This past spring, my daughter graduated from a college several states away. We had to move her belongings and car back to Ohio and, being dad, I decided to clean out her car before the long drive home. I opened the trunk only to be blasted by the smell of mold and mildew. Apparently, she had been tubing down a river and two deflated innertubes were left sitting in the trunk. As you can imagine, water had been trapped in the folds and a variety of “things” had been left to grow for several weeks in a warm, dark trunk.
The same situation could be occurring within your food plant with you being none the wiser. I have mentioned before that it is important to eliminate “sandwiches” in the plant. A sandwich being two flat surfaces mated together and not hermitically sealed. From the outside, the surfaces look clean but inside, moisture creates the perfect environment for unwanted microbes to grow completely invisible to the human eye.
One place that is very common for this situation to occur is the flange bearings used on the ends of conveyors. These flange bearings are most often stainless steel with rubber seals that do a pretty good job of keeping water out of the bearing but do not prevent water from getting between the bearing housing and the frame of the conveyor. This trapped water, when left alone, will become a breeding ground for microbes such as listeria and salmonella.
The good news is that there are now solutions to this issue. A few years ago, conveyor builders started to make spacers out of stainless steel that would create a gap between the bearing housing and the frame of the conveyor, allowing for easy access and cleaning capability. Recently, ABB Dodge has introduced their Food Safe line of bearings with stand–off housings. These housings have a built–in spacer that allows for a stand–off between the bearing housing and the conveyor frame. These bearings have the same bolt centers as the standard housings so they will fit on existing conveyors. The length–through–bore dimensions are larger so you will have to verify that your shafts are long enough for the extra width.
ABB’s Food Safe bearings are IP69 rated, meaning they will withstand the harshest washdown applications; a first for mounted bearings. Dodge is so confident in their product that they offer an unprecedented one-year guarantee against water ingress. Water will not get into the bearing and the grease will not get out – guaranteed.
Combining these bearings along with the blue homogenous belts from CBT partners such as Intralox and Volta, it has never been easier to have hygienically designed conveyor systems. We would love to collaborate on your next design project. Please reach out to your CBT professional to continue your journey to a hygienically designed food and beverage operation.
