Sanitary Integration of Level Instrumentation in Not-From-Concentrate (NFC) Juice Storage Systems: A Retrospective Case Study and Perspectives for Application in the United States

This article presents, in the form of a case study, the development of a large-scale storage infrastructure for non--concentrated (NFC) orange juice, completed in November 2008.The text discusses a recurring challenge in this type of project: reconciling large storage volumes with the sanitary integrity of the product, a central issue for the ready-to-drink beverage industry.In particular, it describes a sanitary mounting solution designed to allow the installation of a radar level gauge without creating a potential contamination pathway at the point where the instrument passes through the tank's cover-an application that, to the best of our knowledge and according to the report from the technical lead on the project, was not common for NFC storage at the time.The article relates this experience to standards used in the United States for food-contact equipment, such as the 3-A Sanitary Standards, the EHEDG guideline for sensors, and the FDA's Good Manufacturing Practices regulation (21 CFR Part 117), and discusses the growth of the ready-to-drink market in North America as a factor that increases the relevance of this experience to the American context.It is concluded that treating the interface between the instrument and the product as part of the sanitary barrier-as was done in the solution described here-is in line with criteria that are now well established in this field, and that the same reasoning can be applied to other beverage and liquid food production chains.