Compressed Air Quality in Food Packaging Manufacture
Hello, I would like to ask
My product is flexible packaging produced from blowing process. We are required to analyse the risk from the blower air quality. We do analyse the total suspended particles, TPC, and yeast & mould, but couldn't find any regulation which defines the maximum limit of the contamination present. If anyone has experience for this please let me know.
Hello, I would like to ask
My product is flexible packaging produced from blowing process. We are required to analyse the risk from the blower air quality. We do analyse the total suspended particles, TPC, and yeast & mould, but couldn't find any regulation which defines the maximum limit of the contamination present. If anyone has experience for this please let me know.
Hi ranisrina,
Is this for food packaging ?
If yes -
(a) does the packaging directly contact food ?
(b) Is there a Food Standard involved ?
PS - Some other threads oriented to food packaging surfaces do exist here.
Hi ranisrina,
Is this for food packaging ?
If yes -
(a) does the packaging directly contact food ?
(b) Is there a Food Standard involved ?
Yes, this packaging used for food products. The highest risk product is for infant milk powder.
a) it does contact directly with the food
b) no food standard in my country rule for the microbiology of packaging, it only limits to the migration substance. In the other hand, air quality regulation is related to the health working environment which I think is not suitable for food.
Yes, this packaging used for food products. The highest risk product is for infant milk powder.
a) it does contact directly with the food
b) no food standard in my country rule for the microbiology of packaging, it only limits to the migration substance. In the other hand, air quality regulation is related to the health working environment which I think is not suitable for food.
Hi ranisrina,
As I understand, you are primarily interested in the (compressed) air quality rather than the packaging itself ?
Assuming yr requirements are analogous to food manufacturing, some threads here relate but may depend on whether a specific Standard is involved, eg BRC. (hence my query [b]).
Or are you looking for micro. Packaging surfaces ? Some threads here relate to that also.
Hi ranisrina,
As I understand, you are primarily interested in the (compressed) air quality rather than the packaging itself ?
Assuming yr requirements are analogous to food manufacturing, some threads here relate but may depend on whether a specific Standard is involved, eg BRC. (hence my query [b]).
Or are you looking for micro. Packaging surfaces ? Some threads here relate to that also.
Yes I am talking about the compressed air because it is registered as material when I do ISO 22000 certification. It does not matter what standard is involved because I can't find any.
My concern is because the compressed air we used in the blowing process is direct from the air outside and only depend on the filter inside the machine since the area considered low risk so we are not using HEPA filter. I bet this will only safe for physical hazard not the microbiology.
Currently, I tested the air with TPC parameter it shows 1.7 x 103 cfu/m3, E. coli 0 cfu/m3 and Yeast & mould 6.7 x 102 cfu/m3
If the limit refer to health working environment regulation which TPC should be less than 700 cfu/m3 it would not passed. But I look for the standard closer to food safety regulation so I will know how far the correction should be.
Yes I am talking about the compressed air because it is registered as material when I do ISO 22000 certification. It does not matter what standard is involved because I can't find any.
My concern is because the compressed air we used in the blowing process is direct from the air outside and only depend on the filter inside the machine since the area considered low risk so we are not using HEPA filter. I bet this will only safe for physical hazard not the microbiology.
Currently, I tested the air with TPC parameter it shows 1.7 x 103 cfu/m3, E. coli 0 cfu/m3 and Yeast & mould 6.7 x 102 cfu/m3
If the limit refer to health working environment regulation which TPC should be less than 700 cfu/m3 it would not passed. But I look for the standard closer to food safety regulation so I will know how far the correction should be.
Hi ranisrina,
Thks yr clarification.
The answer to my query (b) is apparently iso22000:2018 so I have started a new thread/sub-forum. (unfortunately there is (surprisingly) no ISO22000 forum for food packaging although I can recall several related threads in the fssc22000 sub-forum (which also use iso22000 of course).
I will assume comp.air (CA) requirements are same as implemented for food.
There are numerous threads here on this topic for food, particularly originating in SQF Standard. Offhand, I don't recall any in iso22000 or fsssc22000 forums but possible.
There is of course a detailed ISO Standard for "air". Another popular safety-oriented CA standard is BCAS.
There is a summary of CA situation via Excel here -
https://www.ifsqn.co...ent/#entry81054
(The whole thread is probably interesting, especially the input from Laura of Trace Analytics)
The BCAS Standard (1st Ed) is attached here -
https://www.ifsqn.co...ion/#entry64043
Please have a look and revert if any queries.
PS - For food, there are recommended filter size ranges for Low > High Risk situations. (Also discussed elsewhere on this Forum)
PPS - you may also find the file cpc2 useful (Campden are a highly respected Organisation) which implies yr data might be not unrealistic for "air" in food factories -
We do annual Yeast and Mold (mould) testing on our compressors. We use 3M Rapid Yeast and Mold Petrifilm and the count we used was suggested by several sources as an upper limit: 10 per plate of either yeast or mold. We hydrate the plates, wait , then expose them to compressed air for 5 minutes (low pressure) at 10 or 12 different locations where air might be used in production.
I would ask if you are using food grade lubricant in your compressors? If not your risk assessment might show that any oil in the stream could create a higher risk to your product. All of our point of use filter regulators are inspected and cleaned or replaced annually as well.
We do annual Yeast and Mold (mould) testing on our compressors. We use 3M Rapid Yeast and Mold Petrifilm and the count we used was suggested by several sources as an upper limit: 10 per plate of either yeast or mold. We hydrate the plates, wait , then expose them to compressed air for 5 minutes (low pressure) at 10 or 12 different locations where air might be used in production.
I would ask if you are using food grade lubricant in your compressors? If not your risk assessment might show that any oil in the stream could create a higher risk to your product. All of our point of use filter regulators are inspected and cleaned or replaced annually as well.
Hi Hoosiersmoker -
Based on attached source, given filter/location and presumably a standard time unit, the Y&M result for compressed air should apparently be "undetected"
air-compressed air standards.pdf 1.2MB 51 downloads
I suppose one can only speculate on the ultimate result for the product from interplay between compressed air and the surrounding environmental air.