Depending on the chosen result, a cleaning process in food commerce will consist of two or three steps: rinsing, foam cleaning, and, eventually, disinfection. We will summarize how this process works in practice.
In companies where food is processed, maximum attention is paid to hygiene. In addition to the personal hygiene of the employees (for example, going through a hygiene hatch when entering the production area, changing clothes, and wearing gloves and hairnets), the equipment and the production room(s) also must be clean. This revenue that a hygienic cleaning process of the equipment and rooms will have to be carried out after each manufacturing day or even after each manufactured batch. This process contains the following three steps, and the third step, disinfection, is optional.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Rinse
The rooms and equipment are no longer clean after the production process. There will always be food residues to a greater or lesser extent. To ensure hygiene, production areas are thoroughly clean. It begins with the washing of equipment, walls, and floors. To do this, you will need to use pressurised water to transport to the desired location through a pressure booster system and a network of pipes. Enormous dirt will remove through this rinse.
Step 2: Foam cleaning
Immediately after flushing, equipment, floors, and walls should clean using foam cleaning. For this, a centralised system uses a foam installation with an automatic dosing device. With a decentralised system, the chemical adds to the water at the supply terminals, and the foam creates air pressure. A layer of foam must apply to all surfaces in the production area. The longer the foam soak time, the better. After washing, the foam layer rinses again.
Step 3: Disinfection
Optionally, after cleaning and rinsing the foam, a third step can add to the hygienic process: a post-treatment with disinfectant. This agent has an antibacterial effect and is sprayed on equipment and eventually on walls and floors. This disinfection process ensures that microorganisms eliminate. Depending on the disinfectant used, this step may or may not follow by a water-only rinse.
What is a suitable disinfection method?
In all cases, efficient cleaning goes through correct disinfection and subsequent sterilisation in the required subjects for the proper functioning of specific workspaces in which the microbial load must necessarily control, as is the case in the industry: food, health activity, laboratories in or pharmaceutical industry, and biochemistry. To achieve the best objectives in disinfection methods, it is essential to train the personnel responsible for these tasks, who must know how to use each procedure, the service and handling of the different cleaning and disinfection agents, and the differences between them. Basic concepts that distinguish very clearly.
Important Tips
After using the procedures indicated in each type of cleaning and disinfection or sterilisation program, a validation must be carried out as a formal and documented procedure to determine and contrast the efficiency obtained in each process.
- For cleaning and disinfection agents to be truly effective, they must:
- Use disinfection products in sanitised containers appropriate to the compounds.
- Use each disinfectant individually.
- Do not mix disinfectant products and detergents.
- Control the expiration dates of the compounds and agents, not filling the containers.
- At PH Serkonten, we are at your disposal to offer you all the hygienic solutions and the best disinfection methods your company needs.
Conclusion
Performing cleaning and disinfection involves applying three sequential steps. Each step has a purpose that is design before it executes. The final result of the cleaning process is that the levels of cleaning and disinfection of the surfaces have realise.
