it will also source and work with additional suppliers of bottling and packaging plant to ensure it delivers a fully project managed, bespoke solution tailored to your specific requirements. Working across a number of sectors, Evolution BPS sources the hardware you need to get your products to market. Cavalry Park, Peebles, Scotland EH45 9BU Tel: +44(0) 1721 724296 Web: www.evolutionbps.co.uk Email: sales@evolutionbps.co.uk © Leister Technologies AG 23-25.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:47 Page 326 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net COLD STORAGE Keeping things cool Cold storage is critical in the food and drink supply chain, but that doesn’t mean efficiency and energy improvements can’t be made. © Shutterstock /Sorn340 Studio Images 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:48 Page 1Food & Drink International 27 www.fdiforum.net COLD STORAGE The role of cold storage is indispensable in the food and drinks industry with temperatures too far one way or the other leading to product degradation, spoilage and wasted goods – all of which eats into profits. A prudent example of this importance in action is frozen vegetables. In order to preserve the maximum flavour, nutritional content and product integrity, vegetables must be frozen as quick to being picked as possible. Indeed, this has become a selling point for many frozen food producers looking to market their goods as every bit as healthy as their fresh counterparts and less wasteful. However, this means frozen vegetables must move from the freezing process, through to packaging and, finally, be transported into retailers, whilst all the while remaining at a constant temperature. So how exactly can this be accomplished in the supply chain? The first part of this chilled logistics journey typically occurs in-house, such as a production line in an enclosed warehouse or other such facility. Though there are myriad options open to manufacturers when it comes to keeping a consistently cold production line or storage facility, it’s counterproductive to invest in subpar technologies. Even tiny changes in temperature can lead to micro-thawing and the crystallisation of frozen goods. This makes insulation crucial in maintaining a cooler temperature as the heat outside a facility will be constantly trying to make its way inside. The nature of heat means it can work its way through even the smallest breaches in a manufacturer’s temperature defences, be that a wall, window or door. One of the biggest threats to frozen foods lies in the changeover from one facility to another, such as a manufacturing line to a distribution centre. Manufacturers will likely have 28 Á © Shutterstock /Aleksandar Malivuk 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:48 Page 228 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net COLD STORAGE temperature controlled loading bays to ensure a constant temperature is carried across and maintained from production and packing. Curtain walls will help to maintain this consistency, creating a barrier to ensure that cold air stays inside its designated area whilst also allowing workers, loaders and forklift trucks to easily pass through. Yet there’s no getting around the fact that loading bays are literal openings into the outside world and so could therefore scupper this carefully controlled chilled environment. To compensate for this, and to maintain the cold integrity, manufacturers and logistics operators rely on hoods around the bay door opening. In practice, this means a truck or lorry can back into a bay and open its doors, thereby creating a seal and ensuring that the cold air isn’t diffused and compromised by the warm. Frozen and chilled foods can then be loaded without fear of their thawing or warming up. Though many of the precautious observed in the cold chain might seem obvious, there are other subtler dangers that must be considered. Now that we’re in the thick of summer, it’s important that manufacturers understand how the performance of their temperature controlled systems can be affected by the heat and what they can do to counteract those negative effects. Electrical equipment of all kinds generate heat, and these temperatures have been attributed to electronic components tripping or failing outright altogether. Moreover, temperatures can get so high inside a panel that fire risks become a clear and present danger. While cold storage has been slow to embrace innovation, change has arrived in the sector. A plethora of technologies have been implemented to improve cold chain and storage management. Automation and, though not fully integrated like in traditional warehouses, robotics are on the rise, replacing manual workers and processes to speed up the movement of food to efficiently fulfil orders. This is prompting taller, high density and smaller footprint builds capable of 24/7 operation. Building upwards rather than out is fitting as facilities are further established in urban areas, with robotic stacker cranes accessing high shelves, and with less square footage and less land needed, savings can be made in property costs for what are already expensive facilities to create. In addition, with a smaller footprint comes a smaller roof area, allowing real gains in energy conservation, with heat from roofing reduced, making a building easier to keep cool. Automation is also being employed to decrease labour costs and make up for a staff shortage, with just a small talent pool willing to work in the extreme conditions associated with cold storage. Some facilities are keeping this to a smaller scale with semi-automated systems like automated truck loading systems, while others are implementing fuller automation with receiving, picking and retrieving systems (like AS/RS), minimising human contact with goods as far as possible. AGVs such as automated lift trucks are also being utilised, though it should be noted that problems with condensation on sensors used to navigate has limited their use. A significant trend in cold storage is the use of Internet of Things (IoT) systems and cloud computing, which offer improved visibility and accountability for cold storage and shipping. IoT sensors in warehouses and refrigerated trucks facilitate real- time remote temperature monitoring, often when tracking other parameters too, transmitting data to cloud software platforms for use, and can provide automatic alerts if temperatures reach an unsafe level. With these real-time notifications when goods are no longer 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:49 Page 3Food & Drink International 29 www.fdiforum.net COLD STORAGE © Shutterstock /Sorn340 Studio Images PALLET TO PALLET TRANSFER SOLUTIONS With 5000 machines supplied to 65 countries across the world, Premier can call on over 41 years’ manufacturing experience of Pallet Inverter manufacturing.. Gressenhall | Dereham | Norfolk | NR20 4DT | +44 (0)1362 861066 | websales@premierpal.co.uk | www.premierpalletinverter.co.uk in ideal temperatures, one can uncover cooling system malfunctions, quickly work to correct problems to avoid product damage, and prevent the spoilage of a shipment. One could even reroute a shipment to preserve products. With automated 24/7 temperature monitoring and recording manual documentation is eliminated and on demand reporting can be accessed, as well as historical cold storage data, which is particularly useful for food safety compliance. In part this has come as a response to customers desiring temperature confirmation and regulation, for instance the FDA’s Food Safety Modernisation Act which pinpoints requirements for maintaining temperature. Shipments must be traceable and have verifiable temperature records. The importance of temperature control in the food and drinks industry cannot be overstated. The tiniest changes in the carefully controlled environment can render product integrity null and void. As well as ensuring that food remains at its best, manufacturers also need to mind their equipment, especially in these summer months where the heat inside machines can be a very real danger. 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 24/06/2021 07:49 Page 4Next >