Compressed Air Microbial Detection

Compressed air is used in a broad range of applications in the food processing industry, such as mixing of ingredients, cutting, sparging, drying of product, transporting/propelling product through processing systems and packaging of final product.

In many of these applications, compressed air is in direct contact or indirect contact with food product. The impurities in the compressed air may contaminate the food product which can result in change of color and taste, reduced shelf life, in addition to exposure to bacteria and other micro-organisms, can result in product recalls. Compressed air is warm, dark and contains moisture which is the ideal environment to promote the production of microbes. These microbes migrate through the entire compressed air system and are released at exit points, critical areas that food, packaging or surface areas come in direct contact.

Recently, Safe Quality Foods (SQF) released a 7th edition amendment in sections 10.5.7 and 11.7.5 stating, compressed air used in the manufacturing process shall be clean and present no risk to food safety. Others have also identified compressed air as a source of contamination and risk to food safety.