More than two dozen baking professionals attended a presentation and lab demonstration on Sept. 30 at Spraying Systems Co. in Wheaton, IL. Billed as a precision coating and cleaning workshop, the half-day session focused on spray technology solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing bakeries today: food safety concerns; cost tracking and containment; meeting strict new cleanliness requirements; and environmental responsibility and sustainability.

Tim Oberg, Spraying Systems Co.’s director of food and beverage markets, opened the workshop with a brief overview of how spray technology is helping bakeries address key issues of food safety and production efficiency. Focusing on the prevention aspects of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Oberg explained the role precision spray control can play in ensuring accurate and precise application of almost any ingredient, including mold inhibitors. He also provided examples of the benefits of using automatic tank cleaning nozzles and systems, such as the ability to create a repeatable process and record quantitative cleaning performance data.

Josh DeVoll, Spraying Systems Co.’s director of market solutions, discussed employee health and safety issues that spray technology addresses. DeVoll showed how eliminating excessive overspray—a problem shared by virtually all in attendance—provides a cleaner bakery environment as well as better air quality, in addition to reducing material waste. Particularly through automating spray control, cleaning requirements can be dramatically reduced, he said, eliminating the need for dedicated cleaning staff and shortening the return-on-investment period.

DeVoll also explained how using advanced spray technology is helping bakeries optimize the sustainability of their operations by focusing on consumables, enabling better control of how much goes on or in each product and limiting what goes down the drain. Here again, more precise application of materials like pan release can reduce levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and fats, oils and grease (FOG) in the wastewater and yield bottom-line benefits by reducing wastewater treatment surcharges.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the group reconvened in the company’s lab for live demonstrations of systems and components.

The How to Be a Better Bakery Precision Coating and Cleaning Workshop will be repeated Oct. 21 at Spraying Systems Co.’s Bessemer, AL, facility. More information is available at www.spray.com.