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Register Now for Two Great Days of Learning and Networking! Get Registration Discount Now!
3-A SSI 2019 Education & Annual Meeting May 13-14, 2019
Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America 3800 American Blvd. East
Bloomington, MN 55425
Register now for this comprehensive learning and networking opportunity! Join leading authorities on virtually all aspects of hygienic equipment design from across the U.S. and around the world. Whether you are building your knowledge of hygienic equipment design fundamentals or looking for more specialized education, this event is for you!
Day 1: Monday, May 13, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
3-A SSI for Beginners and the Basics of Hygienic Design
This one-day introductory session is designed for industry newcomers and early career professionals, especially equipment manufacturers, regulatory authorities, processor operations or processor engineering groups. This program will provide a basic understanding of sanitary design/ manufacturing and the qualification of equipment for 3-A Symbol authorization. This will be an interactive program and leaders will offer a practical approach to sanitary design, sharing their experiences and examples of common designs and pitfalls. Presentation topics will include: Basics Concepts of Sanitary Design, General Standard Overview and 3-A Symbol Authorization, Materials of Construction, Surfaces and Finishes, Equipment Fabrication Elements, Equipment Inspection Methods and more.
Day 2: Tuesday, May 14, 2019, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Unseen Threats to Food Safety
Threats to food safety often reside in overlooked or unexpected places. Our 2019 education program, The Unseen Threats to Food Safety, will broaden your perspective on the challenges to achieving food safety through hygienic design, beginning with the economic justification for hygienic equipment design all the way through the operation and inspection of equipment and processing systems.
Some previews...
The Economic Benefits of Hygienic Design: A Holistic View
David Dixon, David C. Dixon, LLC
David Dixon earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from the Univ. of Kansas and began his career with Bayer, Ocean Spray and Nestle. His responsibilities included plant engineering, project management, operations, supply chain, process improvement, and product and package development. After 15 years, he shifted to project management and senior leadership at Epstein, McClier, Facility Group and Burns & McDonnell, where he emphasized consulting services that provided considerable benefit early in the capital implementation process. He served in roles from Business Unit leader to Exec Vice President, with progressive experience in Project Management, M&A consulting, technology transfer, site selection, new product and process development, regulatory compliance, with extensive international assignments in Europe, Africa, Asia and Brazil. He is a frequent speaker and trainer on Sanitary Design of Equipment and Facilities and was co-chair of the Sanitary Facility Design Task Force under NAMI (North American Meat Institute). He currently leads the Food and Beverage Unit at O’Neal, an integrated Design Build firm in Atlanta, GA.
Justifying capital investments for improved Sanitary Design requires a broad review of many factors including initial capital, long-term operating costs, line efficiencies, asset utilization, yields, impacts on other contributors to cost of goods sold. But stakeholders need to look beyond what can easily be measured. Safety, customer service levels, production scheduling, regulatory risk, brand protection risk, cost of QA holds and rework, recalls, support for sales, and other key business issues are strongly impacted by hygienic design of your process and facility. And most of those factors are not considered in a pay-back calculation. The presentation will review the simpler math of how additional capital investment drives down case cost. Methods for quantifying other benefits will be reviewed. Corporate cultural attributes that impede the recognition of a broader acceptance of the business benefits will be discussed.
And recommendations of how you can make a compelling justification for improved hygiene design will be provided.
Retail & Consumer Expectations for Hygienic Design
Gale Prince, SAGE Food safety, LLC
Gale Prince is a food safety pioneer with over 50 years of experience and is a valued leader in the food safety industry. Gale has an extensive range of understanding with whole as well as processed foods from farm to fork. Gale’s broad range of expertise extends well into historic as well as current regulatory compliance matters as he is focused on fulfilling consumer expectations. Gale spent most of his career as the Director of Regulatory Affairs for The Kroger Co. and retired in 2007. With 42 food processing plants and an expansive retail food operation, Kroger is well-known for being one of the most diversified food manufacturers in the United States. The vast geographical spread of Kroger’s operations gave Gale experience and knowledge of regulations in order to achieve compliance with Federal, State, and local regulations. Noted for his skills in problem solving and visionary approach with preventive food safety programs, Gale is driven by a philosophy of “Customer First” and his passion for food safety in meeting consumer expectations.
Food safety is a major factor in the consumer’s decision when making food purchases. The consumer places a high trust in food safety practices of the retailer as to where they shop. In 2018 the retailer’s efforts in food safety was ranked higher, by the consumer, than the efforts of FDA and USDA in protecting their food supply. This consumer research identifies the food manufacturing plant as the most likely source for food contamination. The biggest concern is for microbiological contamination of a food during the production process. When a food safety issue surfaces the social media can have a drastic negative impact upon consumer trust with a brand and also purchase decisions. Therefore, the importance of sanitary design of food processing equipment is a key step in preventing food safety issues.
This exciting full day program will showcase other leading experts and timely topics:
The Unseen Threats to Food Safety: Panel Perspectives
Panel Perspectives, Regulatory Sanitarians, Processors, Equipment Fabricators
How do some of the leading authorities in building, using and inspecting hygienic processing systems view the challenges to improving hygienic design?
