European Food Safety & Quality Summit

Flowcrete UK participated in the 6^th Annual European Food Safety & Quality Summit in Amsterdam, Netherlands, alongside HACCP International to discuss with leading food and beverage businesses about how to create hygienic production environments that meet regulatory standards.

Flowcrete UK’s Exports Manager Ian Jones attended the event with HACCP International EMEA’s Managing Director Richard Mallet to outline the role of the floor in a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety management system.

HACCP International operates a globally recognised product certification scheme that evaluates materials, equipment and services used within the food industry in order to identify food safety hazards and appropriate controls that will reduce the risk of food contamination from those materials.

Richard Mallet took part in a panel discussion at the summit entitled ‘Certification and Audit Processes: How to Ensure Your HACCP Compliance’. This discussion consisted of Richard and two other expert panellists, the Managing Director of IFS Stephan Tromp and the Global Market Manager for Bureau Veritas Stephanie Lemaitre, providing insights into upcoming changes and best practice food safety regulatory compliance.

During the discussion the summit’s attendees learnt how to prepare a successful strategy to meet HACCP requirements as well as how to effectively navigate the HACCP International certification process.

Ian Jones said: “Ensuring that facilities are HACCP compliant is very important to today’s food and beverage sector, as it is central to meeting strict industry regulations as well as to assuring consumers around the world that the highest hygiene standards have been taken into account during each stage of the foodstuff’s lifecycle.”

In case you were unable to attend the European Food Safety & Quality Summit, Flowcrete UK has compiled several key points on flooring to help food facilities ensure that the finish beneath their feet will tie into an effective HACCP plan.

HACCP’s Flooring Criteria

Rather than relying on end testing to trace a contamination back to its source, HACCP is centred upon the principles of prevention. In order to safeguard produce, the HACCP guidelines cover the entire food manufacturing process, from harvesting through to processing, transportation and consumption.

The HACCP guidelines emphasise the importance of seamless and impervious flooring, as seams, joints, grout lines and gaps can become breeding sites for bacteria, fungi, mould and mildew. Making sure that the floor provides a seamless surface will help the cleaning regime to quickly wash any unwanted substances out of the area. 

It is important to ensure that the floor is able to maintain these properties for an extended period of time, as otherwise its seamlessness or imperviousness could be compromised by the site’s workload, making it no longer HACCP compliant. 

Flowcrete UK has developed an extensive amount of expertise providing floors for the food and beverage industry that maintain a high performance finish despite the sector’s inherent challenges, such as corrosive food by-products, thermal shock from hot ovens and steam cleaning, physical impacts, frequent cleaning, foot traffic and more. 

The HACCP International standard requires floors to allow for adequate drainage and cleaning in order to facilitate the fast and effective removal of excess liquid and contaminants from the area. To meet this benchmark, easily cleanable stainless steel drainage should be incorporated into the floor plan and the floor needs to be sloped to the drains to avoid water pooling and to ensure that waste liquid flows in the right direction.

HACCP Compliant Flooring Materials 

To meet HACCP’s guidelines, an exposed concrete slab needs to be covered with a high performance flooring system in areas where consumable food and beverage products are being produced, processed, packaged or stored.

Traditional food and beverage flooring materials such as thermoplastic coverings, terrazzo, epoxy resins and polyurethanes all meet HACCP’s criteria thanks to the seamless, non-absorbent and easy-to-clean finish that they create (however this does not mean that all of such materials are automatically HACCP International certified). 

Seamless resin-based surfaces are increasingly being specified in large-scale food and beverage environments on account of the material’s hygienic profile and hardwearing performance characteristics. Thick polyurethane systems are especially applicable, as they can withstand conditions such as heavy impacts, corrosive substances, foot traffic and thermal shock for an extended period of time.

The seamless nature of polyurethane flooring also provides a cleanability advantage, as the unwanted water, liquids, oils and greases won’t be impeded from moving towards the drainage channel. 

As a general rule, the thicker the system the longer its service life and the better able it will be to withstand damage. It is important to have a detailed knowledge of the site’s operational activity to avoid specifying a thin finish that will crack when faced with the reality of the building’s daily use. 

Flowcrete UK’s Flowfresh range has been HACCP International certified thanks to its ability to retain a seamless, easy to clean surface that can withstand conditions within even the busiest, most intense food and beverage production facilities for an extended period of time. 

Flooring that Attacks Bacteria

Flowfresh has been created out of an exclusive global partnership with the antimicrobials manufacturer Polygiene® to provide food manufacturers with a floor that goes above and beyond the highest food safety standards. A silver-ion based bactericidal additive is included in the Flowfresh material, empowering the floor finish with the ability to inhibit the growth of most types of harmful bacteria in contact with the surface.

The Polygiene® agent is homogenously distributed throughout the Flowfresh finish. This formulation means that physical damage to the coating won’t create a safe haven for contaminants that is out of reach of the bacteria inhibiting flooring ingredient.  

Flowfresh has been proven to meet the ISO 22196 standard, which measures a surface’s antibacterial effectiveness. The polyurethane system underwent exceptionally rigorous testing to show that it complied with this internationally recognised benchmark.

You can find more information on the Flowfresh range and how it can assist brands operating a HACCP based Food Management System by clicking here or by contacting Flowcrete UK’s flooring experts.