Food Safe Flooring Facts for World Health Day

On April 7^th the world will be focusing on the global prevention, detection and response to potential public health threats from unsafe food for World Health Day 2015.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has arranged the day to draw attention to how global health and safety can be affected by foodborne illnesses and the actions that need to be taken to minimise these dangers. Food sanitation has become a key global issue for the organisation due to its long term effect on the quality of human health.

Flowcrete India is supporting the day by working to raise awareness of how contamination in food and beverage production facilities can be avoided. This is a key aspect of the WHO’s drive to ensure consumer trust in producers, industry authorities and the global food supply chain.

Proper food processing and handling can stop pathogenic microorganisms infiltrating produce at the point of production, preventing outbreaks of foodborne diseases. The floor in food industry facilities plays an important role in this – as if not properly considered it can become a problematic site of bacteria build up and contamination.

The majority of dirt, grime and microbes in the site will enter the building on shoes or the wheels of equipment and also gravity will inevitably cause any dirt or grime on walls or stationary objects to end up on the floor.

Inadequate floor finishes can become potent breeding grounds for bacteria, especially if the surface is porous or if there are hard to clean cracks for germs to accumulate within. The on-site conditions can also quickly make an insufficiently robust floor finish deteriorate due to exposure to fats, hot oils, blood, sugars and food acids – not to mention the foot and wheeled traffic, heavy impacts, thermal shock and wear from cleaning.

Flowcrete works alongside food and beverage producers to advise on the flooring systems that will maintain a seamless, impervious and easy to clean finish that will help to eradicate and remove bacteria before it can contaminate the equipment or produce.

Ensuring a large-scale and intense industrial site has food safe floors is not an easy task, as it requires the careful analysis of a wide range of factors, a high quality flooring material and expert installers.

The Flowfresh range of antimicrobial enhanced, polyurethane floors has been designed by Flowcrete to provide an ultra-hygienic surface that will optimise the working environment. This system meets the strict requirements of national, regional and international food industry authorities.

The silver ion based antimicrobial agent Polygiene® is homogenously distributed throughout the polyurethane matrix of Flowfresh. Polygiene® is able to eliminate 99.9% of bacteria on the floor’s surface, delivering an enhanced protection against such potent pathogens as E-Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, campylobacter and MRSA.

The floor finish is one of several components that will be required to create a hygienic floor area. Other elements such as drainage, coving, anti slip aggregates and signage all play important roles within a food production facility.