Avoid Contamination With Antimicrobial Flooring Solutions

Food service production, processing, and packing rooms as well as medical and healthcare facilities must adhere to strict protocols to ensure there is no contamination. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA), a series of reforms designed to ensure the safety of US food supplies, details specific requirements for food processing and packaging facilities. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System (HACCP) helps identify key points where contamination could occur in a food production process, and should form the basis of any proactive food safety system.

One of the top sources for contamination in many food production and handling facilities is the floor surface. The floor of nearly any facility can quickly become a breeding ground for microbes, as it is walked on, has things spilled on it, and is the recipient of any airborne microbes that may settle to the floor in dust. Managing the level of contamination is a top priority in most health and food processing buildings.

The traditional way to cut down on contamination is to clean the floors regularly with an antibacterial and anti-microbial solution. However, this can only be done so many times per day as the floor in use cannot be constantly wet, and this makes it hard for facilities to remain fully compliant during all steps of the food handling process.

Protective concrete floor coatings with antimicrobial properties have been developed that provide an extra layer of defense against contamination, but this solution is also not foolproof. Concrete, by its very nature, is a porous material that retains and transmits moisture. Concrete slabs are full of dark, damp crevices and capillaries that make it an ideal breeding ground for a number of microbes, including bacteria, fungi and various molds and spores.

Over time, antimicrobial coatings crack thanks to wear, impact, repeated exposure to chemicals, or even settling of a foundation, and even the most determined swabbing cannot control microbe growth below the floor surface. Wear, chips spalls and cracks in your concrete substrate provide the perfect environment to support microbe growth. And because common cleaning techniques cannot penetrate deep into these areas, bacteria can live for extended periods within a concrete slab, posing potential health threats.

InhibiCrobe coating systems by Protective Industrial Polymers can be used to get ahead of the compliance curve, providing even more stringent control than is required in facilities where food is handled.

All InhibiCrobe systems utilize an antimicrobial concrete pretreatment (Protect AM-PT) that penetrates beneath the floor system and deep within the concrete slab. Protect AM-PT was developed for use where microbe or fungal growth concerns create the need to permanently hydrostatically deal the slab from within. This pretreatment product penetrates deep into the concrete slab and forms an aqueous, antimicrobial gel. Subsequent antimicrobial joint fillers, coatings and overlays then complete each system creating a total system thickness that penetrates up to six inches into the concrete slab. This greatly reduces the possibility of contamination from bacteria, mold, fungus or spores not only on the floor surface, but also deep into the underlying concrete substrate.

The result is a long lasting, durable floor system that will withstand thermal shock, chemical spills, impact, harsh cleaning solutions and heavy foot or wheeled traffic. Various combinations of materials may be used for different applications. These can range from light reflecting components, to aesthetic polymers embedded with quartz or vinyl chips.

Antimicrobial coatings are also available for use on vertical surfaces, to make facility walls contaminant free as well. The pre-treatment, primer, multiple layers of build coat and a high performance, antimicrobial polymer topcoat create a durable, contaminant resistant surface equal to that of the floor.

InhibiCrobe antimicrobial flooring and wall systems from Protective Industrial Polymers provide a level of contamination prevention that is unmatched by any other floor coating manufacturer. Facilities outfitted with these floor and wall protective systems easily exceed all regulated standards, and provide a long lasting solution to the problem of contamination.