Food Processing

Hygienic Seals for Product Purity

Food and beverage processing poses special sealing challenges throughout all operations to ensure products are safe for consumption.  Contamination is a concern:

  • When installing or replacing equipment seals  during maintenance
  • During the actual production processes such as mixing, emulsifying, filling, spraying, brewing and distilling
  • While products are handled for packaging (casing, wrapping, bottling and otherwise containerized)
  • During cleaning (CIP, SIP, COP)
  • When installing or replacing equipment seals  during maintenance

Direct Contact Sanitary Seals

Because product quality and shelf life are affected by both the potential for the growth of microbes and the contact with toxic substances, selecting the right seal material and configuration is critical for safety. For seals that come into direct contact with food or beverage ingredients, the raw material of the seal must be adequately inert so as not to interact negatively with ingredients.  The appropriate seal material varies based on the type and concentration of ingredients being processed, including whether they are dry, liquid, fatty, or have added flavoring agents.

Seal Configuration

Though often overlooked, the sealing components in food and beverage processing are critical to product purity.  It is important that seals be flush with any components in order to prevent gaps where contaminants could accumulate, so selected seals should have smooth surfaces, free from defects.  Consistent compression is essential.  Applications, such as with large temperature ranges, may need to include a design that accounts for swelling or contraction of seals, which will affect a solid seal contact.  Other operational stresses could trigger fragments of the seal to dislodge, contaminating the product.  A common element used in food and beverage processing operations is water, so is it vital that any seals selected are designed to not interact with water, so hygienic standards are met and neither taste nor appearance are affected.

Web Seal can work with you to select the right sealing components to account for:

  • Shaft and/or surface contact speeds
  • Other types of movement involved in the application
  • Range of temperatures involved, including while running or cycling
  • Media that the seal comes into contact with
  • Types of equipment, along with installation and maintenance issues
  • Adjacent interfaces

Web Seal offers FDA-compliant seals to meet hygienic standards in a variety of approved elastomeric materials.

Elastomeric Material Specs

EPDM Black, White

TEMPERATURE RANGE: 

  • -65°F to 300°F
  • Good temperature resistance

PROPERTIES:

  • Optimal steam and water resistance
  • Excellent ozone resistance
  • EPDM Black has slightly better abrasion resistance than EPDM white

FOR USE WITH:

  • Milk and edible oils
  • Repeated use with dry foods
  • Repeated use in contact with aqueous and fatty foods

Fluorocarbon Black

TEMPERATURE RANGE: 

  • -15° to 400°F
  • Good high temperature resistance

PROPERTIES:

  • Excellent resistance to ozone, oxygen, aromatics, and many chemicals and organic solvents

FOR USE WITH:

  • Repeated use in contact with aqueous or fatty foods
  • Dry foods, milk, edible oils

COMMENTS:

  • No animal-derived ingredients

Nitrile Black

TEMPERATURE RANGE: 

  • -30° to 200°F

PROPERTIES:

  • Excellent wear resistance
  • Lesser resistance to ozone

FOR USE WITH:

  • Repeated use with dry foods
  • Repeated use in contact with aqueous and fatty foods
  • Milk, edible oils

Silicone Red

TEMPERATURE RANGE: 

  • -65°F to 400°F
  • Widest temperature range

PROPERTIES:

  • Good ozone resistance
  • Good in dry heat

FOR USE WITH:

  • Repeated use with dry foods
  • Repeated use in contact with aqueous and fatty foods
  • Milk, edible oils

COMMENTS:

  • Material does not contain any animal-derived ingredients

Maintenance & Cleanliness

Preventing product build-up in equipment, adequately cleaning hard-to-reach parts, and assuring there is no cross-contamination between product runs are also essential considerations in product purity.

Cleaning equipment is often the hardest on the life of the sealing components.  Pressures are often higher in cleaning than during production.  Sterilizing tubing, joints, and other equipment parts with steam, acidic and alkaline solutions, and other sanitizing agents can take a tool on seals, resulting in mechanical failure.   The factors involved in the specific cleaning treatments should be weighed as part of choosing the most appropriate seal.

Web Seal can help you determine the best seals for your CIP (cleaning-in-place), COP (cleaning-out-of-place) and SIP (sanitize-in-place) regimens.