In the field of food production, clean workshops are key scenarios for ensuring food quality and safety. As the “clean barriers” of the workshop, air showers and material showers have application value throughout the entire production process. The specific benefits can be elaborated from the following five dimensions:

First, block external pollution and hold the first line of defense for food safety
One of the core risks in food production is the invasion of external contaminants (such as dust, hair, microorganisms, foreign objects, etc.). Air showers and material showers block the risk from the source through a “forced purification” mechanism.
Air shower (personnel purification) Before staff enter the clean workshop, they need to be swept by the high-speed airflow (with a wind speed usually reaching 20-25m/s) in the air shower room. The airflow can penetrate the gaps in the work clothes, effectively removing dust, hair and some microorganisms (such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, etc.) adhering to the surface of the clothes, and preventing the contaminants carried by personnel from entering the production area. Meanwhile, the “closed-door linkage” design of the air shower room (the rear door cannot be opened when the front door is not closed) can prevent direct air circulation between the clean area and the non-clean area, forming a physical isolation.
Goods purification room: Before raw materials, packaging materials, and production tools (such as turnover boxes and pallets) enter the workshop, they are prone to carrying dust, eggs of insects, or external microorganisms that have been contaminated during transportation. The goods shower room, through multi-angle air flow blowing and in combination with the built-in high-efficiency air filter (HEPA), can remove the floating dust and some microorganisms on the surface of the goods. Especially for bagged raw materials, carton packaging and other dust-prone carriers, it can significantly reduce the risk of food spoilage and excessive total bacterial count caused by goods contamination.
Second, maintain a stable cleanliness level and comply with industry compliance requirements
Food clean workshops need to meet different clean level standards (such as ISO Class 8, ISO Class 7, corresponding to the requirements of China’s GB 14881 “General Hygienic Specifications for Food Production”) according to the production categories (such as infant formula food, health food, ready-to-eat food). Air showers and material showers are key equipment for maintaining stable levels.
Without purification equipment, the frequent entry and exit of personnel and goods will cause the dust content and microbial concentration in the air of the clean area to rise rapidly, which may exceed the compliance threshold (for example, ISO level 8 requires that the number of particles ≥0.5μm per cubic meter of air should be ≤ 3.52 million and the microbial number should be ≤290CFU/m³). Air shower rooms and material shower rooms can control the particle and microbial concentration in the clean area within the standard range through “dynamic purification” without affecting the production rhythm, helping enterprises pass compliance requirements such as SC certification and HACCP system audits.
Third, reduce production losses and lower the operating costs of enterprises
External contamination is one of the significant causes of food production losses (such as pastries being scrapped due to dust contamination and liquid foods being substandard in batches due to microbial contamination). Air showers and material showers can indirectly reduce production losses by lowering the risk of contamination.
Take a certain baking enterprise as an example. Before the use of air showers, about 2% of the pastries were scrapped every day due to dust carried by personnel, with an annual loss cost of over 500,000 yuan. After the installation of the air shower, the scrap rate dropped to 0.3%, and the annual loss cost was saved by approximately 420,000 yuan. In addition, the purification function of the material shower room on raw materials can reduce production interruptions caused by raw materials carrying bacteria (such as the need to suspend production for disinfection in dairy workshops due to excessive microbial content in raw materials), and lower hidden costs such as idle equipment and labor waste.
Fourth, enhance the controllability of the production environment to meet the demands of refined production
Modern food production has increasingly refined requirements for environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity and cleanliness (for instance, chocolate production needs to avoid dust affecting taste, and probiotic products need to prevent contamination by miscellaneous bacteria). Air showers and material showers can enhance environmental controllability.
Air shower rooms are usually equipped with intelligent control systems that can adjust the purging time (adjustable from 10 to 99 seconds) and the wind speed to meet the purification needs of personnel in different positions (for example, personnel entering the aseptic filling area can set a longer purging time). The cargo air shower can be customized in terms of the size of the cavity according to the dimensions of the goods. It can be automatically started and stopped by infrared sensing to avoid the problem of incomplete purification caused by manual operation. In addition, some high-end equipment also has data recording functions (such as purging times and operating status), which is convenient for enterprises to trace the clean process and meet the management requirements of refined production.
V. Ensure the health of employees and demonstrate the humanistic care of the enterprise
The clean environment in food production workshops is not only related to food safety but also to the health of employees (for instance, long-term inhalation of dust may lead to respiratory diseases). The application of air showers can indirectly ensure the health of employees.
While the air shower room removes the dust on the surface of employees’ clothes, it also reduces the probability of employees being exposed to dust after entering the workshop. Some air showers are also equipped with built-in air circulation and filtration systems, which can improve the air quality in non-clean areas (such as changing rooms) and reduce the risk of dust inhalation for employees during the preparation stage. This dual role of “safety protection + health guarantee” can not only enhance the working comfort of employees, but also reflect the humanistic care of the enterprise for its employees and strengthen the stability of the team.