UV Disinfection of Packaging Materials
Hank Black, Honle UV America, Inc
Understand the role and benefits of Ultraviolet (UV) Irradiation for disinfection using short-wavelength UVC to kill micro-organisms on cups, caps, lids, flexible packaging and other products, mechanics and results.
Modernizing Food Manufacturing Reporting
Tim Barthel, Cybertrol Engineering
Modernized reporting for cleaning operations is critical to making sure a plant stays compliant with state regulations. Validation of this cleaning process is just as important. This presentation will show compliant CIP and other food safety-related reporting that is approved by state inspectors plus will show what steps and controls need to be followed to be 21 CFR Part 11 compliant.
Troubleshooting A CIP System
Gabe Miller, Pi-FS,LLC
This presentation will explore the frequently overlooked problems that occur in CIP systems, and the corrective actions designed to strengthen your Preventive Controls program required under the FSMA. Issues include cleaning problems, hydraulic problems, chemical dispensing, and operational issues.
Block Chain: Enhancing Food Traceability
Craig Nelson, Food Automate
Blockchain technology is being used or considered for tracking everything from BitCoin to refugees. Using Blockchain for food, dairy, and beverage traceability is gaining attention and momentum. Learn what Blockchain is, how it could impact the food and dairy industry. Blockchain has great potential in our industry but will require some understanding and functionality to be effective. Learn more about this technology and understand what will be needed to implement it in your process.
Counterfeit Parts: What Are You Not Getting?
Bart Fisher, Law Office of Bart S. Fisher
The wanton infringement of 3-A Symbol authorization poses a huge threat to the hygienic design integrity. Buyer Beware! How can you assure you are getting the equipment you can trust?
Register for one day only or participate in both days at a discount; includes a special networking reception Tuesday. Go to the 3-A Events Page and take advantage of the ‘Early Bird’ registration rate today!
Registration is required for all events, including the no-fee 3-A SSI Annual Meeting and Work Group events on Wednesday, May 15 and Thursday, May 16.
Increase Your Visibility With A Sponsored Link!
You can still sign up for your Sponsored Link for 2019 to increase your company’s recognition and take advantage of direct $$$ benefits for the upcoming Annual Meeting & Education program, but don’t wait! Sponsorship provides a great opportunity to show support for the education mission of 3-A SSI throughout the year. As a sponsor, your company will receive a rotating Sponsored Link placed prominently on the 3-A SSI website. And you will receive up to three complimentary registrations for the 3-A SSI Annual Meeting and Education program in May. For sponsorship details, see http://www.3- a.org/Get-a-Sponsored-Link or contact Michael Drumm at mdrumm@3-a.org or 703-790-0295 Ext. 103 today.
Inside 3-A SSI
Visit Us at ProFood Tech
Thanks to the International Dairy Foods Association and other organizers, 3-A SSI will be exhibiting at ProFood Tech, March 26-28, 2019 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. Be sure to visit booth # 1407 in the Dairy Pavilion to say hello and get the latest on 3-A SSI education resources, the 3-A Symbol and voluntary certificates, standards activities, and more.
3-A SSI Announces Development of New Standard for Rotary Airlock Valves
3-A SSI invites participation in a Working Group to draft a new 3-A Sanitary Standard for rotary airlock valves. Formation of the new Conveyors & Feeders Working Group follows approval by the 3-A SSI Steering Committee to initiate the new project based on requests from manufacturers of rotary airlock valves. The proposed new standard will apply to the sanitary aspects of rotary airlock valves used to feed product at a controlled rate and/or feed product across a pressure differential while acting as an airlock. Rotary airlock valves are rotating devices used to dispense products with solids or particulates from vessels that isolate the vessel from the equipment the product is discharged into. Any integral tubing and fittings used for feeding product from the rotary valve into a pneumatic convey system, or venting air from the rotary valve, included with the rotary valve from the manufacture shall be included within the scope of this standard. Food and beverage suppliers outside the dairy industry should be particularly interested in participating as many of them handle powders that are transferred by vacuum through rotary airlock valves.
Other processors include but are not limited to Produce, confectionery, dry goods, grains.
Participation on 3-A SSI Working Groups is open to all persons who are directly and materially affected by the development of this new proposed standard. A current copy of all Working Group rosters may be found by visiting the Working Group webpage: http://3-a.org/Standards-Committees/Working-Groups including project status, Procedures, Working Group Sign-Up Form and more.
2019 Student Travel Award Applications Due March 28
3-A SSI invites applications for the 2019 Student Travel Award, which is intended to help motivated, career-oriented students to participate in the annual education program of 3-A SSI and gain valuable insights on hygienic equipment design. The program enables dedicated students with a record of achievement to gain comprehensive first-hand knowledge about hygienic design for food processing equipment and systems. The expanded 3-A SSI 2019 education program, ‘Understanding the Unseen Threats to Food Safety’, and related events will be held May 13-16, 2019 at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America in Bloomington, MN.
Candidates for the 2019 awards must be enrolled full-time in a food technology, food science, dairy science or other closely related program (undergraduate or graduate level) at a college or university.
