Food Grade Strut: Your #1 Sanitary Mounting Solution

Food Grade Strut for Prevention of Food Contamination

Food Grade Strut was developed after food processing plants and commercial kitchens demanded a better, more sanitary, easier to clean solution to mount pipe and conduit on. Traditional methods for mounting included inferior materials and/or design, which led to increased instances of food contamination, fines and even shut downs, after failed inspections.

There are an infinite number of ways to mount pipes to walls or suspend them from ceilings, but to do it the right way requires a product that has been engineered specifically for the food service industry and clean room applications: Food Grade Strut.

Food Grade Strut is manufactured from sturdy, 12 gauge stainless steel (type 304 or type 316), and comes in two styles: Wall Mount, for mounting to walls, and Trapeze Mount, for suspending from ceilings or equipment.

Food Grade Strut's special design and stainless steel construction virtually eliminates your pipe mounting structures as a possible source of foreign material contamination in your clean zone.

Foreign material contamination from mounting structures could typically include rust, paint flakes and even bacteria and mold, caused by trapped moisture and food particulates - all of which Food Grade Strut is designed to prevent.

unsanitary pipe mount

Traditional strut is not an ideal solution for sanitary applications

Even when manufactured from stainless steel, traditional metal framing channels are not a good solution for the food industry, because they are 'c-shaped'. Traditional channel is perfect for a great many applications, but sanitary food processing isn't one of them. The open face collects dirt, grime and kitchen debris easily, where as both styles of Food Grade Strut have been designed specifically to alleviate this issue. If not properly and meticulously cared for, traditional strut easily becomes a hot bed for contamination: trapping grease, dirt, dust, flaking paint, rust, food particles and even mold and mildew, inviting pest and rodent infestations.

Food Grade Wall Mount Strut has an open, 's-shaped' design which makes it both harder for dirt to collect in and easier to wipe or spray down. Wall mount strut is also designed to be used with spacers that keep assemblies from resting directly against the wall, where they could become pockets for debris. Strut can be mounted either horizontally or vertically to the wall.

Food Grade Trapeze Mount Strut is 'u-shaped', the opening faces down instead of up, so dirt can’t sit inside the trapeze mount strut, like it would in a 'c-shaped' channel. Trapeze mount strut is suspended from the ceiling via stainless steel rods, instead of threaded rod, and is designed to mount horizontal runs of pipe. The smooth design of the suspension rods eliminates threaded grooves where dirt and filth collect.

Pipe, conduit and tubing are mounted to the strut using stainless steel u-bolt pipe clamps. The rounded surface of the u-bolts allows dirt to slide off, whereas a standard pipe-clamp assembly has numerous places to trap and collect dirt and moisture, inviting bacteria and mold.

All Food Grade Strut pipe-clamps, hardware and fittings are manufactured from stainless steel, and all strut comes pre-cut and de-burred for a clean, safe and sanitary edge.

The products that go into making up a commercial kitchen are so important; from the floors, walls, and ceilings on down to the last appliance and utensil, there is a need for items that are safe, durable enough to withstand moisture and abuse, and above all sanitary and easy to clean. For industrial food processing facilities, where food is processed and packaged for consumption weeks, months and even years into the future, the stakes are even higher, as are the food safety concerns and sanitation requirements.

In the food industry stainless steel has long been prevalent. It’s not an accident that stainless steel has found its way into commercial and industrial kitchens. Though stainless steel is more expensive to produce, its specific qualities make it an ideal material for use in kitchens. Stainless steel is rust proof, doesn’t trap dirt, grease or odors, and is easy to clean without a lot of elbow grease.