Al-Youm Dairy
Processing Facility

Food-Grade Construction for
Jordan's Dairy Processing

Once raw milk leaves the farm, it must move into a processing environment built to an entirely different standard — one governed by food safety regulation, hygiene protocols, and the operational demands of pasteurization, packaging, and cold storage. Al-Youm Dairy Company commissioned CEC to construct its dairy processing facility near Amman, the plant where milk from the company's own cow farm is received, processed into finished dairy products, and prepared for distribution.

The processing facility represents a different category of industrial construction from the farm that supplies it. Where the farm prioritizes ventilation, drainage, and durability for animal housing, the processing plant demanded food-grade hygienic finishes throughout — smooth, washable wall and ceiling panels, seamless epoxy flooring systems resistant to the chemicals used in daily sanitation, and detailing that eliminates the ledges, gaps, and crevices where bacteria could accumulate. CEC's construction scope addressed these requirements across production areas, packaging halls, and cold-storage zones.

Behind the visible finishes, the facility required substantial coordination with the processing-line equipment supplier: foundations and floor penetrations for pasteurizers, tanks, and packaging machinery; drainage systems capable of handling the wash-down volumes generated during cleaning-in-place (CIP) cycles; and refrigerated storage areas maintained for finished products awaiting distribution. Built as the second link in Al-Youm's farm-to-processing chain, the facility connects directly to the operational output of the company's cow farm, forming an integrated production system from milking parlor to finished product.

Engineering Challenges of Food-Grade Processing Facilities

Constructing a dairy processing plant to food-safety standards introduced several specific technical demands:

• Hygienic wall, ceiling, and floor finishes: Production areas required seamless epoxy flooring with coved skirting and washable wall and ceiling panel systems — finishes selected and detailed to withstand frequent chemical washdown without degrading or harboring bacteria.
• Sanitation drainage capacity: Cleaning-in-place cycles generate large volumes of wash water that must drain quickly from production floors, requiring floor slopes, trench drains, and drainage pipework sized well beyond typical industrial requirements.
• Cold-chain processing and storage zones: Chilled and frozen storage areas needed insulated envelopes and refrigeration plant integration similar to dedicated cold stores, but coordinated within a building that also houses ambient-temperature production and packaging areas.
• Equipment foundations and services coordination: Processing-line machinery — tanks, pasteurizers, fillers, and packaging equipment — required precisely located foundations, floor penetrations, and services connections coordinated tightly with the equipment supplier's installation drawings.

Scope of Work

CEC's construction scope on the Al-Youm Dairy Processing Facility covered the building shell and structure for production, packaging, and storage areas; food-grade internal finishes including epoxy flooring, coved skirting, and washable wall and ceiling panels throughout production zones; sanitation drainage systems including trench drains and wash-down water collection; insulated cold-storage areas with refrigeration plant integration; equipment foundations and floor penetrations coordinated with the processing-line supplier; and administrative and amenity areas for plant staff finished to a standard appropriate for a food-production environment.

Quality & Safety on Food-Grade Industrial Construction

Food-grade construction demands a level of finish quality and detailing precision beyond standard industrial work — every junction, penetration, and floor-to-wall transition must be sealed and finished to prevent contamination risk. CEC applied enhanced quality controls to these details throughout the build, alongside the company's standard First Grade structural and civil quality system, and coordinated closely with Al-Youm Dairy Company's food-safety requirements to ensure the facility was ready for hygiene certification and operational use immediately upon handover.