S+B has over 50 years of expertise in food lab design for clients in science and industry, throughout the food and beverages sectors, and in designing food labs for educational institutions.
We can design, build, install and fully commission your new food laboratory, in accordance with British Standards, a variety of ISO accreditations, and other industry certification schemes.
What is a food lab?
A food lab is a laboratory where edible ingredients are prepared and/or processed. In practice, this often combines commercial kitchen elements into a research laboratory.
Food labs are used for various purposes, such as developing new recipes, menus, and finished food products, testing ingredients and completed food products for contaminants and/or nutritional content, and other applications.
Of course, not all food is intended for human consumption. Food labs may also be interested in testing animal feeds, and the ingredients used may range from meat to vegetables to dairy to nuts, seeds, pulses, and leaves, all of which need to be prepared in unique ways.
Why are food labs important?
Dedicated food laboratory design is important when working with edible ingredients.
It’s unlikely that a generic research laboratory will contain all of the specific equipment needed to prepare food, follow recipes and simulate the process of cooking in a real-world kitchen.
Because of this, a good food lab design will incorporate a range of ovens, heaters and burners.
You may also want or need additional chilled and frozen storage space, which can be integrated into your design in convenient places.
S+B’s expertise over more than 50 years means that we have an unbeaten understanding not only of what’s needed in a food and beverage laboratory, but also of how to lay out all of the equipment, storage and workbenches, giving you optimum use of space.
What guidelines should be followed in food lab design?
At S+B, we follow a number of certification schemes and accreditations, which you can see listed on our website or by contacting us directly. These include BSI and ISO, Safecontractor, SEFA membership and more.
For food testing laboratories, you may want to follow the guidelines set out in ISO/IEC 17025 ‘General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories’. This is the standard UKAS uses when accrediting food testing labs.
Some of these guidelines apply to areas including:
- The testing environment
- Technical competence of staff
- Sampling, handling and transport of test items
- Suitability and maintenance of testing equipment
- Quality assurance of test data
Our laboratories are designed to meet high standards across all areas of operation, from storing ingredients under the right conditions to ensuring high levels of quality assurance in the test data you obtain.
What equipment is required in a food laboratory?
Bespoke food laboratory design means you can integrate all the equipment you want (or need) into your lab layout and install it to a professional standard.
This is beneficial as we can design and build custom workbenches to fit around your equipment rather than trying to retrofit industrial ovens under existing standard-sized benches.
Where appropriate, we can still take a modular approach to food lab design, allowing you to reconfigure the space as you see fit.
Some of the equipment you may need in your lab includes:
- Commercial/industrial ovens and cookers
- Gas/electric/induction hob burners
- Sinks for handwashing and pot washing
- Mains outlets for countertop plug-in appliances
- Chilled and frozen storage at the workstation