The first standards for the hygienic design of equipment used in the dairy industry were introduced in the 1920s. These standards 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.
3-A SSI develops and maintains a comprehensive inventory of Sanitary Standards and Accepted Practices for dairy and food processing equipment and systems. They are also instrumental in advancing state-of-art hygienic equipment design to meet the rapidly changing needs of the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.