Pressure measurement in food processing is a complicated task. Any instrument must comply with international standards that guarantee that the final product is free of contamination.

Therefore, the use of analog or digital pressure gauges must comply with a correct specification.

These are some of the standards required in the food and beverage industry:

• FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
• EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group).
• 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc.
• ATEX (directive 94/9/EC).

In the food industry, in piping systems, equipment and/or accessories through which raw materials, inputs, by-products or final product circulate, they must be made of special materials such as SS 304/316/304L/316L, they must be easily dismountable and facilitate their daily cleaning or when a batch is produced. In this order of ideas, pressure gauges must comply with:

• The instrument case must be in 316 or 316L stainless steel.
• The sensing element, in contact with the product, should not be a bourdon, capsule or spiral. This is due to the fact that these types of sensors do not allow a perfect washing and can harbor, due to their geometry, dirty areas ideal for the formation of bacteria. The most advisable is the use of diaphragm membranes or seals connected directly to the manometer; this assembly must be filled with a non-contaminating product that in case of seal failure does not contaminate the product being measured.
• Separator systems are optimal for protecting the instrument against aggressive, adhesive, crystallizing, viscous corrosive, contaminating or toxic media.
• The seals can be connected directly to the instrument or use a capillary to move the instrument away from the measuring point and facilitate reading.
• Regarding the type of connection of the instrument to the process, there are several possibilities, the tri clamp® or SMS thread. NPT or BSP connections are not suitable for the food industry.
• The instrument, as long as it complies with the above recommendations, can be an analog pressure gauge, transmitter or smart transmitter.

Flexilatina has extensive experience in the correct supply of instruments for pressure measurement in the food industry. With our multi-brand representation, our stock is composed of Wika, Winters and Noshok instruments.