Did you ever wonder about the environment where everything ingestible or topical is manufactured? Picture a manufacturing plant or assembly line, and you probably think about moving pieces, machinery, robotics, conveyor belts, cardboard boxes, and employees in hair nets and protective shoe covers overseeing the process. And when you think a little farther down the food creation process, you might envision a kitchen with huge Hobart mixers and buckets of sanitizer sitting on all the counters. But back up to before anyone touches the ingredients that go into our food production. Have you ever thought about the quality of equipment that the products pass through on their way to the can or the shrink wrap or the plastic tubing that you find them in when you pick them up off the shelf? How does the manufacturing process protect your food, drinks, and cosmetics from the natural grease and dust of a typical manufacturing facility?

The answer is High-Purity Silicone Hoses. These translucent silicone hoses may be reinforced with an outer wrapping of fabric or stainless wire, which may either be wrapped around the tube by hand or by extrusion, depending on the hose type. This meticulous process ensures that your food is only passing through the highest-quality, bacteria-free tubes on its way through the various stages of the manufacturing process.

But wait--can you be sure that the hose was clean and bacteria-free in the first place? Who made that hose, and what if it was contaminated while it was being manufactured, shipped, or assembled onto a machine? Even there, we’ve got you covered: we fabricate our High-Purity Silicone Hoses in a cleanroom environment. Think way beyond rags with quat-sanitizer wiping up accidental spills--a cleanroom environment has to abide by such high standards of purity that even the rag itself would be banned because it would create too much lint. A typical human sheds anywhere from 100,000 to 10,000 particles per minute that are 0.3 microns and larger, consisting of skin flakes, oils, perspiration, and hair (depending on whether they are standing motionless or walking). But a cleanroom has to keep a maximum of only 12 particles per cubic meter 0.3 microns and larger in the air at any given time. A special system of air filters, stringent rules for entry and exit, and specific cleaning methods ensure that the cleanroom facility is indeed producing sterile, safe, food-grade silicone tubes.

Next time you bite down into a piece of processed, packaged food, you can thank Flex Technologies for their meticulous manufacturing methods in the silicone tubes that your food passed through on its way to the container.