The Importance of Hygienic Design in Commercial Bakery Equipment

Tips for ensuring product integrity with commercial baking equipment

Like all processed foods, baked goods such as bread, pastries, cookies, muffins, and cakes are at risk of spoilage and cross contamination. This can result in foodborne illness that causes serious harm to end consumers – and your reputation. To ensure optimal food safety, the most savvy and responsible bakers and manufacturers opt for bakery equipment with a hygienic design.

What is Hygienic Design?

At its core, hygienic design of bakery equipment is a set of provisions that equipment should comply with to prevent contamination of baked products. It involves designing, constructing, and installing machinery in a way that preserves food safety and contributes to a sanitary environment. That includes allowing for simple disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly, as well as easy access for inspection, maintenance, and sanitization.

For food processing equipment to be considered hygienically designed, it needs to:

• Use approved, food-safe materials with high corrosion resistance
• Feature smooth, easy-to-clean surfaces and finishes
• Limit avoidable pores, gaps, crevices, dents, and protrusions that impede cleaning
• Prevent product or liquid accumulation, with automatic drainage in relevant areas
• Permit optimal flow with minimal eddy formation

An easy way to know whether bakery equipment has a hygienic design is to check for the appropriate symbols. Manufacturers who certify equipment with the Bakery Equipment Assessment Group (BEAG), for example, have Recognition of Conformity labels applied to their machines. That means bakers can instantly recognize that they’ve met baking industry sanitation standards and have total confidence in the food safety of their products.

Why is Hygienic Design Important for Bakery Equipment?

Prevents the growth of microorganisms

During the production and baking process, crumbs, foreign material, and other debris may build up in the crevices and dead spaces of machinery. When these areas can’t be cleaned properly, insects, bacteria, yeast, and molds begin to grow. If they contaminate foodstuffs, it can lead to poor product quality and even foodborne illness. The same is also true when cleaning agents accumulate inside the equipment.

The solution, of course, is thorough cleaning and sanitization. But equipment that lacks hygienic design is tough to disassemble and disinfect effectively. By replacing inadequate equipment with models certified for hygienic design, however, bakers can clean their machinery with ease and keep their customers safe.

Another benefit of hygienic design is that it can extend product shelf life. Since the growth of microorganisms is a major factor in how quickly baked goods spoil, preventing their growth with superior cleaning results in better products.

Protects against allergen cross contamination

While microorganisms are a leading cause of foodborne illness, they’re not the only threat to food safety. Poor cleanliness due to a lack of hygienic design also increases the risk of allergen cross contamination between different products. For consumers who are allergic to sesame seeds, wheat, egg, milk, nuts, or other common baking ingredients, the outcome could be fatal.

Since it’s easy to strip and clean hygienically designed equipment, these machines give bakers much greater control over cross contamination. For the best results, bakers should always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for equipment cleaning and sanitization.

Boosts efficiency and productivity

With around 3,000 commercial bakeries in the US alone, the industry is highly competitive. To stay ahead of the competition, bakers need every edge they can get.

Hygienically designed food processing equipment saves bakers a great deal of time by making it much easier to clean their machinery effectively. This leads to a notable drop in downtime and a corresponding increase in productivity. As such, bakeries that switch to equipment with a hygienic design can enjoy greater profitability and business growth.

Builds a reputation for excellence

For all the benefits of hygienic design, many manufacturers and bakers still don’t consider it a priority. That means those who do can build a powerful reputation for food safety and responsibility that lets them stand out in a saturated market.

Equipment certified under baking industry sanitation standards demonstrates your commitment to keeping consumers safe. This in turn makes you much more desirable to your customers, giving you a strong competitive advantage. It also reduces the risk of product recall, letting you avoid potentially devastating circumstances.

Protects you against lawsuits

If consumers contract a foodborne illness or have an allergic reaction from eating contaminated baked goods, the media exposure will seriously damage your brand image and the recall costs will be high. The mere accusation that your bakery is the source of contamination or illness can deal a serious blow to your hard-earned reputation.

The high standards of cleanliness and sanitization offered by hygienically designed equipment drastically reduces the chance of foodborne illness and helps to protect your company’s image. And in the event that the worst should happen, certified equipment acts as evidence that you’ve taken the necessary steps to minimize the risk of cross contamination. This responsible action helps you maintain your good name in the industry and avoid losing valuable customers.

Achieve Operational Excellence with BEAG Certification

BEAG helps bakers and equipment manufacturers reach the highest levels of excellence by certifying equipment against baking industry sanitation standards. Equipment affixed with BEAG symbols shows the equipment manufacturer attests to conforming to the ANSI/ASB Z50.2-2015 (R2020) Bakery Equipment Standard for Sanitation Requirements. That means it features a hygienic design that can help bakers combat foodborne illness and build an exceptional reputation for food safety.

Find out more about BEAG Recognition of Conformity to discover how certified equipment can give you a competitive edge.