JOHN Astad, Director of the Combustible Dust Policy Institute, has pointed to the Sanitarium cereal factory fire as an example of the dangers of combustible cereal dust.
The Sanitarium cereal factory at Lake Macquarie was shut down after a fire occurred in a dust exhaust unit of the facility.
Fire crews and local rural fire service volunteers contained the fire, and used thermal imaging cameras to check the rest of the ducting system for further outbreaks.
There are no known injuries resulting from the fire, which happened overnight. According to Astad, cereal dust is very combustible, and similar incidents have occurred in the US and elsewhere in the world.