Wire Belt is a specialist manufacturer of stainless steel wire mesh conveyor belts for the food industry, with more than 60 years of experience across baking, freezing, coating, washing, and transfer applications. Advanced Packaging Systems supplies the full Wire Belt range in New Zealand.
What Defines a Food-Grade Conveyor Belt?
The term “food grade” refers to a belt that is constructed from materials safe for contact with food and designed to be cleaned to a standard that prevents microbiological and physical contamination. In practice, this means meeting the requirements of the relevant regulatory and certification bodies for the markets in which the product is manufactured or sold.
Key standards and certifications for food-grade conveyor belting include:
- FDA (US Food and Drug Administration): Requires that belt materials do not present a risk of adulterating food through migration of harmful substances. Stainless steel grades 302 and 316 are widely accepted for food contact.
- USDA (US Department of Agriculture): Acceptance is required for conveyor belts used in federally inspected meat and poultry processing facilities. Wire Belt’s stainless steel range carries USDA acceptance.
- Hygienic design: Beyond material compliance, the structural design of the belt determines whether it can be cleaned effectively. Enclosed joints, internal crevices, and surfaces inaccessible to cleaning chemicals or inspection are key risk points regardless of material certification.
Stainless steel wire mesh belts offer a fundamental hygiene advantage: the material is non-porous, does not harbour bacteria within the material itself, and does not develop the micro-scratching that occurs on plastic surfaces over time with cleaning and abrasion.
Wire Belt Flex Turn
The Wire Belt Range for Food Processing
Wire Belt manufactures a range of stainless steel conveyor belt designs, each suited to specific process conditions. The range covers open mesh, close-pitch, heavy-duty, and specialist baking configurations, allowing a single supplier to meet requirements across multiple process stages.
- Flat-Flex®: Wire Belt’s core product. A continuous flat wire woven into an open mesh with no hinges, rods, or enclosed joints. Open area up to 86%. Suited to baking, cooling, freezing, coating, and transfer applications. FDA and USDA compliant. Available in 302 and 316 stainless steel.
- Flat-Flex® XT®: A reinforced heavy-gauge variant of the Flat-Flex for high-load applications. Retains all FDA and USDA compliance and hygienic design properties.
- Compact-Grid™: A close-pitch design offering a smaller product support mesh. Suitable where smaller or more delicate products require more uniform surface support. Easy to join and maintain.
- Eye-Flex®: A heavier-duty modular stainless steel belt for applications requiring robust product support and resistance to high loads or impact. Used in meat, poultry, and seafood processing.
- Honeycomb: An open lattice design providing high strength-to-weight ratio. Suitable for applications requiring airflow through the belt surface with structural rigidity.
- Rolled Baking Band: A low-mass, high-strength band designed specifically for direct baking contact. Provides even heat transfer and good air circulation across the base of the product.
Wire Belt Straight Conveyor
Matching Belt Type to Process Stage
Different stages of food production impose different demands on the conveyor belt. The correct specification depends on the temperature range, product contact requirements, cleaning regime, and the physical properties of the product being conveyed.
Baking and Heating
Tunnel ovens, deck ovens, and infrared heating systems all place the belt in continuous contact with high temperatures. The belt must withstand thermal cycling without degradation, provide consistent heat transfer to the product base, and release the product cleanly without sticking.
The Flat-Flex® and Rolled Baking Band are both well-established in baking applications. The Flat-Flex® suits bread, biscuits, crackers, pizza, and pastry lines. The Rolled Baking Band is used where a continuous band surface is preferred for direct product contact, providing even heat distribution across the base.
Cooling and Freezing
After cooking or forming, product typically moves through an ambient or forced-air cooling zone before packaging. In frozen food production, products pass through mechanical or cryogenic freezing tunnels at temperatures down to −40°C or below.
The high open area of the Flat-Flex® (up to 86%) allows air to circulate freely around the product, achieving rapid and even cooling without the restriction of a solid belt surface. Stainless steel does not become brittle at low temperatures, maintaining belt integrity and performance throughout cryogenic operation.
Coating, Enrobing, and Glazing
Coating applications — chocolate enrobing, breadcrumb breading, batter coating, glaze application — require the belt to allow excess coating to drain through the mesh while maintaining product position and orientation. The open mesh of the Flat-Flex® is well suited to these applications, and the self-draining design prevents pooling on the belt surface between runs.
Washing, Draining, and Wet Processing
In fruit, vegetable, seafood, and poultry processing, product frequently travels through washing, blanching, or chilling stages where the belt is immersed in or exposed to water. The self-draining design of stainless steel wire mesh prevents water retention and ensures the belt dries rapidly between production runs, reducing standing moisture conditions that encourage bacterial growth.
Transfer and Packaging
At the packaging stage, the belt must maintain consistent product orientation, provide a stable and flat carry surface, and allow for accurate product transfer into packaging machinery. Wire Belt’s range includes narrow pitch options and Flex-Turn® designs for curved conveyor sections, maintaining product orientation around corners.
Wire Belt Eye Flex
Key Considerations When Specifying a Food-Grade Conveyor Belt
When selecting conveyor belting for a food processing application, the following factors are worth assessing in detail:
- Open area and mesh pitch: Higher open area improves airflow, drainage, and cleaning access. However, the right specification depends on product size and fragility — fine or small products may require a tighter mesh to prevent snagging or product loss through the belt.
- Temperature range: Confirm the belt material and construction are rated for the full temperature range of your process, including peak oven temperatures and minimum freezer temperatures. Standard 302 stainless steel covers most food production applications; specialist high-temperature materials are available for extreme environments.
- Hygienic design: Assess whether the belt design includes enclosed crevices, hinge joints, or areas inaccessible to cleaning and visual inspection. For regulated environments (particularly dairy and pharmaceutical-grade food), hygienic design certification provides independent verification.
- Allergen management: Facilities running multiple product lines with different allergen profiles require belts that can be cleaned to verification standard between runs. Stainless steel wire mesh allows cleaning chemicals and rinse water to penetrate fully and cleaning to be verified visually.
- Total cost of ownership: Stainless steel wire mesh belts typically carry a higher purchase price than plastic modular alternatives, but offer a significantly longer service life, lower replacement frequency, and reduced microbiological risk. These factors affect the true cost over the operational life of the belt.
Sourcing Wire Belt Products in New Zealand
Advanced Packaging Systems is the authorised New Zealand partner for Wire Belt. APS supplies the full Wire Belt range — including the Flat-Flex®, Flat-Flex® XT®, Compact-Grid™, Eye-Flex®, Honeycomb, and Rolled Baking Band — with local technical support and application advice across food manufacturing, bakery, dairy, poultry, seafood, and confectionery sectors. Contact APS.
If you are specifying conveyor belting for a new line, reviewing your current belting as part of a food safety upgrade, or responding to audit findings, contact the APS team to discuss your application and the appropriate Wire Belt specification for your process.
