Monthly Archives: May 2020

Foam Alone: Mixed in New Quark

Posted by Mathew J. Bartkowiak, Ph.D.  –  General, Packaging & Ingredients
May 27, 2020

While whipping up a quick dinner recently, I decided to use my handy-dandy microwave to get the rice cooking portion of the meal done. Just below, the thrilling smells of cooking vegetables and fish wafted up as I did my best not to burn what was in the pan in front of me on the stove.  Feeling good about my culinary self momentarily, I casually glanced up at the microwave.  Torrents of foam cascaded out of the vessel I had put the rice in…in the end, I had cooked rice and a significant starchy mess to clean up. When on top of a freshly poured beer, a healthy level of foam can bring me great joy; in this instance, it brought me back to Earth in terms of thinking about my talents in the kitchen.  

Now, take that unfortunate incident and think about a food processing facility producing your favorite products. Foam happens in many food industry applications and processes…consider the mess, the waste, and the headache that foam could cause at an industrial level. To decrease waste, increase efficiency and yield, and keep processors focused on the food and not cleaning up huge messes, the food industry (among others) utilizes antifoams and defoamers to keep this pesky presence in check.  

The two products differ, but have similar goals in the food processing environment. For instance, Nelson-Jameson offers Magrabar® food grade antifoams from Munzing that are formulated/added directly to the food product/mixture. Antifoams should be added as a preventative measure, “prior to foam formation at a location and time as close to the foaming problem as possible.” Defoamers, instead, are ideal to take care of existing foam “before tanks or containers overflow.” In the end, these products are here to help food processors: fill containers to capacity, improve pumping and mixing (can be used with CIP processes), prevent product losses, and help to improve safety and housekeeping. 

Whether you are processing potatoes, dairy products, juices, etc., and you are having issues with foam that are hampering getting safe, quality food out of the door, check in with our Product Specialists to learn more about antifoam and defoamer applications in the food industry. In the meantime, I’m going to try heading back into the kitchen to recover my sense of culinary self-worth, but perhaps with a rice cooker in tow.  

 

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Stopping Cross-Contamination in its Tracks

Posted by Marketing Dept.  –  Education, Food Safety, General
May 5, 2020

Saint Augustine is attributed as stating: “We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.”  Inspiring words…and tangentially, quite useful for the food processing industry…really. Consider the threats that lurk beneath our boots, that live underfoot for us, each time we walk onto the production floor. Those small steps, unchecked and unanticipated, can result in a litany of problems for food processors. With some common-sense prevention and planning though, we can climb to new levels of food safety understanding and practice.

One of the ways we can take sure steps in approaching cross-contamination concerns, for instance, is to look at the relentless footwear contact that your production floor handles. Employees can track in a myriad of potential contaminants and unknowingly put an operation at risk each time they breeze through a doorway to a production area. The effective use of a Disinfectant Mat™ provides a significant defense against cross-contamination. As employees step onto the mats, footwear is cleaned and sanitized. This barrier can literally help stop cross-contamination in its tracks.      

Thanks to working with our great customers and suppliers across the food and beverage industries, we have collected several best practices and key insights when it comes to the utilization of disinfectant floor mats for food processing facilities. The following tips will assist your operation, and ensure full efficacy (and not to mention some convenience) when it comes to using a Disinfectant Mat as a tool to combat cross-contamination:

  • Place a mat at every entrance to processing areas.
  • If employees are bypassing Disinfectant Mats, put several together or side-by-side to cover the whole entrance so they can’t avoid them.
  • Check sanitizer concentration with test strips, which are convenient and simple. Keep a daily log or hourly log of results.
  • It is highly suggested that mats are cleaned daily (top and bottom), this could be part of the washdown process. Use pumps and buckets specifically designed for our High-Wall Disinfectant Mat.

These insights, along with several others are available in our Disinfectant Mat flyer that can be viewed here. Along with tips and insights to make using your mat as effective as possible, you will find a spectrum of products to build your sanitation program around, now at even lower prices.

Contact our product specialists today to discuss how we can help you stop contamination in its tracks at your plant. Call 1-800-826-8302 or email s.sjoman@nelsonjameson.com.