This guideline describes the criteria for the hygienic design of equipment intended for the processing of foods. Its fundamental objective is the prevention of the microbial contamination of food products. It is intended to appraise qualified engineers who design equipment for food processing with the additional demands of hygienic engineering in order to ensure the microbiological safety of the end product. Upgrading an existing design to meet hygiene requirements can be prohibitively expensive and may be unsuccessful and so these are most effectively incorporated into the initial design stage. The long term benefits of doing so are not only product safety but also increased life expectancy of equipment, reduced maintenance and consequently lower operating costs.

This document, first published in 1993, describes in more detail the hygienic requirements of the Machinery Directive (98/37/EC ref.1). Parts of it have subsequently been incorporated in the standards EN1672-2 and EN ISO 14159.