Table 7.9 Features required for effective layout
S. no. | Materials of construction | Important features construction
1 | Walls | Be of plaster finish • Have Smooth Finish • Have Board of high concrete blocks or gypsum • Should be washable • Should resist cleaning and disinfecting agents • Should have minimum projecting shelves, fixtures and fittings
2 | Floors | Durable • Cleanable • Resistant to chemicals • Hard wearing finish
3 | Ceilings | Should be properly provided in office areas and sophisticated laboratories • Should be of non-combustible material • Have Smooth finish • Proper design of light fittings, air outlets • Should be easily cleaned • Should have minimum property to accumulate dust
4 | Services | Proper provisions for drains, water, steam and electricity • Ease of maintenance • Easily accessible • Doors should close tightly • Emergency exit is must but be shut • Sliding doors should be avoided • Effective layout • Proper control of humidity and temperature • Exposed pipelines should not touch walls
The design of the building and layout plan must have proper provisions for drainage, electricity, water, steam and other services for ease of maintenance. The design of the processing plants for roots and tubers should be planned to minimize the potential for contamination. The factory may have different doors for raw materials, employees, finished products and waste disposal.
The productions plan should aim at decreasing the possibility of cross-contamination and to circumvent slip-ups. The processor should strive to restrict excessive traffic in the production areas. This is accomplished by applying the onward flow principle. This entails a consecutive processing guarantee for a forward chain of produce, with no rear return, from the smallest point of development to the uppermost one.
During the manufacture process, there should not be any production lines interlacing or criss-crossing. There should be a separation of cool and warm zones within the root and tuber processing plant to avoid thermal pollution. The pipe work at exposed surfaces should be identified with the direction of facilities used. The different colour codes can be used for the identification of pipe lines in the root and tuber processing plamt (Table 7.10); however, the colour codes are to distinguish the lines, therefore the company may set these as per the standard norms or can devise its own norms in this respect.
Table 7.10 Colour codes of pipelines for processing industry
S. no. | Utility | Colour code
1 | Pressurized steam | Red
2 | Vacuum | Yellow
3 | Compressed air | Orange
4 | Nitrogen | Grey
5 | Oxygen | Light blue
6 | Water for firefighting/well water | Black
There should also be separation of clean and soiled areas, so that waste produced in each stage of manufacture can be removed as soon as possible in the most direct way. The air, water, lighting, ventilation, temperature and humidity within the plant should be controlled to avoid any negative effects on the quality of the products. The ancillary, storage, weighing, production and quality control areas should be cleaned as per requirements to maintain these standards (Karmacharya, 2012). Lighting levels should be appropriate in the root and tuber processing, so that the work can be carried out in an effective manner. Lighting of the packaging areas and production should be sufficiently bright to enable good vision. The various illumination level may be recommended in root and tuber processing industry which are presented in Table 7.11.
Table 7.11 Recommended illumination in premises
S. no. | Illumination intensity[5] (in Lux) | Areas
1 | 100 | Corridor for personnel traffic • Break room • Locker room • Rest rooms • Utility rooms • Staircase lobby
2 | 200 | Workshop • Warehouse
3 | 300 | Laboratory
4 | 500 | Offices with reading activities • Production room • First aid room
5 | 750 | Draft room
6 | 1,000 | Visual inspection
1 foot candle = 1 lumen/feet2 = 10.764 lux
7.4.11 Equipment
The equipment which is used for processing of root and tuber produce shall be smooth, non-corrosive and washable without corners. The material from which the equipment is constructed is important. The major concern regarding the equipment is that no contamination of the product could occur from the construction material and, on the other hand, the material must not be degraded into the product. Thus, the equipment needs to be suitable for processing of roots and tuber products and it should also not be reactive, additive or absorptive. Equipment should be standardized periodically and marked. The benches used for processing shall be smooth, impermeable, hard-wearing and washable, and should not be made from unfinished wood or rough concrete.
The equipment should be easy to repair and maintain and be installed in an area which is also easy to clean. Repair and maintenance operations should not affect the quality of products. The equipment should be kept cleaned and cleanliness ensured before use. Preferably, CIP (Clean-in-place), an automated procedure should be adopted as compared to COP (Clean-out-of-place). An automatic control for regulating temperature should be put in place to alert employees to a significant change in temperature. A regular programme for maintaining the facilities and equipment used in the production of the root and tuber crops needs to be in place. Such a programme lowers the possibility of product defects and maintains the validated state of the facility or equipment.
7.4.12 Raw Materials
Raw materials form one of the most important areas that must be carefully controlled. The quality of procured roots and tubers and other materials to be used in the manufacture of the produce thus need to be specified accurately.
There needs to be in place a rejection process and the rejection tag should record the reference of the rejected batch and the reason for rejection. The conditions of acceptance /rejection of batches must be clearly defined. The different materials and their properties, which can act as the criterion of accepting or rejecting raw materials, are listed in Table 7.12.
Table 7.12 Different materials and their properties: A criterion of acceptance/rejection
S. no. | Materials | Acceptance/rejection
1 | Raw materials | Physical • Chemical • Microbiological • Sensory properties
2 | Chemicals | Chemical properties
3 | Packaging materials | Various properties, i.e. tensile strength, bursting strength, oxygen transfer rate, gas transmission rate, tear strength, elasticity, seal strength, peel strength, abrasion resistance, puncture resistance, etc.
The important considerations should be followed as:
• The specifications shall be defined according to food produce and the requirements for the finished product, as specified. The frequency will depend upon the variation in raw material, processes and testing accuracy. In some cases, external factors such as customer requirements and declarations of compliance can also be important in variations in frequency.
• All raw materials and additives used must confirm to food legislation. Raw materials used in the production should be consistent with the requirements of the finished produce.
5
Illumination intensity of 20 and 50 lux can be used for narrow corridor and warehouses Source: ASEAN (2000)