Food production environments offer a shell of protection from a range of contamination sources. Applying zoning principles to a plant design is a method to control the environment. Through this zoning, plants can control traffic of people, materials, and air flow. Among other requirements, zoning dictates the fit and finish, level and method of cleaning, and required personal protection equipment (PPE) in each zone. Microbes, foreign matter, chemicals, or allergens can be abated by controlling the environment. Sensitive foods (i.e. easily spoiled) foods demand an elevated level of care to block against microbes. Microbes can include pathogens or spoilage organisms inherent to the food growing to an unsafe level.

“We, as human beings, take it for granted that our food is safe,” says Lone Jespersen, Ph.D., Principal and Founder of Cultivate SA. “We need to keep it that way.”