Sanitation Standards in Pet Food Packaging Equipment

Pet food packaging equipment must be designed and constructed to support the cleaning, sanitizing, and contamination-prevention requirements of your facility’s food safety plan, as required under the FDA’s Preventive Controls for Animal Food rule (21 CFR Part 507) and, for many operations, additional third-party audit standards.

This guide covers what those requirements mean in practical equipment terms, how to evaluate machine designs for sanitation compliance, and the specific questions every operations and engineering team should ask before purchasing packaging equipment for a pet food application.

Why Sanitation Design Matters in Pet Food Packaging

Pet food recalls and contamination events — including Salmonella outbreaks, foreign material contamination, and mold growth — have driven regulators, retailers, and consumers to demand more rigorous food safety practices in pet food manufacturing. Packaging equipment sits at the end of the production line, and a machine that carries product residue, provides an environment for pathogenic organisms, or introduces foreign material is a significant food safety liability.

Hygienic equipment design isn’t just a compliance checkbox; it’s a key specification that determines whether your line can be effectively cleaned, whether you can pass a third-party food safety audit, and whether you’re managing the risk of a recall.

FSMA & the Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule

The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) applies to pet food manufacturers through the Preventive Controls for Animal Food rule, codified at 21 CFR Part 507. The rule requires facilities to:

• Conduct a hazard analysis identifying biological, chemical, and physical hazards
• Implement preventive controls for identified hazards — including controls at packaging equipment
• Establish sanitation controls and monitoring procedures
• Maintain records of cleaning and sanitizing activities

For packaging equipment specifically, FSMA’s sanitation requirements mean that machines must be constructed and designed in a way that supports your cleaning and sanitizing protocols, including the ability to reach, clean, and inspect all product-contact surfaces.

FSMA doesn’t specify exact material grades or IP ratings for every piece of equipment, but it does require that your sanitation controls be effective. A machine that can’t be adequately cleaned is a machine that puts your product (and reputation) at risk.

Hygienic Design Standards: What They Require

Several industry bodies publish hygienic design standards applicable to pet food packaging equipment. The most relevant include:

PMMI (Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies): PMMI publishes hygienic design guidelines for packaging machinery. While not regulatory requirements, these guidelines are increasingly referenced in third-party audits and customer specifications.

3-A Sanitary Standards: These standards are primarily applied to dairy and beverage equipment, but the underlying design principles (open drainage, cleanability, material standards) are referenced across food manufacturing.

EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group): This is a European standard referenced in international food safety requirements; increasingly relevant for pet food manufacturers selling into global markets.

In practical terms, these standards translate to the following equipment design requirements.

Key Sanitation Specifications to Evaluate

Stainless Steel Construction

Product-contact surfaces must be constructed from food-grade stainless steel. The standard grades are:

• 304 stainless steel: The standard grade for most food applications; corrosion-resistant in typical food manufacturing environments
• 316 stainless steel: Features higher corrosion resistance; specified for chloride environments (common with sanitizers) or high-moisture applications

What to verify: Ask specifically what grade of stainless steel is used on product-contact surfaces, the frame, and splash zones. “Stainless construction” in marketing materials can mean only the frame is stainless, with carbon steel or lower-grade materials in other areas.

Viking Masek premade pouch machines are built with stainless construction standard. Confirm specific grades for your application with the applications team.

IP Ratings for Electrical Enclosures

IP (Ingress Protection) ratings describe how well an electrical enclosure protects against solid particles and liquids. For food manufacturing environments, the relevant ratings are:

• IP54: Basic splash protection — appropriate only for dry-environment, dry-cleaning operations
• IP65: Full dust-tight, protected against water jets from any direction — the minimum standard for most food manufacturing wash-down environments
• IP66/IP67: Higher protection for more aggressive wash-down or wet environments; specified for raw, high-moisture, or direct wash-down zones

What to verify: Request the IP rating of all electrical enclosures on the machine, not just the main control cabinet. Junction boxes, proximity sensors, and actuators in product zones must also be rated appropriately for your environment.

Bearing & Lubrication Specifications

Product-contamination risk from lubricants is a significant food safety hazard. Hygienic machine design addresses this through:

• Sealed bearings in product zones, eliminating the need for manual lubrication in areas where lubricant could contact product
• Food-grade lubricants (H1-rated) where lubrication is required in or near product zones — H1-rated lubricants are FDA-compliant for incidental food contact
• Lubrication-free product-contact zones is the preferred design for high-care environments

What to verify: Ask specifically about bearing specifications in all product-contact zones. Request documentation of lubricant types and H1 ratings where applicable.

Drainage & Self-Draining Surfaces

Standing liquid is a harborage risk (the potential for bacteria, pathogens, or other contaminants to find a place to hide, accumulate, and grow on or inside equipment). Hygienic machine design requires:

• Sloped or self-draining horizontal surfaces that prevent liquid pooling
• No hollow sections or enclosed cavities in product zones where liquid or product could accumulate
• Open-frame construction in product areas to allow visual inspection and cleaning reach

What to verify: Ask the vendor to walk through the machine's drainage design. Request photos or drawings of product zones from the side and below.

