Approved for use in food production

When a piece of equipment comes into contact with your product, the choice of materials becomes part of your food safety documentation. The equipment therefore also represents a risk if it cannot be documented. If you choose equipment where the materials are not certified and traceable, it may put your existing certification at risk or jeopardize your next audit. This applies whether you are working towards a new certification or want to reduce your chemical footprint for ESG reporting. NATDIS documents its materials with certificates and full traceability. This gives you the documentation your audit requires.

Our UVC equipment is built for food production environments using food-grade stainless steel and protective coating. This ensures that your product is never contaminated through contact with the equipment. The coating also means that if an accident occurs and a lamp breaks, the coating contains the glass fragments, so no foreign objects end up in your product.

What "approved for food contact" means Natdis materials What does this mean for you? Chemical-free disinfection An industry in development FAQ

What “approved for food contact” actually means

Food contact materials (FCM) cover materials and objects that come into contact with what you produce. This applies whether they:

  1. are intended to be brought into contact with food
  2. are already in contact with food and were intended for that purpose
  3. can reasonably be expected to be brought into contact with food or to transfer their constituents to food under normal or foreseeable conditions of use.

This is stated in Regulation (EC) No. 1935/2004, which is the overarching EU framework in this area.
In short, the regulation requires that materials must not release substances that could endanger human health, change the composition of the food, or impair its taste and smell.

The materials behind NATDIS equipment

All NATDIS equipment for use in food zones is built around two material choices:

  • Stainless steel 316: The industry standard for food and pharmaceutical production, selected for corrosion resistance and easy cleaning
  • FCM-certified FEP-coating: Used as protective shatter containment on the quartz glass around the UVC lamp, ensuring that any glass fragments cannot reach the product or the surrounding area if the lamp breaks

This combination makes it possible to offer customized solutions for liquids, air, and surfaces without compromising your food safety.

What does this mean for you?

For your quality department, it means one less open question at the next certification or audit. The materials are documented and traceable and can stand during an audit — the documentation can be inserted directly into your own quality document.

For the production floor, it means that the equipment can be placed exactly where it provides the greatest benefit: by the conveyor belt, inside the hygiene sluice, or above the open line. Because the materials are approved for food contact, the equipment never becomes a contamination risk for your product.

Chemical-free disinfection

When chemicals are removed from the disinfection process, it is not only an operational advantage; it is a measurable contribution to your ESG reporting. NATDIS’ UVC technology eliminates the need for chemical disinfectants, and this can be documented in figures.

In collaboration with SEMI-STAAL, we developed a tunnel-based washing system where steam and chemicals were replaced with UVC. The energy and CO₂ figures were calculated by NATDIS and SEMI-STAAL:

  • 61% lower energy consumption per treated unit (4.40 kWh with UVC compared with 11.2 kWh with steam and chemicals)
  • 62% lower CO₂ emissions per unit (0.88 kg CO₂ with UVC compared with 2.31 kg CO₂ with steam and chemicals)
  • 0 kg chemical disinfectant and therefore no chemical residue, no chemical waste, and no handling risk for employees
  • The same documented hygiene level, verified by a 99.99% reduction of relevant microorganisms

The case was carried out in a hospital environment, but the mechanism behind the savings is the same: replacing steam and chemicals with UVC. With NATDIS’ food-approved equipment, the same replacement can be implemented in food production.

For your ESG reporting, this means chemical consumption that can be set to zero for the relevant process step: documented, traceable, and ready to be included directly in your own reporting.
This documentation is supported by data: Our UVC systems have built-in electronic controls with timer functionality that automatically logs each disinfection cycle. Where chemical dosing typically requires manual registration, UVC logging takes place without manual steps. This means that data on operating time, cycles, and lamp status can be extracted directly from the system and included in both your quality documentation and your ESG reporting.

Read the full case with SEMI STAAL here.

 

An industry in development

UVC solutions help the industry raise its hygiene standards, and you can read a selection of cases here:

See our full quality and environmental documentation: ISO 9001 & ISO 14001

See also our latest food inspection result: The Smiley scheme and food inspection for B2B:

Food Inspection Ratings and Compliance for B2B Companies

Frequently asked questions

What does “approved for food contact” mean for UVC equipment?

It means that the materials in contact with your product meet the requirements for food contact materials, so they cannot release harmful substances into the product and can be documented in your own quality documentation

Yes, when it is built from food-approved materials, as NATDIS equipment for food zones is. UVC light does not remain in or on food after treatment. The light inactivates microorganisms during exposure and leaves no residue. Read more about how UVC light works here.

UVC equipment supplements your existing hygiene routines with a disinfection step that leaves no chemical residues and can be documented just as systematically as the rest of your processes. Where UVC replaces chemicals, chemical storage, dosing, manual registration, and the associated sources of error are eliminated. What remains is automated data that can supplement your existing documentation

When the UVC solution reduces or eliminates chemical disinfectants, the amount of hazardous waste also decreases, as does the need for chemical transport and storage. This is typically relevant to your ESG and sustainability reporting.