the transfer of hazards throughout the
plant.
Principle 2: Control Personnel and Mater-
ial Flow to Reduce Hazards. Traffic and
process flow should be established to control
the movement of employees, visitors, sup-
plies, product, and rework, to reduce food
safety risks.
Principle 3: Control Water Accumulation.
To reduce microbial growth, design and con-
struction should reduce water accumulation
through effective floor drainage and the
absence of pockets, ledges, and nooks.
Principle 4: Control Temperature and
Humidity.Heating/ventilation and air condi-
tioning (HVAC)/refrigeration systems serv-
ing processing areas should maintain
specified room temperatures and control the
room’s dew point and prevent condensation.
Principle 5: Control Air Quality and Flow.
Air movement should be from cleaner to less
clean areas. Incoming air should be filtered.
Outdoor makeup air should be provided to
maintain specified airflow, and pressurized
and source capture exhaust should be pro-
vided to manage high concentrations of
heat, moisture, or particulates generated.
Principle 6: Provide Site Accommodations.
Access control is essential to rigid sanitation.
Adequate lighting and water management
systems are necessary to facilitate sanitary
conditions.
Principle 7: Provide Building Envelope for
Sanitary Conditions.The building envelope
(skin or shell) should be constructed to pre-
vent pest entry and facilitate easy cleaning
and ongoing inspection.
Principle 8: Provide Interior Spatial Design
Conducive to Rigid Sanitation.The design
should facilitate cleaning and maintenance
of building components and processing
equipment.
Principle 9: Incorporate “Sanitation
Friendly” Construction Materials and Util-
ity Systems.Construction and renovation
materials should be designed to prevent
contamination, should be impervious, easy
to clean, and resistant to corrosion and
wear.
Principle 10: Incorporation of an Integrated
Sanitation System. Food facilities should
have an integrated sanitation to control the
introduction of hazards such as hand sinks,
sanitizers, doorway foamers and/or foot-
baths, hose stations, Cleaning-out-of-place
(COP) equipment, and equipment washers.
There has been a trend toward using a
“clean room” design for the past two
decades. Increased emphasis on sanitation
has resulted in more interest in surfaces
(including wall panels and walkable stainless
ceilings) made from stainless steel as a con-
struction material. There is a need to walk
up around the ceiling panels to repair pipes
and the electrical systems. Additional con-
cepts that are being promoted include the
integration of entry and exit vestibules with
garment changing facilities for traffic into
and out of exposed ready-to-eat product
areas. Also, there is a trend toward the
removal of all refrigeration coils from ready-
to-eat areas and the utilization of more roof
mounted refrigeration air units and to duct
the air into the necessary spaces. This prac-
tice is being conducted to reduce dirt or dust
accumulation.
Additional construction trends include
expanded polystyrene (EPS) panels and
doors for walk-in coolers and freezers, food
processing areas, and low-temperature dis-
tribution warehouses. EPS insulation manu-
factured from small, uniform polystyrene
beads contains only stabilized air, to ensure
stable and consistent settings. In addition to
stainless steel construction, fiberglass rein-
forced plastic finishes for the packaging area
and vestibule is being incorporated (Petrak,
2002).
The following belt conveyor design con-
siderations (Anon., 2004) are appropriate: