Are you stocking up on food and drinks for your summer BBQ? The food and beverage industry uses compressed air for manufacturing, processing and packaging. Food and beverage grade gases, for example, can include carbon dioxide, nitrogen and nitrous oxide (for products such as whipping cream). The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the inspections for which are carried out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has greatly helped establish firmer guidelines for production safety and quality, and this includes a stronger understanding of compressed air quality and testing at each production facility.
Compressed air is essential to many modern manufacturing, processing and packaging operations. High-quality compressed air provides energy for pneumatic conveyer and handling systems that transport liquids and powders (such as cocoa) during the production cycle. Compressed air influences the safety of wrapping, sealing, labeling and palletizing these products for shipping or storage.
Anyway you slice it, compressed air plays an important role in our modern food and beverage system.
NFPA on BBQ Safety
Fire personnel are no strangers to utilizing compressed air and testing compressed air for quality and safety (of people and equipment). Fire personnel are also renowned for food…but the fire safety and emergency services community is also deeply concerned with public safety when food and fire (and potentially gas) interact. The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) gas engineer, Ted Lemoff, has posted some summer BBQ safety tips. They are worth a read. As the note suggests, it’s “food for thought.”
Stay safe this summer!
For more information about the fire and food & beverage industries’ use of compressed air and compressed air testing, visit www.airtesting.com.
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TRI, an AIHA-accredited laboratory, provides compressed air testing with excellence in quality and science. www.airtesting.com
