7.1 Introduction: sanitation and design
The main premise of this chapter is to show that sanitation and sanitary
(hygienic) design are partners in the true sense of the word. Sanitary design
deals with details of the hygienic design and construction of the physical
structure and the equipment. It is the engineered design of food handling,
processing, storage facilities, and equipment to create a sanitary processing
environment, and to produce pure, uncontaminated, quality products
consistently, reliably and economically. Often it is not the major design criteria
that can cause sanitation failure but the smallest details that go with designing a
new facility or renovation of an existing facility. For example: Fig. 7.1 shows an
expansion joint for a bridge that had been designed to go into a food processing
facility. It would have worked very well as an expansion joint but was
impossible to clean. Note the 3 inch (75 mm) space in the joint that is under the
floor. It becomes a natural accumulator of dirt, water, food particles, etc. Since it
is 3 inches wide it would make an excellent passageway for rodents. This is a
small item in the overall design of a facility but it turns out to be a very
important one when it comes to sanitation.
There are numerous reasons for special consideration of sanitary design when
remodeling, changing or building a new grassroots food processing plant. The
less processing the product receives the more important the sanitation and
sanitary design become. The more microbiologically sensitive the product is, the
more sanitation and sanitary design attention is required. Sanitation and sanitary
design are true partners.
The one constant for all food processing facilities is change. Plants and
facilities are always being expanded, changed, new equipment added, old
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Improving building design
D. J. Graham, Graham Sanitary Design Consulting Limited, USA