3-A SSI Canvasses for Volunteers to Serve on Five New Ad Hoc Working Groups

WASHINGTON, DC - 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc. (3-A SSI) is inviting industry experts to apply for a voting seat on five new Ad Hoc Working Groups. These groups will support the review and revision of 3-A Sanitary Standards and Accepted Practice covering insulated tanks, blending equipment, leak-protector valves, pasta filata cheese moulders and pasteurizer systems.

"Standards only work if the people using this equipment every day help write them," said Meri Beth Wojtaszek, executive director of 3-A SSI. "We're asking fabricators, processors and regulators to bring that expertise to the table for these five projects."

3-A SSI is seeking volunteers from three groups: fabricators, including equipment manufacturers, designers and engineers; users and processors, including plant engineering, operations, QA, sanitation and food safety professionals; and regulatory and technical experts, including regulators, inspectors, sanitarians, researchers and hygienic design specialists.

Four Standards and one Accepted Practice will be addressed in this effort:

• Insulated Tanks (01‑09), which establisheshygienic requirements for insulated tanks used to store product or solutions,including at a maintained temperature, installed horizontally or verticallywhen the inside height is 10 feet or less.
• Blending Equipment (35‑04), which sets minimumhygienic requirements for equipment used to combine or mix wet or dry products,from the entrance of the hopper or infeed pipe connection through the exit pipefitting.
• Inlet and Outlet Leak‑Protector Plug‑TypeValves (56‑00),which addresses the sanitary aspects, design, materials and fabricationcriteria for leak-protector plug valves used with milk and milk products inbatch pasteurizers.
• Italian‑Type Pasta Filata Style CheeseMoulders (71‑01),which establishes hygienic criteria for equipment used to mould mozzarella,string and provolone cheese, from the point cooked and stretched cheese isintroduced to the point finished cheese is discharged.
• High-Temperature Short-Time (HTST) andHigher-Heat Shorter-Time (HHST) Pasteurizer Systems (603‑07), which establisheshygienic requirements for the construction, installation, testing and operationof High-Temperature Short-Time and Higher-Heat Shorter-Time pasteurizationequipment, appurtenances and controls.

Volunteers may serve as voting members, who review and vote on proposed changes, or as observers, who follow the discussion and contribute expertise. New participants receive an orientation and a welcome packet. All volunteers selected to serve on a Working Group will attend a kick-off meeting with the Working Group's technical lead. Service entails working sessions to review the existing Standard and ongoing support from 3-A SSI staff.

Volunteer input moves through a defined path, from idea to published standard. Industry experience enters the discussion first, then goes through technical review, where Working Group members compare notes, challenge assumptions and refine the details. Once the group reaches consensus, the proposal goes to a formal ballot. A successful vote produces a revised 3-A Standard or Accepted Practice that fabricators, processors and regulators can put to use.

Applications to join a Working Group are due September 27, 2026. Interested parties can sign up for a project at https://resources.3-a.org/wg-canvassing contact 3-A SSI at WG@3-A.org.

About 3-A SSI

3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc. is a nonprofit standards development organization that publishes 3-A Sanitary Standards and Accepted Practices for the design and fabrication of hygienic equipment used in the food, dairy, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The organization's standards are developed through a consensus process involving equipment fabricators, processors and regulatory authorities.