The Retort Food Company (Refco)

When The Retort Food Company (Refco) built its first production site, the food manufacturer knew that every inch of its facility would have to meet the highest possible standards – including the floor area.

Despite only having been established very recently as a specialist supplier of ready-made produce for deli counters, Refco has already lined up several big supermarket chains as customers. This meant that it would have to scale up operations while simultaneously ensuring that it would be able to meet the functional, hygiene and volume requirements of its demanding new clients.

To ensure that the floor area would consistently support the site’s large-scale food production as safely, cleanly and reliably as possible, several resin solutions from Flowcrete South Africa were chosen for Refco’s new facility.

The floor would have to provide an ultra-hygienic finish at all times despite the challenges inherent to food production, packaging and processing. One particular challenge that the floor would have to cope with is the many large cold rooms that would constantly expose the chosen finish to temperatures as low as 10 °C.

A rigorous specification process was undertaken for every element of the new plant and Flowcrete South Africa faced stiff competition to win the project. In the end, the resin flooring manufacturer’s strong reputation, extensive experience in the F&B industry and high-performance products convinced Refco to choose Flowcrete South Africa.

To ensure that the floor would be up to the task, 1,600 m² of the self-smoothing, antibacterial polyurethane system Flowfresh SL with a Flowcoat UV topcoat was applied throughout the production spaces. This build-up would be able to withstand the cold temperatures, exposure to spillages of ingredients and by-products as well as the regular cleaning, operational activity, scuffs, scrapes and wear inherent to a busy food and beverage facility.

The two-component, epoxy joint filler Dural 340 was also used by the application team while installing the production area’s floor coating.

As part of the 21-day flooring project, 150 m² of the polyurethane sealer Flowcoat UV was also applied in Refco’s showroom and test kitchen. This coating was chosen thanks to its excellent UV resistance, as one wall in this area consists of full-length windows and so this part of the site would face intensive exposure to the sun’s rays.

The seamless and impervious nature of Flowcrete South Africa’s resin flooring solutions makes them ideal for the food industry, as these properties avoid grime and bacteria getting stuck in hard to clean gaps while creating a quick and easy to clean surface.

In addition, Flowfresh SL goes above and beyond the hygiene standards of most food and beverage industry floor coatings. This is due to the antibacterial agent Polygiene® being incorporated into every system within the HACCP International certified Flowfresh range. This silver-ion based additive is able to inhibit the growth of bacteria in contact with the floor and so is a great way to add an extra layer of protection into any contamination sensitive environment.

To find out more about specifying advanced floors for the food and beverage industry, get in touch with Flowcrete South Africa’s expert team today.