Food factories are a sector with higher technical requirements and standards compared to many other industries, demanding strict control of hygiene, environmental conditions, and safety right from the design stage.
Layout planning and cross-contamination control
The core requirement in designing a food factory is to control cross-contamination between areas handling raw materials, in-process products, and finished goods. Therefore, the factory layout must strictly follow a one-way flow principle, avoiding intersections between cleanroom zones and general areas. This principle both reduces contamination risks and optimizes the movement time of materials and products.
For example, a standard food factory layout separates the areas for raw material intake, semi-clean zones, and cleanrooms.
Zones such as material reception, pre-processing, processing, packaging, and finished goods storage must be clearly separated. In addition to products, people are also a major source of cross-contamination risk. Thus, facilities such as changing rooms, hand-washing stations, disinfection points, and personal hygiene areas must be adequately arranged to match the production flow, minimizing intersection among personnel, materials, and products. In factories producing multiple product lines with different hygiene requirements, zoning must be refined down to specific cleanliness levels, accompanied by control solutions for pathways, doors, room pressure, and internal movement protocols. Poor initial design poses significant food safety risks and is extremely difficult to rectify once operations have begun.
Material requirements suited to food production environments
Food production spaces have unique demands for finishing materials. Floors, walls, and ceilings must not only be durable but also easy to clean, non-adhesive to dirt, and free from gaps that could harbor microbes.
Cleanroom with panel-finished ceilings and walls at Phạm Nguyên Confectionery Factory, where DELCO was the general contractor for construction, design, and MEP systems.
Walls and ceilings need smooth surfaces with minimal joints, no peeling, and no dust generation to meet hygiene standards and reduce contamination risks during production. Floors in production zones are frequently exposed to water, cleaning chemicals, and forklift loads, so industrial flooring must be slip-resistant, waterproof, and designed with proper slopes for fast drainage.
Cleanrooms and HVAC systems controlling the production microclimate
In the food industry, the production environment directly affects product safety and quality. Hence, food factories have stringent requirements for cleanrooms and HVAC systems, with tight control over microclimate factors such as temperature, humidity, pressure, air quality, and particle count.
Moreover, airflow management and pressure differentials are mandatory in food cleanrooms. Clean areas must maintain positive pressure compared to lower-hygiene zones to prevent dust from flowing back into the production space. The layout of supply and return air ducts, system zoning, and selection of appropriate filtration levels require experienced contractors and careful calculations from the design stage.
HEPA filtration system eliminating ultra-fine dust particles at a food factory project in Phố Nối A Industrial Park, Hưng Yên, where DELCO was the Design-Build MEP general contractor.
If the HVAC system is not correctly designed from the start, the factory may still operate at expected capacity but will struggle to meet food safety standards such as HACCP, ISO 22000, GMP, or export-related requirements. Retrofitting later will be costly and may pose long-term risks to product quality.
Specialized water supply, drainage, and wastewater treatment systems
Food factories use large volumes of water for production and sanitation, which demands highly specialized water supply, drainage, and wastewater treatment systems:
- Water used in production must meet standards for processing and cleaning;
- Clear separation is required between process water, domestic water, and sanitation water;
- Drainage systems must be designed with proper slopes, flow directions, and structural details to ensure quick drainage, prevent stagnation, odors, and microbial buildup;
- Food wastewater usually contains high organic content, fats, oils, and suspended solids, requiring suitable treatment technologies to meet environmental regulations.
Accurate and comprehensive planning of water supply, drainage, and wastewater treatment systems from the design stage is mandatory for meeting legal requirements, ensuring stable operations, and avoiding costly future modifications.
Wastewater treatment system at the Crown Holdings beverage canning plant, for which DELCO was the wastewater treatment and resin exchange contractor.
See more: 5 most common wastewater treatment technologies in factories today
See more: 6 notes in designing cleanrooms to international standards
