scope:

This 3-A Sanitary Standard applies to the sanitary aspects of the unitized equipment for holding, opening, forming, dispensing, filling, closing, sealing, or capping containers for fluid or viscous products, or wrapping viscous products, and all parts essential to these functions. The equipment shall perform one or more of the following functions:

1. Holding the container preparatory to further processing

2. Forming the container

3. Dispensing a preformed container

4. Opening the container

5. Rinsing the container

6. Sanitizing or disinfecting the container

7. Applying and sealing a supplementary fitment or device

8. Filling the container

9. Sealing the container

10. Closing the container

11. Capping the container

12. Wrapping the product

13. Applying a tamper-evident security seal

14. Other processing equipment (as defined herein)

The equipment shall start at the points where the product, utilities (air, water, steam, cleaning chemicals, etc.), container, container blank, container material, or wrapping material first enters the unitized equipment. The equipment shall end where the packaged product and the utilities exit the unitized equipment.

This standard does not pertain to the container, to free-standing container forming equipment or to other free-standing equipment including, but not limited to cappers, labelers, printers, daters, applicators of supplementary fitments or devices or wrappers not furnished as part of the unitized equipment.

To conform to this 3-A Sanitary Standard, formers, fillers, and sealers, shall conform to the following criteria for design, materials of construction, fabrication techniques and installation, as applicable, and the current revisions or editions of all referenced documents cited herein.