With 17% of listeria outbreaks in food processing environments originating from poor-quality kerbs, walls, and floors, Kemtile is using Foodex 2025 (7-9th April) to shine a light into the food and beverage industry’s darkest places.
Kemtile, a division of the global resin flooring manufacturer, Stonhard, has been providing single-source hygienic flooring and wall solutions to the food and drink sector for over 40 years and works with some of the UK’s biggest brands.
Its experts – together with European market leader in hygienic impact protection, PolySto – will be on Stand E39 at the UK’s leading trade event for the processing, packaging and logistics industries, to focus attention on the importance of maintaining high hygiene standards to ensure food safety.
The food industry faces some big challenges around the topic. Listeria can grow at very low temperatures, it can adhere to surfaces and form biofilms, making it difficult to remove during cleaning, and it can spread from contaminated surfaces to food products.
Using inadequate or wrong surface materials in food factories can lead to several problems.
- Porous surfaces can harbour bacteria, making them difficult to clean effectively.
- Cracked or damaged walls and floors can create breeding grounds for harmful micro-organisms like Listeria and Salmonella.
- Additionally, open joints and corroded surfaces can trap food particles and moisture, leading to mould growth and further contamination risks.
Kemtile specialises in providing a complete range of hygienic, durable epoxy and polyurethane flooring systems from Stonhard – seamless, non-porous surfaces to prevent bacteria build up and provide strong chemical resistance against cleaning agents and food by-products.
PolySto offers hygienic construction materials that are specifically designed to eliminate food safety risk. Its durable CleanRock kerbs and CleanSheet walls & ceilings, ensure that a food processing environment remains hygienic and safe, minimising the potential for contamination and safeguarding the quality of products.
PolySto’s Hygiseal solution has the answer to problems with classic sealants in the food industry, which tend to use silicone joints with poor resistance to high pressure cleaning where anti-fungal agents are often rinsed out, leaving black mould on joints and a high risk of a bacteria outbreak.
Kemtile experts – together with European market leader in hygienic impact protection, PolySto – will be on Stand E39 at Foodex to focus attention on the importance of maintaining high hygiene standards to ensure food safety.
Hygiseal provides seamless joints, is water resistant and fungus repellent, easy to clean (including high pressure cleaning), and is resistant to most commonly-used chemicals.
Kemtile Account Manager Dave Sleight commented: “Managing listeria in the food industry requires a proactive approach. Reducing the risk and preventing contamination not only protects public health but also safeguards a company’s reputation and financial stability.”
PolySto’s CleanRock kerbs and CleanSheet walls & ceilings, ensure that a food processing environment remains hygienic and safe, minimising the potential for contamination and safeguarding the quality of products.
Nick Van den Bosschelle, Vice President Global Business Development from PolySto added: “We have spent the last 30 years investing in hygienic product design and construction to provide the highest level of protection for food facilities. Partnering with Kemtile and other Master Installers in more than 100 countries worldwide.”