Cleanability & Disassembly

A machine that can be reached, cleaned, and inspected without specialized tools or significant effort will actually get cleaned consistently. Evaluate:

• Tool-free or minimal-tool disassembly of product-contact components
• No dead-ends, threads, or crevices in product-contact areas where product or cleaning solution can accumulate
• Surface finish: Electropolished or Ra ≤ 0.8 μm on product-contact surfaces resists biofilm formation

What to verify: Ask the vendor to demonstrate how the fill head, pouch-opening components, and sealing jaws are cleaned and disassembled

Wash-Down: Dry Clean vs. Wet Wash-Down

Not all pet food environments require the same cleaning protocol. Sanitation requirements vary significantly by product type:

Confirm your product category and your facility's existing cleaning protocols before specifying machine wash-down ratings.

Third-Party Audit Standards

Beyond FDA FSMA compliance, pet food manufacturers selling to major retailers increasingly face third-party food safety audit requirements. Common standards include:

SQF (Safe Quality Food): A GFSI-benchmarked standard covering food safety and quality. SQF audits evaluate equipment design and cleaning validation.

BRC (British Retail Consortium) Food Safety Standard: Widely required by European retailers and increasingly by U.S. retail buyers. Covers hygienic design, equipment maintenance, and cleaning procedures.

PrimusGFS / Primus Labs: Common in produce-adjacent applications, including fresh pet food.

Equipment selection decisions should be made with your target audit standard in mind. Ask potential machine vendors whether their equipment has been installed in facilities that have passed your target audit standard — and ask for references.

Questions to Ask Any Pet Food Packaging Equipment Vendor

Use these questions during vendor evaluation to assess sanitation design:

1. What IP rating are the electrical enclosures, including junction boxes and sensors in product zones?
2. What grade of stainless steel is used on product-contact surfaces? On the frame? On splash-zone components?
3. Are bearings in product zones sealed and lubrication-free? If lubricants are used, are they H1-rated?
4. How are product-contact components (fill head, gripper system, sealing jaws) disassembled for cleaning? Are tools required?
5. What is the surface finish specification on product-contact surfaces?
6. Does the machine design comply with PMMI Hygienic Design Guidelines or equivalent?
7. Can you provide references from pet food customers who have passed SQF, BRC, or equivalent audits with this equipment?
8. What cleaning validation testing has been performed on this machine or this model family?

Any vendor who can’t answer these questions specifically, or who falls back on generic ‘food-safe’ language, is one whose sanitation design you should verify before signing anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

What FSMA rules apply to pet food packaging equipment?

The primary applicable rule is the Preventive Controls for Animal Food regulation at 21 CFR Part 507. This rule requires a written food safety plan, hazard analysis, and preventive controls — including sanitation controls for equipment. Packaging machines must be designed to support effective cleaning and sanitation of product-contact surfaces.

What IP rating do I need for pet food packaging equipment?

For dry pet food environments using dry cleaning only, IP54 is a minimum baseline. For any wet wash-down environment — including high-moisture treats, meat-based products, or raw — IP65 is the minimum. More aggressive wet environments should specify IP66 or IP67. Always confirm the IP rating applies to the entire machine, not just the main control panel.

What’s the difference between 304 and 316 stainless steel for food equipment?

304 stainless steel is the standard grade for food manufacturing applications and is appropriate for most pet food packaging environments. 316 stainless steel adds molybdenum, which increases resistance to chloride corrosion (this is relevant when sanitizing agents containing chlorine are used frequently or when the product itself has high chloride content). For high-moisture or aggressive sanitizer environments, 316 is often the better specification.

Do I need to clean packaging equipment between every production run?

Cleaning frequency depends on your HACCP plan and the product types you run. Single-product, dry-environment lines may require less frequent cleaning than multi-product, high-moisture lines. Your food safety plan — and your third-party auditor — will establish the required cleaning frequency. Equipment that’s difficult to clean will make that frequency harder to maintain.

What is hygienic design in packaging equipment?

Hygienic design refers to engineering principles that make equipment easier to clean, inspect, and sanitize, and less likely to harbor pathogens or contaminate products. Key characteristics include: food-grade stainless construction, self-draining surfaces, sealed bearings, no dead-ends or crevices in product zones, tool-free disassembly of product-contact components, and electropolished surface finishes. PMMI and EHEDG publish design guidelines that codify these principles.

How do I verify a packaging equipment vendor’s food safety claims?

Ask for: customer references from pet food facilities that have passed SQF, BRC, or FSMA inspections with the equipment; documentation of IP ratings for all enclosures; specifications for stainless grades and surface finishes; and a cleaning validation protocol or study if available. Site visits to reference accounts are the most reliable verification.

Read the Complete Guide to Pet Food Packaging Automation