ADVERTORIAL


FOOD GRADE LUBRICANTS SUPPLEMENT 13


Eddy M. Stempfel Global Product Manager & Application Specialist Fuchs Lubritech GmbH, Kaiserslautern, Germany


Don’t worry – Dine happy!


Lubricants Food Safety – Compressed Air


Air quality has a major impact on Food Safety. Compressed air in a food and beverage plant is usually provided by an on-site air compressor system.


However, even by applying multi-stage filtration, some of the compressor oil may end up in the compressed air as oil mist. This can contaminate food products being


processed when the compressed air is used to stir or mix liquid food, to blow open bags for filling, to clean cutters and knives etc. In FDA 21. CFR 110.40, part g, Equipment


and utensils, a statement is made, which is often overseen in a food manufacturing area. It states: “Compressed air or other gases mechanically introduced into food or used to clean food-contact surfaces or equipment shall be treated in such a way that food is not contaminated with unlawful indirect food additives.” Air compressor Original Equipment


Manufacturers indicate that contamination from compressed air can be as high as 100 mg oil/m3 Even if a well maintained compressor has the


.


correct filters and coalescers in place, it can still carry over 25 mg oil/m3


, while poorly maintained


compressors, with no oil filters, or incorrectly fitted oil filters or coalescers, will have unspecified oil carry over at a much higher rate.


With the correct filtration equipment


(3 stages), an oil mist level of 0.5 to 0.003 ppm can be achieved. This means that even with the most


sophisticated installation there will still be some oil in the compressed air and there is still a chance that food may get contaminated at levels, which definitely surpasses the ZERO ppm tolerance for non-food grade lubricants given by the FDA. This is a clear indication that air compressors


in food processing areas should be lubricated with H1 (incidental food contact) lubricants. The majority of food and beverage companies


currently use rotary compressors. In average one can find 3-5 compressors in a


single plant and even more in larger plants. For a while there have been as well so called “oil free compressors” available. The advantage of this type of compressor is a clean air supply with no oil mist in air. The disadvantage is that they are more


expensive (sometimes twice the costs of a conventional compressor). This and the fact that the lifespan of a


compressor is pretty long (assuming good maintenance in place) are the reasons that currently many more conventional compressors are in use than oil free ones. Lubrication of rotary compressors with food


grade compressor fluids has been investigated by lubricant manufacturers since a long time. Especially the dedicated synthetic products,


which are available today, are top tier products, providing a lot of advantages, such as:  better resistance to oxidation which reduces gum & lacquer deposits on the coalescer, means better efficiency and air quality


 cleaner air  longer Oil Drain Intervals  less downtime  OEM approvals  U.S. FDA compliance.


This finally results in improved food safety and better brand protection, but lower overall maintenance costs as well. So, don’t be caught with a recall resulting from


a compressed air contamination. Get your H1 synthetic compressor fluid today,


because prevention is the best policy (better than cure).


New Food www.newfoodmagazine.com Volume 14, Issue 4, 2011


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