Flowcrete Takes Food Safe Flooring Message to Food and Drink Industry
Flowcrete UK is taking its expertise on how to create floors that meet the highest food safety standards to several leading food & beverage industry events throughout 2016. The resin flooring manufacturer will be attending both the Foodex show at Birmingham’s NEC on the 18th April as well as the 6th Annual European Food Safety & Quality Summit, which will be taking place in Huis ter Duin, Netherlands from the 26th–27th May.
At these events, Flowcrete UK will be outlining the key flooring characteristics that food and beverage manufacturers need to be aware of to ensure that the floor will facilitate a clean and safe working space while simultaneously being able to withstand the complex challenges inherent to the industry, such as corrosive food by-products, frequent spillages, hot ovens, cold fridges, heavy equipment, foot traffic and more!
Attendees to Foodex can discuss flooring solutions tailored to meet the above demands with Flowcrete UK’s resin flooring experts on stand N219. This includes how to create exceptionally robust, seamless and impervious floor areas that can incorporate stainless steel drainage and be laid to a fall to ensure the highest levels of cleanability. Installing floors that meet these criteria will help to safeguard the site’s sanitary integrity and avoid contaminants infiltrating the produce or working processes.
Flowcrete UK will be joined at the European Food Safety & Quality Summit by the Managing Director of HACCP International EMEA, Richard Mallet, who will present a panel discussion entitled ‘How to Ensure Your HACCP Compliance’. The panel will look at upcoming HACCP regulatory changes as well as how businesses can prepare a successful strategy to meet HACCP requirements.
HACCP International operates a product certification scheme within which they evaluate materials intended for the food industry to identify food safety hazards and appropriate controls in order to reduce the risk of food contamination from those materials. This is now a key requirement of any due diligence process including the approved procurement of materials.
Flowcrete UK’s Managing Director, Kevin Potter, says: “With today’s intense focus on hygiene within the food industry it is critical that facility designers, owners and operators choose building materials that they know will be up to the task at hand. However the complexity of the modern F&B industry can make this difficult – as the regulations that each system has to comply with can be extensive! We’ve developed a considerable amount of experience providing floors that actively work to minimise the risk of contamination and we’re taking this knowledge to these shows so that we can share it with food industry professionals.”
Flowcrete UK’s polyurethane range Flowfresh has been HACCP International certified due to its ability to retain an ultra-hygienic finish and its ability to be an active part of a contamination prevention programme within intensive food production facilities. Many high-profile food producers around the world have utilised Flowfresh to protect the floor from the site’s operational challenges, including McVitie’s, Thorntons, Heineken and Unilever.
Every Flowfresh floor includes the antibacterial additive Polygiene®, a silver-ion based agent that is able to eliminate up to 99.9% of bacteria that comes into contact with the floor. The polyurethane system has been proven to meet the ISO 22196 standard, which measures the antibacterial effectiveness of plastics and other non-porous surfaces. The combination of HACCP International certification and ISO 22196 compliance proves that Flowfresh is uniquely tailored to meet the industry’s stringent hygiene demands.
Flowcrete UK has recently added to the Flowfresh range with Flowfresh HF LT. This system has an increased fluidity at lower temperatures, which makes it easier to spread and finish on construction sites that fall below 15°C. It is also produced without pine oil to limit odour during the floor’s installation and its resistance to water marking helps to ensure a high quality finish.
To find out more about food industry flooring, visit Flowcrete UK at either Foodex or at the 6th Annual European Food Safety & Quality Summit. Alternatively, you can get in touch with the resin flooring experts by calling 01270 753000, emailing uk@flowcrete.com or by visiting www.flowcrete.co.uk, where there is a wealth of information on flooring specification, installation and maintenance.