According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 48 million people (1 in 6) get sick each year from food eaten in the US. While a number of different variables cause foodborne illness, it would serve producers and retailers of food well to take every precaution they can to protect their products. It also puts customers at ease to know that food retailers take measures to protect products from food safety issues. And in the long run, that equates to more sales and return customers.  

The law

On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed into law The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of US food safety laws in more than 70 years. FMSA was put into place to shift the focus from responding to food contamination to preventing it. The prevention of foodborne illness starts at production and most retail bakeries produce their goods in-house.

The risk

One of the best ways to remove the risk of contamination is by removing the need for production to involve hands touching the product. Not only does this help in terms of hands that might be contaminated touching the food, but it will also eliminate the risk of blood contamination. Hand slicing cakes, breads and other baked goods with a knife means that the risk of a cut is always there, especially when there is a prolonged period of slicing multiple products over and over.

Innovation

Equipment innovation continues to evolve, and this evolution often brings with it inherent food safety elements. Just by using new and innovative equipment, you can increase the safety standards of your products while increasing production, saving time, and consequently saving money. Buying new equipment will also usually give you a nice tax write off, but be sure and check with your tax professional to see if the equipment you’re buying matches up with current tax code.  

Cake slicers

Erika Record offers a new Krumbein Ultrasonic-Cutting Machine called the UCM-R. The UCM-R combines the latest in robotic technology with an innovative ultrasonic cutting technique. It provides some of the highest safety standards by a monitored and fully enclosed machine housing with a light grid system in the infeeding range of the operator. All the components that may come into contact with food are easily removed in a few steps to enable a thorough cleaning.

Bakon USA Food Equipment’s Compact Ultrasonic Cutting Machine will keep hands off of products with a high level of speed and efficiency. Able to cut round and rectangular products, it has a small footprint that allows more room in the production area. With up to 50 cutting programs in the user friendly software, the Ultrasonic maintains industry respect for the highest of sanitation and safety standards.

Moulders and dividers

At Bloemhof Inc., the Express 300S high-speed bun moulder is a new innovation for artisan bakeries, retail and wholesale bakeries and central commissaries. The new equipment can mould up to 12,000 rolls per hour and reduces labor costs with streamlined production. The unique design allows the machine to be fed directly from a single or multi-pocket divider (up to eight pockets). Dough pieces are sorted into two rows for efficient and versatile production. The moulder can produce bolillos, finger rolls, sub and hot dog rolls, bread and bagel sticks, mini baguettes, pan breads and pretzels, and artisan breads and baguettes.

Empire Bakery Equipment takes bread production in a new direction with the OBLiQ 180 bread system. The production system eliminates the need for rounding and intermediate proofing, and increasing production speeds in a significantly reduced space. Available options on OBLiQ 180 include automatic dough feeder, flour duster on divider infeed belt and infeed roller, extended moulder table with additional moulding plate, six roller sheeting head, and painted or stainless steel construction.

Packaging

When it comes to food safety, tamper evident seals are critical to knowing whether or not your products have been compromised. Innoseal Systems Inc. offers retailers the Innosealer tamper evident bag closing system. Each InnoSealer comes preloaded with closures, is ready to use and offers speed, ease and safety. Use the self-contained system to reduce waste, labor costs and exposure to carpel tunnel syndrome.

Placon designed Crystal Seal Tamper-Evident containers specifically designed for retailers, brand owners and food processors that have a desire for safe, environmentally-responsible packaging. This design eliminates the necessity for wrap-around security labels or shrink bands, and has no removable, tear away pieces to minimize choking hazards. Crystal Seal Tamper Evident packages are designed to attractively and safely merchandise an assortment of food items from single serve desserts, pre-made deli sandwiches and dry packed foods such as nuts, to snack mixes and candy.