Design of Refrigerated Storage
Good day all,
I had a question sent over to me by our construction company regarding the development of our new cold storage room. For this facility, we are going to be making plant-based beverage 'concentrates' that will be further processed (treated/diluted) by our other plant/clients. That being said, this will not be a 'ready-to-eat' product. product will be packed in 1,000L IBC bag-in-a-box totes. The process for this concentration does not involve a thermal treatment higher than 85 C. The question was:
"Does the cold storage cooler need washdown capabilities for CFIA approval? We are talking about not having a ceiling in the cold storage suite and taking the IMP wall panels right to the roof insulation. Let me know if ceiling panels are actually required".
I basically informed him that the parameters I am wanting to meet are: "similar flooring as the production suite (epoxy coat/cementitious urethane) , coved, angled flooring with drainage points, racking placement sufficient to provide at least 10-12 inches of gap between walls/ceilings, a continuous monitoring system (Temp/humidity), weather tight roofing, no airflow restrictions, the cooling/humidity system itself is accessible to be maintained, repaired, inspected and cleaned, and (a luxury) potential power back-ups in the case of power outages to provide time to move stock prior to temperature increase of product. The CFIA views cold storage as a preventive control more than anything else."
Are there any restrictions regarding the ceiling in a cold storage room for ingredients 'for further preparation' that I am missing? I can't seem to find anything on the gov't website. Also maybe note-worthy, we are going to be aiming for BRC cert. for all of our facilities.
Thank-you for any guidance!
I would recommend cladding the ceiling the same as the walls since your in construction anyway--it will save you a lot of headaches down the road
Just because your product gets further processing by your customer does not change any of the requirements for you. You are still manufacturing food and as such all the regulations apply to you equally
Have you familiarized yourself with this:
Anywhere I've worked where storage areas had open insulation above them, we had to have written in our policies that product sampling or opening of packages for any reason cannot occur in a storage area. The argument from auditors was that insulation itself might contaminate products, plus the fact that the open ceiling cannot be cleaned, so our defense was to write into policy that product must remain fully sealed when in storage areas.
Anywhere I've worked where storage areas had open insulation above them, we had to have written in our policies that product sampling or opening of packages for any reason cannot occur in a storage area. The argument from auditors was that insulation itself might contaminate products, plus the fact that the open ceiling cannot be cleaned, so our defense was to write into policy that product must remain fully sealed when in storage areas.
That wouldn't fly in Canada---you'd get an automatic non conformance for exposed insulation anywhere in the plant, never mind directly over storage regardless of what your procedure says
I would recommend cladding the ceiling the same as the walls since your in construction anyway--it will save you a lot of headaches down the road
Just because your product gets further processing by your customer does not change any of the requirements for you. You are still manufacturing food and as such all the regulations apply to you equally
Have you familiarized yourself with this:
Thank-you for your response.
So, if the ceiling is cladded with the same material as the walls, it should suffice? I also had concerns on the difficulty to reach the height they're wanting to build this cold storage room (roughly 40 feet) for cleaning. How are we able to prove the ceiling is in a sanitary state if one cannot reach it to clean or assess? Is this something that will just have to be done with a scissor lift at a predetermined frequency to ensure compliance? Does the room need to be capable of a wash-down?
Thank-you both, again for the insight!
That wouldn't fly in Canada---you'd get an automatic non conformance for exposed insulation anywhere in the plant, never mind directly over storage regardless of what your procedure says
I might not have been detailed enough in my previous post. I would agree that exposed insulation is a no-go, but what I meant to refer to is when there is a backing material covering the insulation material. That’s been the case for most storage areas where I worked, but we had to have actual ceilings built over production areas.
Found a pic online similar to what I was considering. Would this be a no-go for Canadian storage spaces?
Attached Files
The O.P. said something about URETHANE?
Where would that be used?