How Custom Die Cut Gaskets Can Improve Your Food and Beverage Operations
When you are running an operation processing foods or beverages for human consumption, adherence to regulation, cleanliness, and purity standards is an absolute must. A food and beverage operation needs to do everything they can to prevent contamination.
It’s easy to account for obvious vectors of contamination, such as unclean floors or workers. However, sometimes the smallest of sources can be a risk – such as the gaskets in your processing system. If they aren’t up to the task, contaminants can easily make their way into the system in a way which can be extremely hard to backtrack.
Ordering custom die cut gaskets can be the perfect way to prevent this! When you work with a reputable custom gasket company, they can ensure your gaskets are entirely safe in numerous ways:
1. Picking the right materials
Different materials used in gaskets will degrade when exposed to different substances and have to be carefully selected to avoid mishap. Plain rubber, for example, will tend to degrade when in the presence of acidic liquids such as vinegar or many sodas. An operation experienced in crafting custom die cut gaskets can assure the gasket materials can stand up to expected use.
2. Demonstrably meet regulations
Certain materials are approved for use in food and beverage processing; others aren’t. A custom gasket company can also guarantee – with documentation – that every material utilized is 100% in compliance with FDA regulations.
3. Guaranteed quality
When constructing equipment, it’s easy to look for areas to cut corners – such as buying cheap off-the-shelf gaskets. The issue is, you often have no way of knowing where those gaskets were made, or what sort of QC processes were implemented. Working directly with an experienced custom shop means you will have no doubt about the quality of the products you’re using.
4. Maintaining older equipment? Custom gaskets are the answer.
Food and beverage processing equipment can theoretically run for decades… but that doesn’t mean their original manufacturers are still around to support them. Or, official replacement parts may turn out to be prohibitively expensive. Custom die cut gaskets can be used to replicate any OEM part, while maintaining the regulated quality requirements.
Expert Gasket & Seal has decades of experience creating custom gaskets, and our sealing experts can help you overcome any challenge. For direct assistance, please contact us for a consultation.