Hygiene and sanitation: Achieving healthier products and working environment

Improving the hygiene and sanitation in potato processing facilities is carrying with itself a lot of benefits to the producers. Improvement of food safety, and answering more and more strict sanitary regulations, might be placed on a fist place, but there are a lot of benefits from creating a healthier working environment. By applying new equipment, producers can significantly reduce the down time for cleaning and maintenance which lead to money saving. Potato processing International conducted a research on machinery recently lunched for that purpose on the market.

TIBO/BLOKKER is a Dutch based company specialized for extraction, filter systems in processing facilities. On their product portfolio Exhauster and Underpressure filter can be found. Those equipment can be used in all the places where potatoes are processed, and where dust from these potatoes forms a direct problem to employees and machinery. Because when boxes or bins are tipped and emptied, and when potatoes are brushed and transported, swirling dust causes health problems, and wear and tear on the machines. TIBO/BLOKKER products can also be used in French fry and chips processing plants as long as the potato product is dry, and therefore causing issues with dust, extraction systems and filter installation are the solution to remove dirt and clean the air. Thus, during the last year TIBO/BLOKKER delivered, amongst several other countries, filter installations to Russia and Poland.

Removing the dust

Filter installations are being used to extract on several points over the machine lines, where dust problems arise, and are effective at the source. There are several benefits on working environment from using their machines: Extraction systems create a cleaner working environment, which means less illness under workers, and less wear and failure from machinery. They have to be located outside of the processing plant, connected to a piping systems inside the building towards the extraction points on the machine line. On the other hand, filter installations, which are especially useful if the extracted needs to be recovered into the working area, are therefore suitable to place inside the building. Extraction and filter systems from TIBO/BLOKKER are equipped to create a cleaner working space, and also a cleaner product.

You can read more on sanitary weigher, clean conveying or improving equipment hygiene in the last issue of our print magazine Potato Processing International.