UV light disinfection can help food manufacturing facilities in ways that standard chemical cleaning cannot. Highly regulated sanitation can be a massive undertaking in meat and poultry processing plants. These facilities harbor cold-tolerant pathogens in the air, as well as near-constant employee turnover throughout the day. While surface cleaning is critical, it ignores the primary threat to employees’ health: the air they breathe.
This serious issue is resolved by using Farlite® Solution’s continuous, completely safe upper-air UVC light disinfection system to consistently fight pathogens and bacteria lingering in the air, making your facility safer, cleaner, and more efficient.
Understanding the Airborne Threat and Operational Challenges
Two unavoidable aspects of air quality control in food manufacturing facilities make contamination persistent and dangerous:
- The unique microbial-friendly environment
- The constant pathogen introduction due to high turnover and 24-hour shift work
Microbes, including Listeria and airborne mold, love cold, damp environments. Additionally, food manufacturing facilities are some of the most in-demand plants in the economy. Because of this, many plants operate continuously to meet consumer demand and production schedules. Constant shift changes with people coming and going, and round-the-clock work shifts, mean new pathogens are continuously introduced into the air, increasing the potential for sickness to spread among employees, and can also lead to increased product contamination.
Over time, this increase in germs and employee illness transmission can lead to costly absenteeism and significant productivity and revenue loss. Chemical cleaning falls short when it comes to the upper air disinfection required to solve these problems. However, Farlite’s UV light disinfection system can be the most effective strategy for protecting your employees, your productivity, and your reputation.
The Specific Pathogens That UVC Can Combat in a Facility
Food manufacturing facilities are both some of the most integral and the most sensitive facilities in the world. They not only must uphold sanitized environments, but they also face a slew of common, dangerous pathogens. The most common illness-causing pathogens that UVC light can help combat include:
- Listeria monocytogenes: This is an extremely cold-tolerant pathogen that can thrive in refrigeration and storage areas.
- Salmonella species: This is one of the most common, especially in raw meat and poultry. It can quickly become aerosolized when raw products are handled.
- Escherichia coli (E.Coli): E.coli can easily be spread through bioaerosols created by moving raw material and cross-contamination.
- Aspergillus and Penicillium: These are mold species that can be highly airborne and spore-forming in damp or cold areas. Many spores resist typical chemical cleaning, making UVC light disinfection superior for safety.
- Staphylococcus aureus (Staph): This is primarily carried by human skin and can become airborne in areas with especially high employee foot traffic.
When it comes to removing these harmful microbes and pathogens from the air, UV light disinfection is the safest, most effective solution for constant control.
How UVC Light Makes a Difference in Food Manufacturing Safety
UVC light disinfection is the best solution for providing a broad, continuous, and effective way to mitigate the vast majority of airborne pathogens to fully protect employees within a food manufacturing facility. This can be done by using Farlite Solution’s UVPhasor® fixture in strategic locations to minimize the risk of germ transmission. The first step to truly effective UV upper air disinfection is locating the most critical areas; for example, spaces where high-risk air is met with exposed food or large amounts of employee foot traffic. These might include:
- High-risk processing areas: This could include raw or deboning floors where grinding, mixing, or any “open-product” tasks take place or where food is exposed to air before final packaging.
- Packaging and assembly lines: In these areas, personnel are constantly present, which can lead to human-shed pathogens contaminating the final product, or even just the packaging materials.
- Cold storage or refrigeration areas: These areas are particularly prone to mold due to the already cold, damp environment of the packing plant.
- Employee spaces: Like any company, break rooms, cafeterias, and changing rooms can all be hot spots for employee-to-employee germ transmission. Sometimes, this can directly lead to germs infiltrating vulnerable food packaging areas.
Tailoring Upper-Air Disinfection to Industrial-Scale Facilities
Aside from locating potentially pathogenic and germ hotspots within a food manufacturing facility, our team of UVC light experts at Farlite Solutions provides a calculated, strategic approach to yield the best results. Our team will customize your fixture sizes and placements based on facility size, work production, and air flow. This ensures that your food manufacturing plant is fully protected, and the air will so clean that it becomes virtually impossible to become ill in a Farlite-protected space.
Science & Safety of Upper-Air UVC Light Disinfection
What makes upper-air UVC light disinfection so effective? UV light disinfection is a physical process rather than a chemical one, and it has been used for decades, from water treatment to medical facilities.
UV rays are produced by the sun and come in three primary sizes or categories:
- UVA
- UVB
- UVC
UVA has the longest tail on the spectrum and can most effectively penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere. It is the primary cause of sunburns and tans. UVB has a medium-sized wavelength and is what causes skin cancer. Finally, UVC wavelengths are the shortest on the spectrum. Because of their unique size, they are able to physically alter pathogens, bacteria, and germs in the air, which interrupts pathogen reproduction and thus transmission.
Unlike the UVC wavelengths produced in nature, the Farlite UVPhasor fixture is engineered to be completely safe as it points up, toward the ceiling, catching all airborne particles and protecting all employees and guests. Because of this, not only is this specific UV light disinfection system the most effective way to clean the air in food processing facilities, it also creates a safer space for all employees and occupants, and is safe for the food being processed.
Continuous Air Disinfection: Non-Negotiable For Food Safety
Food manufacturing facilities carry extremely high pathogen loads and constant employee turnover. They also require relentless cleaning standards. Regulations mean that a consistent and reliable cleaning strategy isn’t just recommended, but it is non-negotiable for maintaining employee wellness and food integrity. UV light disinfection is the best way to keep your consumers and employees safe without relying on standard, ineffective methods – and now Farlite makes it practical. At Farlite Solutions, we can help find an accessible solution regardless of your facility’s unique needs. Contact us today for a UV disinfection fixture estimate.