Industrial food-grade flooring must meet much higher standards than the flooring of other industries. FDA-approved floor coatings help ensure the safety of both employees and the food itself. Find out more about food safe flooring solutions here.
Choosing the Proper Industrial Food Grade Flooring for Your Facility
Food and beverage processing facilities must meet flooring standards that are specific to their industry. Food factory flooring has to address several safety issues, such as slip resistance, chemical resistance, and abrasion resistance. Eliminating the opportunities for mold and mildew to grow is also a critical factor in food-safe flooring.
With the various amounts of food factory flooring is exposed to, you cannot take the risk of cross-contamination or byproducts seeping into concrete floors. If contaminants such as fats, oils, or solutions penetrate the concrete, bacteria could spread out of control.
Industrial food-grade flooring solutions include new builds, a replacement project, or a number of FDA-approved floor coatings that can be applied.
Types of FDA Approved Floor Coatings for Industrial Food-Grade Flooring
If building a new food factory flooring system or replacing your existing floor is not in the budget, food processing floor coatings are the perfect solution. Inspected facilities require USDA and FDA approved floor coatings, which are sanitary and hygienic. To be considered an FDA-approved floor coating, the solution must meet these requirements:
- A joint-free seamless finish
- Water-resistant
- Coved at all junctions
- Crack and erosion resistance durability standards
Along with the FDA, USDA-approved floor coatings are required to have a crack-free smooth finish. Bacteria, mold, and other contaminants can jeopardize food safety by proliferating in seams, exposed joints, worn grout lines, or gaps. Food factory floor coats must also have minimal odor to prevent contaminating products with off-putting smells or tastes.
There are a wide variety of FDA-approved floor coatings available, but two options stand out as the best solutions when choosing industrial food-grade flooring.
Urethane Food Processing Floor Coatings
Urethane coatings hold up to heavy foot traffic, are chemical and abrasion-resistant, and are non-toxic. This combination of durability and safety makes it the ideal solution for food and beverage facilities. Urethane coatings are growing in popularity in meat and poultry plants.
Additional benefits of urethane food processing floor coatings are that it is long lasting, slip resistant, and easy to clean. Because they provide a non-porous barrier, it ensures your floor will not absorb harmful bacteria.
Many food processing plants choose urethane coatings as their solution because they require minimal downtime. Most businesses experience less than one day of lost production time.
Epoxy Coatings
Another available FDA-approved floor coating is epoxy. This resinous coating is applied to concrete to create a non-porous, stain-resistant, and easy to maintain topcoat. Epoxy is a beneficial food processing floor coating that resists the wear and tear of daily foot traffic. If your flooring system is no longer level, epoxy coatings are an ideal solution to level them. If you have sloped floors for drainage, this is not a recommended treatment.
Epoxy flooring can be blended with different materials to address specific industrial food-grade flooring issues. Problematic acids and alkalis can be mitigated by using a high-solid epoxy. Epoxy food-safe flooring stands up to abrasive cleaning products and chemicals as well.
Maintaining Your Food-Safe Flooring
Even though both solutions recommended above are low-maintenance options, that should not be confused with no maintenance. Ongoing floor maintenance is necessary to extend the service life of your floor. Professionals can develop a service plan to keep food factory flooring clean, protected, and safe. Simple daily preventive maintenance by your staff will also play a vital role in preserving your food-safe flooring.
Ardor Solutions Specializes in Applying Food Processing Floor Coatings
With more than 80 years of experience in the industrial flooring business, the experts at Ardor Solutions have the knowledge and skills to handle all industrial food-grade flooring needs. Reach out today to schedule a needs assessment to determine the best solution for your food and beverage facility.
