Food Quality Control Laboratory Casework Fit Out: Knouse Foods, Pennsylvania
Knouse Foods needed a complete quality control laboratory built around steel casework, chemical resistant work surfaces, and a proper wet station. Labs USA supplied the full package: perimeter and island casework, phenolic resin tops with integral curbs, acid storage, a stainless sink with drench hose, and in-bench service chases.
The Situation
Knouse Foods is a fruit processing cooperative with a long history in Pennsylvania, and fruit processing is a business where the laboratory is not a support function. Incoming raw fruit is graded. Brix, acidity, pH, and consistency are checked through the process. Finished product is sampled and held against specification. Records from that laboratory are what a food safety plan is built on and what a customer audit examines.
A food quality control laboratory has a specific working pattern. Sample volume is high and arrives in batches, so bench space matters more than instrument space. The work is wet: fruit purees, juices, acids, and cleaning chemicals move across the counters all day. Glassware goes through constant washing and drying cycles. Several technicians work at once during a run, which means the room needs multiple stations that do not interfere with each other.
The existing arrangement could not support that. Wet fruit chemistry ruins work surfaces that were not specified for it, and once tops fail, cabinets underneath follow. Sample flow through a cramped room turns into technicians waiting on each other and on a single sink. The laboratory needed to be rebuilt properly rather than patched: enough bench length for the batch volume, a real wet station, chemical storage that meets code, and surfaces that survive the chemistry.
There was also a decision about ventilation. The design as drawn included a bench mounted fume hood and blower as an option. After reviewing what the laboratory actually runs, the option was left out of the purchase, and the casework package was built to accept it later if the work changes.
The Solution
Labs USA supplied the complete casework package for the room: painted steel base and wall cabinets around the perimeter, two island benches, chemical resistant work surfaces throughout, a stainless steel wet station, and the fillers, panels, and trim that make a cabinet run read as finished millwork instead of a row of boxes.
The islands are the heart of this layout. Two double sided island benches were built from steel base cabinets back to back under a continuous chemical resistant top, so technicians can work from either side at the same time. Power comes up through a vertical service chase in the middle of the bench, feeding double gang, double faced electrical pedestals that serve both sides at once. That arrangement keeps cords off the floor and out of the wet zone, and it means a bench in the middle of the room is as usable as one against a wall.
Work surfaces are one inch thick phenolic resin in a black matte finish, supplied with a four inch applied curb at the back and set with epoxy adhesive. Phenolic resin was specified because this is a wet, acidic laboratory: fruit acids, juices, and sanitizers spend all day on these surfaces. The applied curb matters more than it sounds. A four inch upstand where the top meets the wall stops spilled liquid running behind the cabinets, which is exactly where an unnoticed spill becomes a cleaning and sanitation problem in a food plant.
The wet station is built around a stainless steel sink set into a two door sink base cabinet, with a deck mounted mixing faucet with a vacuum breaker and swing gooseneck, and a dual head drench hose for rinsing glassware and equipment. Above it, a phenolic resin pegboard with pegs handles glassware drying, which in a lab washing this much glassware is a working necessity rather than an accessory.
Chemical storage was specified to the chemistry. Two lined acid storage base units were included for corrosives, both configured as fume hood base cabinets with fixed top panels so they sit correctly in the run whether or not a hood is installed above them later. Drawer and door configurations vary along the run: four drawer units for small tools and consumables, file drawer units for records, kneespace stations for seated work, and an expandable kneespace panel that adjusts from twenty two to thirty six inches wide so a seated station can be resized without replacing cabinetry. The full range is on the laboratory furniture and casework hub.
Features
Advantage
A food quality control laboratory is not a chemistry teaching lab and should not be specified like one. The chemistry is milder but the exposure is heavier and more constant, sanitation requirements come from the food safety plan rather than a laboratory safety plan, and throughput during a processing run drives the layout. That is why this room came out as long runs of bench, two double sided islands, and one well equipped wet station rather than a row of hoods.
Getting the surfaces right is the decision that determines whether the room still looks serviceable in ten years. Phenolic resin with an applied curb, epoxy set, and finished ends resists the acids and cleaning chemistry, sheds water instead of wicking it into a joint, and keeps spills out from behind the cabinets.
- Layout driven by batch sample flow rather than a standard bench module
- Chemical resistant tops with a four inch applied curb at every wall junction
- Double sided islands so multiple technicians work a run simultaneously
- Power delivered in-bench, keeping cords out of the wet zone
- Code appropriate lined storage for corrosives designed into the run
- Casework prepared to accept a bench mounted fume hood if the work changes
Labs USA works from elevation drawings wall by wall, which is how a room ends up with the right cabinet in each position instead of a generic run with fillers hiding the mistakes. Fillers, corner angles, toe space pieces, and end panels are all specified deliberately so the finished laboratory reads as one continuous installation. See also laboratory fume hoods and laboratory tables for the rest of a typical food lab package.
