The gold standard

of hygienic food
equipment design

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About 3-A

3-A Then and Now

The first standards for the hygienic design of equipment used in the dairy industry were introduced in the 1920s and became known as "3-A standards" for the three interest groups that cooperated to improve equipment design and sanitation - regulatory sanitarians, equipment fabricators, and processors.

This collaboration continues today in the not-for-profit corporation 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc., dedicated to the mission of advancing food safety through hygienic equipment design. The membership consists of three associations: International Dairy Foods Association, Food Processing Suppliers Association, the International Association for Food Protection and representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

3-A SSI maintains an extensive inventory of design criteria for equipment and processing systems, oversees the 3-A Symbol Authorization program and other voluntary certificates to help affirm the integrity of hygienic processing equipment and systems and provides extensive knowledge resources to support the training and education needs in the rapidly changing food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.

staff

Timothy R. Rugh, CAE

3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc.

Executive Director
6888 Elm Street, Suite 2D
McLean
VA
22101
703-790-0295 Ext. 4

Timothy R. Rugh, CAE

Executive Director

Michael S. Drumm

3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc.

Director of Operations
6888 Elm Street, Suite 2D
McLean
VA
22101
703-790-0295 Ext. 2

Michael S. Drumm

Director of Operations

Eric H. Schweitzer

3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc.

Director, Standards & Certification
6888 Elm Street, Suite 2D
McLean
VA
22101
703-790-0295 Ext. 1

Eric H. Schweitzer

Director, Standards & Certification

the 3-A Symbol

the symbol of assurance
Introduced for commercial use in 1956, the 3-A Symbol is a registered mark used to identify equipment that meets 3-A Sanitary Standards for design and fabrication. Voluntary use of the 3-A Symbol on dairy and food equipment conveys assurance that equipment meets sanitary standards, provides accepted criteria to equipment manufacturers for sanitary design, and establishes guidelines for uniform evaluation and compliance by sanitarians.

The requirement for an independent Third Party Verification (TPV) inspection applies to all equipment built to 3-A Sanitary Standards that is licensed to display the 3-A Symbol. A licensee must engage a credentialed inspection professional, a Certified Conformance Evaluator (CCE), to conduct an on-site evaluation of finished equipment and other product attributes to affirm the equipment conforms to provisions of the applicable 3-A Sanitary Standard. Any deficiencies discovered in an inspection must be corrected before the equipment can be authorized to display the 3-A Symbol. Equipment manufacturers that do not comply with the TPV inspection requirement risk losing the authorization to use the 3-A Symbol.  

The 3-A SSI website features all information on obtaining the authorization or license to use or display the 3-A Symbol.  The site also provides public, on-line access to complete certificate information for all 3-A Symbol licensees. This public information offers detailed information on models/equipment covered under a company’s license to assist regulatory sanitarians, processors, equipment fabricators, and other interested parties. The information is searchable by the unique authorization number, equipment type/standard or company name. A copy of the actual authorization certificate may also be printed from the database.

The TPV requirement, combined with easy access to licensee information, has enhanced the level of integrity and recognition of the 3-A Symbol for everyone concerned with the safety of consumers of food, beverages and pharmaceutical products.

annual reports

View the Annual Report Archive

HonORS And AWARDS

View the honorees

Training

Learn more about 3-A SSI training resources

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PH 703.790.0295   |   FX 703.761.6284
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