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Simon

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Posted 15 October 2017 - 07:41 PM

 
Start Time: 4.05 p.m. London, 11.05 a.m. New York
 
Ruby Ochoa, President/Owner, Trace Analytics LLC
 
Compressed air is used widely in the food industry with both direct and indirect contact to ingredients, final products, and packaging. We’ll field your questions about potential contaminants, monitoring plans, limits, risk assessments, HACCP principles, sampling, troubleshooting, and more. We’ll also discuss new pure gas monitoring requirements from SQF in 2018. Join our discussion!

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Posted 21 November 2017 - 12:47 PM

The ISO standards referenced by Trace Analytics are stricter than expected. It is hard to believe that most of the food/pharm industries are using a descant dryer for compressed air systems, which would be required to meet the dew point standard for product contact compressed air use. 

 

Any suggestions to control the setup to prevent non-viable particle counts from the setup and not the actual compressed air line? We have added new 5um filters and are still getting some particles as large as 40um on the filters. 



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Posted 21 November 2017 - 04:35 PM

Since compressed air ISO8573 classes are not required specifications to the FDA, what have you seen in companies following up on test results? How stringent are general companies being to the classes for direct/in-direct classes?



Guest_Jeanette Olivares_*
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Posted 21 November 2017 - 04:41 PM

Hello Ruby,

Can you provide services in Canada?

I would be interested on a quote, please.

Jeanette Olivares

jeanette.olivares@freshstartfoods.com



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Posted 21 November 2017 - 04:53 PM

Mock recall process is mandatory requirement in ISO 22000 or practice for improvement of FSMS and its frequency in beverage manufatiring plants .. kindly explain little elaborately



Trace Analytics

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Posted 22 November 2017 - 07:35 PM

@Jeanette Olivares 

Thank you for reaching out to us and we will be happy to email you pricing! I'm sending the information to your email address in just a bit. 

Best regards,

Marka Peterson



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Posted 22 November 2017 - 09:54 PM

Since compressed air ISO8573 classes are not required specifications to the FDA, what have you seen in companies following up on test results? How stringent are general companies being to the classes for direct/in-direct classes?

 

Hi Greta,

 

It may depend on yr type of business but a common (conservative) suggestion is to install a sterile filter setup (0.01micron ! )

 

You should hv a look at a few threads on this Forum.


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


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Posted 15 December 2017 - 05:48 PM

Hi Greta,

 

QUESTION “Since compressed air ISO8573 classes are not required specifications to the FDA, what have you seen in companies following up on test results? How stringent are general companies being to the classes for direct/in-direct classes?”

 

We find a wide variety of test results as well as company requirements. Since there are no mandates with exact purity limits, each company evaluates their results and determines if it is acceptable. Some clients who have numerous products have established limits based on the type of product. That is why ISO 8573 is so useful, you can pick and choose the limits based on your needs. Many of our customers do “baseline” testing for several tests before establishing purity limits. A baseline test is where our laboratory determines which purity class the sample meets for particles, water, and oil.

 

QUESTION “The ISO standards referenced by Trace Analytics are stricter than expected. It is hard to believe that most of the food/pharm industries are using a descant dryer for compressed air systems, which would be required to meet the dew point standard for product contact compressed air use. 

 

We find that about a third of the samples we receive from manufacturing clients like food & pharma use a desiccant dryer.

 

QUESTIONS “Any suggestions to control the setup to prevent non-viable particle counts from the setup and not the actual compressed air line? We have added new 5um filters and are still getting some particles as large as 40um on the filters.”

 

If you have a refrigerated dryer and black iron or galvanized piping or air receivers, you will have particles in the form of rust. I don’t think there is a “setup” (do you mean compressor and system filtration excluding distribution piping?) that can completely eliminate particles. Over time, compressors create wear particles from the grinding of metal parts within the compressor. Your question is a good one however, the answer is not something that can be answered in a few sentences. And as always you should consult with a compressor/ filter distributor experienced in the food industry.

 

Where are the 5 micron filters located? At the point of use or part of the system filtration? If part of the compressor system, you may need to install a 40 micron filter in front of the 5 micron filter. If at the point of use, then as Charles stated, a 0.01 micron is a common size that is recommended for the food industry. But if there is a heavy load of particulates present in the piping, a larger micron filter should be placed in front of the 0.01 micron filter. 

 

Also make sure the sampling port and sampling procedure do not include fittings or tubing that create particles. These can be things like brass or galvanized (or any metal softer than stainless steel) fittings, rubber or polymer tubing, and polymeric seals like o-rings. We recommend the use of stainless steel fittings at the sampling port and for connection to the sampling equipment.  

 

There are additional tests that can be performed on the detected particles to determine their chemical composition. This can be useful if you have exhausted all other attempts to correct the problem.

 

Please feel free to contact me directly if you would like to continue this conversation. 





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