PET Food Processing - March 2020 - 20

PLANT PROFILE

Top: All of Champion's
freeze-dried foods, treats
and palatants for its kibbles
are currently manufactured
in Auburn.
Bottom: The three-stage,
physical entry and exit
barrier between the fresh/
pre-cook zone and the rest
of the facility includes a
sock-only area.

To start, no street shoes are allowed in the plant.
Company-provided shoes stay at the plant for employees and guests are issued shoes when touring the facility.
Plus, separate work boots are provided for those entering
and exiting the fresh/pre-cook ingredient area. Physical
entry and exit barriers between zones require hand
washing and automated shoe sanitation. The addition
of a three-stage entrance and exit barrier between the
fresh/pre-cook zone and the rest of the facility was fashioned after sushi manufacturing facilities. An employee
entering the pre-cook zone is required to sit on a bench,
remove and store the company-issued plant shoes, swing
their legs over the bench, cross a sock-only room, select
their personal, company-provided, pre-cook-only boots,
carry them to another bench, swing their legs over the
bench and put the boots on, then wash their hands
with soap and water. When leaving the pre-cook zone,
employees follow these steps in reverse. This system

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prevents cross-contamination from shoes and was designed specifically as an extra precaution.
All of the air in the facility is filtered and pressurized
by zone to prevent potential contamination from traveling through the air to finished products. Additionally, if
an outside door is opened anywhere in the facility, air
will blow out, which helps keep insects and other contaminants from entering.
As part of managing air flow, the use of overhead
doors between areas and to the outside are coordinated.
For example, waste is collected in one central area and
only one door servicing that area from each section of
the building or to the outside is open at one time.
The pre-cook zone - or "fresh area," as it's referred
to - is a separate, stand-alone structure with thick, concrete walls and floors that help maintain a constant temperature. The HVAC systems are separate for this area
and an elevated walkway outside and above the pre-cook
zone allows access to the utility service area so electrical,
steam and water drops can be serviced externally without entering the pre-cook zone.
For tools and equipment within zones, color restricts
their use to specific areas. "All of our equipment that is
white and green is only used in post-cook processes. Red
is only used in pre-cook processes," Arnold explains.
"Everything is marked. We keep an entire tool set for
our maintenance crew in the fresh area because cross
contamination is really easy with your tools. Our forklifts are designated so the forklifts in fresh and pre-cook
never go into post-cook unless they go through sanitation procedures. All of our tools, our equipment and our
people, we all make sure that we don't provide an opportunity for cross-contamination."
The strict separation of zones combats crosscontamination as well. Not only is the DogStar kitchen

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PET Food Processing - March 2020

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