Why should food factories pay attention to the gas point of compressed air?
In food production, compressed air directly or indirectly contacts products, packaging materials and process surfaces, and its cleanliness directly affects the safety and compliance of final products. GMP standard clearly requires that compressed air used for purging, conveying, mixing, filling and other links must meet the clean level and avoid pollution of microorganisms, oil, moisture and particulate matter.
Core requirements of GMP for clean compressed air
according to current GMP specifications, food-grade compressed air should meet the following basic indicators:
- microbial content ≤ 1 CFU/ m³ (Aseptic process area requirements are stricter)
- total oil content ≤ 0.01 mg/ m³ (Oil Mist and gaseous oil)
- particle size ≤ 0.3 μm, concentration ≤ 2000/ m³
- dew point temperature ≤ -40℃ (Pressure dew point) to prevent condensation from breeding microorganisms
key elements of gas point design
the gas point is the core of the terminal control of the compressed air system, and the design needs to take into account the function, verification and maintainability:
- accurate Location: close to the actual working station to reduce the length and pressure drop of branch pipe;
- terminal filtering: Configure 0.01 μm sterilization filter according to process risk classification;
- monitoring Interface: Reserve pressure, dew point, oil content and microbial sampling port;
- material compliance: the contact surface is made of 316L stainless steel, and the inner surface is Ra ≤ 0.8 μm, passivation treatment.
Special considerations in aseptic process
in aseptic filling, freeze-drying, Isolator operations, compressed air must be supplied through an independent purification system, and regular microbial challenge tests and integrity tests must be performed. All gas points should be included in the cleaning and disinfection procedures to ensure that they match the environmental level and prevent cross-contamination paths.