Shrimp Processor Achieves 95% Sanitation Improvement and Earns BAP Certification for Superior Food Safety

Customer Objectives

About a year after starting daily production, a North American frozen shrimp processor decided to work toward its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) Certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). Having already worked with Commercial Food Sanitation (CFS), an Intralox company, to refine its Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan, the processor reached out to CFS and Intralox to help it achieve the pinnacle of food safety excellence.

Intralox Execution

The shrimp processor partnered with Intralox® FoodSafe™ experts and selected Intralox FoodSafe technology in its journey toward BAP Certification. This began with consulting and training from CFS, including:

• A readiness assessment, in which it reviewed the facility layout, current programs, good manufacturing practices (GMP) policies, and sanitation practices
• Identification of areas for sanitation and food safety improvement
• An on-site, interactive sanitation training for all team members, covering the seven steps of sanitation essentials and providing hands-on opportunities for the team to practice cleaning conveyors
• Development of a comprehensive, written sanitation standard operating procedure (SSOP)

During this assessment, the infeed to the shrimp peeler belt was identified as an area for improvement, as it was producing swab counts higher than desired. Leveraging the Intralox FoodSafe team’s expertise, Intralox helped the shrimp processor upgrade its previous belting system to Intralox ThermoDrive tensionless technology to further optimize the processor’s facility and help it achieve its food safety goals. ThermoDrive technology includes flat, homogeneous thermoplastic belting that is significantly easier to clean than modular belting. The shrimp processor further improved its belt functionality by pairing the ThermoDrive belt with Intralox’s Sprocket Spacers and ThermoLace joining system, both of which meaningfully simplify and shorten the cleaning process.

The upgrade process was quick and painless. To prepare for installation, the shrimp processor made only minimal design and retrofit changes, and the belt installation itself took place during a short and regularly scheduled maintenance period. While the facility’s prior belting system required three people to install, the much lighter ThermoDrive belt required just one.

Results

Together with the company’s longstanding commitment to the hard work of sanitation strategy and execution, Intralox’s expertise and best-in-class technology helped this North American shrimp processor both acquire its BAP Certification and continue to set the standard for food safety excellence. These achievements included:

• Reduction of food safety risk, resulting in both a 95% average reduction in above limit ATP swab counts and achievement of GFSI’s BAP Certification
• Improved conveyance cleaning, resulting in up to 50% less time, resources, water, and chemicals required to maintain sanitation excellence
• Optimized operations, through which superior hygiene and food safety were achieved without any compromise on operational efficiency