Compressed air plays an essential role in the safe production of chocolate, strawberries, and other common Valentine’s treats.

February 7, 2014 is National Wear Red Day® (US). While February 14 marks the annual Valentine’s Day celebrations, which are strongly associated with the color red, February 7 is actually a day to honor health. The American Heart Association (AHA) hosts National Wear Red Day® events, distributes useful information on social media, and in general helps elevate the awareness of heart health issues with women.

It’s all part of Heart Health Month, and no small accident that it takes place in and around the very day symbolized so prominently with a heart.

Also associated with Valentine’s Day (and common gifts for women) is chocolate—which is also tied to health. Cocoa has long been used in medicines, with historical evidence extending many centuries back in the Americas. Modern research has revealed that the consumption of cocoa (with ~63% or great cocoa in chocolate) contributes to lower blood pressure, improved blood vessel health, and healthier cholesterol levels.

TRI’s compressed air testing kits are used internationally by food and beverage companies to verify the quality of the air in their chocolate and chocolate product manufacturing and packaging operations. Kits are available for purchase or on loan.

Here at TRI Air Testing, we confess, we have a weakness for strawberries and chocolate.

COMPRESSED AIR’S IMPACT

Compressed air is utilized throughout both the medical and food & beverage fields. Compressed air ensures the safe operation of medical equipment and production of pharmaceuticals. In food and beverage, which is of particular interest around Valentine’s Day, compressed air is used for everything from safe raw material handling to manufacturing and packaging to shipping and storage.

Compressed air testing is used to ensure that the air in the production process is not contaminated with oils or other matter that could otherwise affect taste, freshness or food safety.

So if you are giving chocolates this Valentine’s Day, you can be sure that compressed air has played a role in its safe production and delivery.

RESOURCES FOR COMPRESSED AIR

Compressed air is a Critical Control Point (CCP) and includes direct contact or indirect contact with a food or beverage product.  TRI Air Testing suggests performing a baseline test on new or untested systems to help determine the appropriate specification requirements for SQF Compressed Air Purity.

Some other resources:

• TRI’s compressed air testing kits are used internationally by food and beverage companies to verify the quality of the air in their chocolate and chocolate product manufacturing and packaging operations. Kits are available for purchase or loan and each type of kit is designed specifically for certain industries and testing situations (such as when samples can and should be collected directly at the source).
• See the convenient color-code charts on TRI Air Testing’s Testing Kit webpage for more detailed information.
• Plant engineers may need to create a facility- or application-specific standard, one that brings together the specific needs of the facility with existing compressed air quality specs, such as ISO 8573 (Class 1 and Class 2), USP, OSHA, FDA and cGMP.
• Air Testing in the Food Industry