The European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group — EHEDG — is the consortium of engineers and food manufacturers working towards improved hygienic design of food-processing equipment. Its guidelines define how machinery should be built so it can be cleaned effectively: smooth, crevice-free surfaces, drainable geometry, food-grade materials, no dead legs where product and microbes can hide. Equipment certified to EHEDG standards carries the assurance that hygienic design was engineered in, not bolted on. The group’s work underpins the cleanability that HACCP plans assume — a plant can only be sanitised if its equipment was designed to be. Bringing together equipment makers, food companies, and researchers, EHEDG turned hygienic design from craft knowledge into published criteria, test methods, and certification. Clean food starts with cleanable machines.