Celebrating World Food Safety Day: A Look at Germany’s Contributions
In numerous respects, the German mechanical engineering sector contributes significantly to the world’s supply of safe food through the use of its technology for food processing and packaging. Here, cleanability is not the only factor that matters.
Reducing food poisoning is mostly dependent on food safety. As per the ‘Codex Alimentarius,’ around 200 different forms of food poisoning cause illness in 600m people annually. In addition to disproportionately affecting young and impoverished populations, these disorders cause 420,000 avoidable deaths annually.
Mechanical engineering contributes significantly to the safety of food and the avoidance of food poisoning through its technological advancements. This involves the industrial application of long-established and widely used methods, such as sterilizing or applying heat treatment. One important way to lower the hazards associated with eating industrially processed food is to use modern, non-traditional procedures like high-pressure packaging.
Not all safe food comes from using the right industrial processing techniques. Not only must the machinery and equipment be simple to clean, but they also need to be able to do it fast, consistently, and with the least amount of energy, water, cleaning products, and disinfectants. A few examples of how research and mechanical engineering are working together to advance significant developments are sensors that can determine the hygiene status of important areas of machines and systems, the quality of the water used for rinsing, camera-supported automated container cleaning with rotating nozzles, or jet cleaners.
One of the most important aspects of feeding the world is the industrial manufacture of safe food. Access to food that is both safe and long-lasting is projected to become even more crucial in the future given the rapidly expanding global population. In addition to being efficient and speedy, modern packaging machines guarantee that food that has been packaged has a long shelf life. Such cutting-edge equipment can assist in ensuring that carefully prepared food does not spoil too soon and stays edible for as long as possible with the use of the proper packaging. Here, cutting-edge procedures including aseptic filling and controlled environment packaging are applied.
“From simple technology to high-end machines: German machine manufacturers work together with their customers to develop processing, filling, and packaging technology that is precisely tailored to their needs – depending on the country and region,” Richard Clemens, Managing Director of the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, explained.
A great deal of commitment and expertise, which is sometimes decisive for success, is often involved when machines from Germany are used to process and package food.
“With an export share of 86 percent, the German food processing and packaging machinery makes a significant contribution to supplying the world’s population with safe food,” Clemens concluded.
On 2 December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring 7 June each year as World Food Safety Day to draw attention to this important issue.
