High-tech solutions are used in meat plants, including production organization, storage of raw materials, and management systems. For the quality of the final product, finishing materials are as important as perfectly equipped production lines, and the choice of appropriate floors contributes significantly to maintaining the highest level of hygiene. At the same time, in order for flooring solutions to effectively fulfill their role, they should be optimally matched to specific conditions and payloads.
Experts from the Flowcrete brand, a leading manufacturer and supplier of resin flooring materials and technologies, outline the most important issues to consider when preparing specifications for flooring systems for meat industry plants.
1. easy maintenance
In meat plants, as in the entire food industry, hygiene is paramount. The use of seamless resin floors allows for a surface that is easy to wash and keep clean. The lack of unnecessary divisions on the floor minimizes the number of places where dirt can accumulate and bacteria can grow. This also applies to the pedestals integrated into the flooring system at the interface between the floor and the wall.
Flowfresh SR flooring
© Flowcrete
2 High hygiene profile - microbiologically clean solutions
In areas of meat plants that come into direct contact with food, innovative flooring solutions such as Flowfresh microbiologically clean polyurethane-cement floors are used. They contain the antibacterial additivePolygiene® based on silver ions, which reduces the amount of bacteria on the floor surface by up to 99.9%. The high hygienic profile of the floors is evidenced, among other things, by certificates issued by independent organizations. The HACCP International certificate awarded to Flowfresh floors is confirmation that they meet the highest global hygiene standards in the food industry.
3 Chemical resistance to typical meat production substances and cleaning methods.
Constant contact with large quantities of agents found in meat plants, including fats or blood, could have a devastating effect on flooring unsuitable for such conditions. For this reason, investments in the meat industry should use flooring systems that are characterized by high chemical resistance, both to organic substances and cleaning agents used as part of hygiene maintenance standards.
Flowfresh SR flooring
© Flowcrete
4 High resistance to constant low and high temperatures
Depending on the type of operation, floors in meat plants should be able to withstand constant low temperatures (e.g., in freezer and cold storage areas) and constant high temperatures (e.g., in thermal processing areas). It is also very important to withstand rapid changes in ambient conditions, such as when cleaning rooms with hot water or pressurized steam, and when opening doors from freezers or ovens. Flowfresh polyurethane-cement floors, when the thickness of the system is properly selected, have a significant range of thermal resistance.
5 Suitable for the conditions of use mechanical strength.
In the case of large-scale meat plants, the floors used in them should be able to withstand the intense mechanical loads associated with local loading of goods, intensive traffic of transport trucks, as well as pedestrian traffic. Among the most resistant are flooring systems based on polyurethane resins and aggregate and cement. They are distinguished by significant abrasion resistance (e.g., a score of <2000 mg in the Taber Test, using a 1000 g H22 wheel for 1000 cycles, according to PN-EN ISO 5470-1).
Flowfresh SR flooring
© Flowcrete
6 Flooring integrated with a drainage system, with a non-slip surface in wet areas
In wet areas, such as slaughtering or meat cutting rooms, where there is an increased risk of workers slipping and falling, solutions with enhanced anti-slip properties are used. An example of this type of system are resin floors with backfill of quartz sand of appropriately selected fraction. To ensure efficient drainage of water and dirt, floors should be integrated with a drainage system. Floor layers should be made with an appropriate slope, and the joint of the floor and drainage - fill with a permanently elastic compound to avoid the formation of cracks.
Flowfresh SR flooring
© Flowcrete
7 Attractive aesthetics of industrial floors
Floors in industrial plants should first and foremost protect the concrete substrate from deterioration under service loads. It is also worth paying attention to their aesthetics, for example, bright colors optically enlarge production rooms, and dirt is more visible on them, making it easier to collect it effectively. Flowfresh polyurethane-cement floors are available in many standard colors, in addition to gray and dark gray, these include warm shades such as ochre, cream, mustard, red, as well as green and blue.
When choosing resin floors for a meat plant, it is a good idea to tailor the systems to the individual zones and the conditions in them. When preparing the specifications, it is worth using the support of experts in this field, who, based on their knowledge and experience, will propose appropriate materials and technologies.
For more information, visit the company's Tremco CPG Poland Sp. z o.o., posadzki Flowcrete page on the A&B portal.