Benefits
The first benefit is throughput. Enough bench length, two working islands, and a wet station that is not a bottleneck mean a processing run’s samples move through the laboratory at the pace the plant produces them, rather than the laboratory becoming the constraint on releasing product.
The second is sanitation. Continuous chemical resistant tops, curbs at the walls, finished ends, and toe space that closes off cleanly leave far fewer places for residue to hide than a patchwork of bench types and surfaces. In a food facility, a laboratory that cleans easily is part of passing the audit, not just a nicer place to work.
The third is longevity. Painted steel casework and phenolic resin tops are specified for industrial laboratory service. In a room where fruit acids and sanitizers are on the counters daily, that is the difference between resurfacing in five years and a room that still works in twenty.
A wet station built for real glassware volume: stainless sink, mixing faucet with vacuum breaker, dual head drench hose, and a phenolic pegboard for drying.
Return on Investment
The strongest return on a quality control laboratory is release time. In fruit processing, product waits on laboratory results. A room that can run a batch’s samples without queueing at one sink or one bench shortens hold time, and shorter hold time is warehouse space and working capital freed across every run of the season.
The second return is avoided rework on the room itself. The recurring failure in food labs is work surfaces chosen for cost rather than chemistry: they stain, swell at the joints, and delaminate at the wall, and replacing tops later means emptying the room and shutting the laboratory during a production season. Specifying phenolic resin with an applied curb at the outset is a one time cost that removes that entire cycle.
The third is adaptability. Because the casework includes hood base cabinets with fixed top panels and an expandable kneespace panel, the room can accept a bench mounted fume hood or a resized seated station later without replacing cabinetry. The fume hood option in the original design was deliberately left out of this purchase, and the room was still built ready for it.
Project Process
Requirements and drawings
Labs USA worked from plan and elevation drawings for the room, wall by wall, confirming sample flow, station count, and service locations.
Specification
Casework, phenolic resin tops with applied curbs, acid storage, the wet station, service chases, and electrical pedestals were specified against the drawings.
Option review
The bench mounted fume hood and blower shown as an option were reviewed and excluded from the order, with the casework left ready to accept a hood later.
Approval
Drawings and colors were signed off before release to production, as required for custom casework runs.
Production and freight
Cabinets, tops, fittings, and trim were produced and shipped to the Pennsylvania facility as a coordinated package.
Installation and support
Cabinets were set and leveled, tops epoxy set with curbs applied, fittings connected, and Labs USA remains available for additions.
Supplying Food and Beverage Laboratories Across Pennsylvania
South central Pennsylvania, including Biglerville and the surrounding Adams County fruit belt, is one of the country’s dense food processing corridors: fruit, juice, snack, dairy, and packaged goods plants, nearly all of which run their own quality control laboratory. These rooms have more in common with each other than with academic labs, and they are usually rebuilt inside an operating plant rather than built new.
Labs USA supplies food and beverage laboratories across Pennsylvania and nationwide from Salt Lake City, and can quote a room as a single coordinated package: casework and work surfaces, laboratory tables, fume hoods, and source capture extraction where solvents or odors are involved.
If you are rebuilding a quality control laboratory in Pennsylvania, call (801) 855-8560 with your room dimensions and your sample volume. We will lay it out, specify surfaces to your chemistry, and quote the whole room as one package.
Frequently Asked Questions
What work surface is right for a food quality control laboratory?
Phenolic resin and epoxy resin both perform well. This project used one inch thick black matte phenolic resin with a four inch applied curb, chosen for constant exposure to fruit acids, juices, and sanitizing chemicals.
Why does the countertop need an applied curb?
A four inch upstand at the wall stops spilled liquid running behind the cabinets, which is where an unnoticed spill becomes a sanitation problem in a food plant.
What is a vertical service chase?
A vertical enclosure rising from an island bench that carries electrical services up to pedestal outlets on the bench top, so power reaches the middle of the room without cords crossing the floor.
Why double sided island benches?
They double usable bench length per square foot of floor and let several technicians work the same batch at once from either side, which suits high sample volume during a run.
Do food labs need acid storage cabinets?
Yes, wherever corrosives are used for titration and cleaning. This laboratory received two lined acid storage base units integrated into the casework run.
Can a fume hood be added later?
Yes. The acid storage and adjacent base cabinets were supplied as fume hood base units with fixed top panels, so a bench mounted hood and blower can be added without replacing cabinetry.
What is a phenolic resin pegboard used for?
Draining and drying washed glassware on pegs above the sink. In a laboratory washing glassware continuously it is a working necessity.
Does Labs USA install laboratory casework?
Installation can be quoted with the package or coordinated with the plant’s own contractor, depending on the project. Casework is always supplied with the fillers, panels, and trim needed for a finished installation.
Rebuilding a Quality Control Laboratory?
Labs USA lays out, specifies, and supplies complete food and beverage laboratories: casework, chemical resistant tops, wet stations, storage, and ventilation.