Between the sticky pastry dough used to make pie crust to the fillings being deposited, pie production can be messy. As bakers look to make their production lines more versatile, sanitation between runs to clean out the depositing heads is important. While modular equipment can delay the sanitation cycle, cleanup still needs to be done and done well. Many of the components that make equipment easy to changeover also go hand-in-hand with making them simple to clean.

“Handtmann hygienic design allows for quick changeovers and sanitation between different fillings or between production runs containing allergens,” said Cesar Zelaya, bakery sales and technology manager, Handtmann.

The same tool-less design that makes it fast to change depositing heads makes it easy to clean these pieces of equipment. For Unifiller, that means designing the equipment with an eye toward ensuring all food-contact parts can be quickly disassembled.

“Every single component that needs to be sanitized can be taken apart in a matter of minutes without the need for tools or any kind of specialized training,” explained Mauricio Nahum, international applications manager, Unifiller Systems. “Making it easier for sanitation crews to clean and inspect all of the components is the best way to ensure the job is done correctly.”

Colborne Foodbotics has simplified the design of its machines by reducing the number of mechanical components needed to be cleaned in the first place. In addition, all of the company’s pie lines have an IP-67 washdown rating. This rating — which stands for Ingress Protection Code — designates that Colborne Foodbotics’ equipment is dust-tight and protected against the effects of immersion.

This article is an excerpt from the December 2020 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on pie processing, click here.