Cargill Meats Europe meets hygiene requirement

"In just a few months, our equipment replacement rate dropped - amounting to a saving of around 15% over the year. Our staff are confident with the performance of the Vikan equipment and are happy using the easy-to-clean Vikan tools. The tools are always in their right place thanks to the colour coding, and cleaning is so effective that the premises must be cleaner."
Ted Hodnett, Hygiene and Services Manager for Cargill Meats Europe.

About Cargill Meats Europe

Cargill Meats Europe (formerly trading as Sun Valley Foods) is a leading supplier of poultry products to retail, food service and food manufacturing customers in both European and global markets. Employing 2150 employees in the UK, Ireland, France and the Netherlands, the company's UK production facilities are in Hereford, Wolverhampton and Newent. As well as producing own-brand and customer-branded products, Cargill Meats Europe is a longstanding supplier to a leading quick-service restaurant business operating across Europe.

Challenge

As one of the largest importers of chicken products, Cargill Meats Europe places high importance on managing traceability, quality and risk in the supply chain, and delivering to the technical needs of their customers.
At their production facilities, Cargill Meats Europe has traditionally opted for metal cleaning tools and equipment on the basis that metal is easier to detect in food than plastic. However, metal tools are considered to have a number of disadvantages; the equipment dents and deteriorates, becomes unsightly, and is eventually discarded because it no longer looks hygienic.

Cargill Meats Europe required a solid design and fabrication that would meet stringent hygiene requirements and ensure customer safety; was reliable and effective; and would help the team to deliver better standards of hygienic cleaning. The criteria they set in 2000 was for a superior colour-coded product at a reasonable cost, as this would enable them to monitor usage. All equipment was to be fully moulded to guarantee easy cleaning, durable and capable of maintaining a long-lasting attractive appearance.

Solution

Vikan was confident that their range of quality, ergonomically designed tools matched Cargill Meats Europe's exacting requirements. Cargill Meats Europe's Hygiene and Services Manager worked with Vikan and Clearview (the local distributor) to set up a 6-month evaluation trial on a 'like for like' basis. Visual presentations of the Vikan range were made to both management and the on-site self-cleaning and hygiene teams to ensure full operator acceptance of the new easy-to-use, lightweight system prior to its introduction.
Like all of Vikan's food-industry specific 'high hygiene' equipment, the tools are made of FDA-approved materials and can be washed at high temperatures to eliminate germs and bacteria. The tools chosen for the Cargill Meats Europe trial included squeegees, brooms, food grade buckets, shovels and brushes, scoops and churns in three of Vikan's seven colour-code options. Blue was assigned to the coated business unit, green to their meat packing lines, and red for use in the high-risk areas.

The trial proved a complete success with high levels of staff acceptance. Equipment replacement rates showed a swift drop while Vikan's smooth fully moulded components proved easy to clean and quick drying, making them resistant to bacterial growth.