Is steam the key ingredient in protecting our future food supply

When thinking about the food and drink manufacturing process it can be all too easy to think only of the raw, edible ingredients that go in to producing your baked, confectionary and drinkable goods. Yet there is one ingredient that is often overlooked, even in the biggest FMCG businesses: steam. Yes, you read that right – steam.

You’ll have become used to seeing steam as just another tool in the production process. However, as a substance that is often in contact with or injected into food, the quality of your steam should be treated just as you’d treat the quality of your sugar, eggs, or butter.

Avoiding contamination

Clean steam offers a valuable alternative to filtered / culinary steam. By choosing to use clean steam, you’re making the choice to ensure consistency in taste, colour and quality of your end product, in turn, protecting your plant’s reputation and brand as a purveyor of health, safety and quality in the production process.

HACCP is mandatory

Getting ahead of the legislative curve is a perfect way for your plant to ensure continued and uninterrupted production in the future. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a term you’re likely already familiar with, less familiar is the idea that steam should follow a HACCP based approach.

The use of clean steam in the food manufacturing process is not bound in a regulatory framework. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t already be considering it for your plant. It can prove to be a useful tool in helping you to demonstrate that you are applying an effective food safety regime according to HACCP principles.

Help is at hand

With steam already an ingredient in your recipe, making the switch from filtered steam to clean steam might seem like a daunting task. Thankfully, help is at hand.

You can choose a specialist partner to help you carry out a walk the plant survey to make the switch, helping you to align with the HACCP process – ensuring the consistent delivery of quality food and drinks products.

A little more conversation

It’s all too easy to forget that steam is a key ingredient in the manufacturing process and even easier to forget that clean steam has the capability to protect the quality and consistency of your plants’ output.

To support those in the food and beverage industry, we attended the Food & Drink Quality & Safety Summit on the 2nd of October 2018 where Paul Hardman, our Regional Business Development Manager, presented practical suggestions on how best to arrange and operate your steam system to achieve consistent product quality in the most efficient way possible.

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