With a growing number of people being diagnosed with a gluten intolerance or gluten allergy (Coeliac Disease) each year, it is vital for food producers to ensure that their gluten-free products are genuinely gluten-free.
The key to ensuring customer confidence in your gluten-free products is gluten-free certification – and to achieve this you must pass certain requirements and meet various food hygiene standards.
Gluten-free Certification And Customer Confidence
The AOECS Standard for Gluten-free Foods UK Food Certification is underwritten by Coeliac UK and the Coeliac Society of Ireland as the gold standard for gluten-free food production in the UK and ROI. Certification entitles a business to display the Crossed Grain logo that signifies that their products meet demanding technical requirements for gluten-free food.
Failure to guarantee the gluten-free credentials of your products could cause serious health complications for customers and be extremely detrimental to your business reputation, and on the flipside to this, a gluten-free certification could increase consumer trust in your products and encourage customer loyalty.
Four out of five people say they look for gluten-free certification when visiting a gluten-free restaurant or buying gluten-free products, reflecting how important this is for food businesses to get certified. Furthermore, when customers find a gluten-free food business or brand that they trust, they are more likely to revisit or buy the products again regularly.
Why Flooring Matters
The reason that we are discussing this issue on a resin flooring blog is that several of our customers have implemented a polyurethane screed flooring system to assist with their gluten-free certification process.
The flooring used in food production areas is one of the many factors that contribute to successful certification. Polyurethane screed is a popular choice for businesses seeking gluten-free certification as it is straightforward to clean, making it easier to comply with the strict hygiene and safety standards required.
Benefits Of Polyurethane Screed For Food Production Areas:
Hygiene standards: maintaining the highest hygiene standards is essential when producing gluten-free foods and beverages. Polyurethane screed is fast and easy to clean, reducing the risk of cross contamination from gluten-containing products, and sustaining a sterile and bacteria-free environment. This smooth and seamless flooring surface is resistant to jet washing and cleaning chemicals, allowing regular daily cleaning and disinfecting without risking damage to the floor. Unlike a traditional polished concrete floor, moreover, polyurethane screed is nonporous, so there is no risk of bacteria or gluten -containing products seeping into minute cracks in the surface and putting your customers at risk.
High temperature resistance: in food production areas, ovens and food processing plant put out high temperatures that require durable flooring to withstand the heat. Polyurethane screed, with its high temperature resistance, can handle the high temperatures produced by ovens and other machinery without warping, cracking, or degrading.
Save money on maintenance: Add to this the natural resistance of polyurethane screed to impacts, chemical spills, and heavy foot traffic, and you have a highly durable and cost-effective flooring option for any food production enterprise. Investing in a polyurethane screed floor for your production area will, therefore, not only aid you in achieving gluten-free certification, but also help reduce your maintenance costs long term.
Improved efficiency and productivity: gluten-free products can be expensive and time consuming to produce, so implementing a polyurethane screed flooring is one way of increasing efficiency and productivity in your facility. Why? Because when the floor is hygienic and easy to clean, employees can focus more of their time on the production cycle and not on maintaining the flooring, increasing your throughput and profitability. The ease of cleaning also helps reduce downtime between shifts, as there is no need for longer cleaning breaks slowing down production.
Make An Enquiry
To find out more about our food-grade polyurethane screed flooring systems and how it can help you achieve gluten-free certification, please click here to make an enquiry.
