Is Food Safety Critical To
Your Process?
managers often continue with old
paper recorders.
Happily, new options are becoming
available. The Eurotherm nanodac™
recorder/controller offers four
channels of precision analogue
batch recording, easily meeting
the requirements of regulators for
accuracy and repeatability, and data
logging requirements of 21 CFR 11.
For more demanding applications,
Food Safety is subject to
Paper records, such as the Eurotherm
unprecedented scrutiny from
392 circular chart recorder have
governments and regulatory bodies
served the industry well for many
globally. The reason is simple:
years, but the mechanical nature
According to a recent study by the
of the printing mechanism can
World Health Organisation food
compromise reliability and accuracy.
borne diseases affect 1 in 10 of the
It is also easy to lose or damage
population globally, accounting for
paper, and HACCP requires that
420,000 deaths annually. Of these,
original records are maintai ned on-
over 125,000 are infants or babies
site for several years - copies are not
A hybrid such as nanodac also has
aged 5 years or below.
permitted. .
high quality PID control, including
Apart from the dangers to public
Other regulated industries such as
health, the cost of a major product
pharmaceuticals and aerospace
recall can run into millions of pounds,
switched to graphical video recorders
even billions, and the reputational
long ago: Data is automatically
damage is incalculable. Organisations
forwarded to supervisory systems for
could be subject to criminal liability
reporting and recording, and solid-
including prison sentences and
state electronics are intrinsically more
substantial fines, let alone the cost of
reliable in a production environment.
lost production. Understandable then,
that food safety is a primary concern
of plant managers. The question is,
with ever-increasing scrutiny, are
existing methods of record keeping for
HACCP control points sufficient? The
US Food Safety Modernization Act is
leading the way towards digitisation
of record keeping, with increased
attention on the performance of subsuppliers in eradicating hazards.
40 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
the Versadac recorder provides a
back of panel solution with almost
unlimited capacity. Both allow
alarm and discrete input logging,
communications with other devices,
results available in the data record,
electronic signatures and batch data
recording.
advanced cascade with unique auto
tune. Such units can control a retort or
autoclave, including VSD, and record
the results. The standard 96x96mm
panel size will retrofit in place of an
older PID controller. A high quality TFT
display assures a perfect operator
interface for interaction and alarm
visualisation.
HACCP regulations mandate that
electronic records are not subject
NOTE WRITTEN BY Eurotherm
to falsification, and have electronic
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Eurotherm
signatures, but many low cost data
loggers do not provide this security
level. The “gold standard” for data
recorders in the food and beverage
industry is US FDA 21 CFR 11,
but chart recorders meeting this
standard can be expensive, so plant
Eurotherm
As part of the Schneider Electric
business, Eurotherm is a leading global
supplier of Industrial Automation and
process control, measurement and data
management solutions and services
www.eurotherm.co.uk