The world has changed at breath-taking speed in almost every sphere of human civilisation since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The food and beverages sector has been heavily affected in South Africa as alcohol sales and restaurant operations have been shut down, then re-opened, then shut down again. At the same time, customers’ trust in brands has been eroded and everyone – from consumers to regulators, investors and employees – are asking for more accountability and transparency on food safety from the farm to the table, explains Darryl Macdougall, Managing Director of Verder Pumps South Africa .
Another key trend is the fact that the “table” is more likely to be at home than in a restaurant. Globally, people are cooking and eating at home much more often. This has led consumers to seem rather indecisive when it comes to flavour preferences – loading their grocery cupboards with familiar comfort foods one moment and seeking out bold new experiences the next.
These two trends, while not new, have accelerated and have major implications for food and beverage production. First, it is more critical now than ever before that food and beverage processors produce quality food and drink that meets today’s hygiene standards with every batch. When the quality of the product can directly affect the safety, experience and buying behaviour of the customer, there can be no shortcuts.
Second, food and beverage producers must seek ways to cater for vacillating flavour preferences, including rising demand for varied plant-based protein alternatives, if they want to stay competitive. Building more production lines, recommissioning existing lines or suffering downtime to clean and turn a line in operation around is simply not the way it’s done anymore.
Directives from the European Hygienic Engineering Design Group (EHEDG) are aimed at setting universal standards founded on science-based knowledge in the hygienic engineering and design of food production equipment and facilities. These standards – which are widely applied across related industries in South Africa – offer solutions for staying ahead of these two key trends. As an example, a core aim of the EHEDG standards is to prevent contamination of consumable products – and related to this, one of its major directives states that every part of the production line should be accessible for cleaning.
The cleanability requirements to meet hygiene standards alone – including clean in place (CIP) and sterilisation in place (SIP) – present many challenges for processors. These can be further compounded by the move from a dedicated production line per product or flavour to a multi-product line that could process several different flavours every day.
The multi-product line approach raises more challenges that every production line manager will invariably face – such as deciding how best to manage the transition from one product to another on the same line. Another potential hazard is cross-contamination, which can lead to spoiled products, shorter shelf-life, production downtime and risks to employees during the cleaning process. Finally, a multi-product line can increase the exposure risk to microbes, which present an ever-looming threat.
So, at the heart of maintaining the highest hygiene standards across multi-product lines lies the careful selection of equipment. Fit-for-purpose hygienic pumping solutions that have been designed and built to eliminate any risk of contaminants during production are necessary for producers who want to stay ahead of the trust and variety trends. For example, throughout the production process, there are many areas where hygienic pumps with a modular design can be integrated, allowing for streamlined disassembly, cleanability and reassembly.
As the food and beverages industry seeks to recover financially – and to turn the challenges posed by consumers’ decreased trust in brands and increased demand for variety into opportunities – processes must be reliable, repeatable and error-free. Integrating the right equipment is critical to steering through the pandemic upheaval, sustainably. The technical aspects of selecting the right pumping solutions for specific applications can be complex. Food and beverage processors, therefore, should look to a trusted and reputable brand that can offer not only a wide range of pumping solutions but solutions that are long-lasting, cost-effective and efficient – because they are 100% fit-for-purpose for the application.
