Hygiene and sanitation in food processing plant

Submitted to:-Sir Abid

SUBMITTED BY: - M NOUMAN ASHRAF

17-ARID3094
PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi
Food Plant Sanitation

Food safety issues are a noted concern for consumers, and consequently for media and
regulatory agencies. It is essential for food processors to take the needed safety measures.
Insufficient safety measures have caused many companies to go out of business due to a
single incident of foodborne illness involving their products. Regulatory agencies have been
enforcing processor standards in order to improve the safety, quality, and shelf-life of food
products. Therefore, using good food plant sanitation procedures is vitally important.
Microbial growth can be controlled by cleaning and washing all foods before they enter the
processing line. All equipment in direct contact with food needs to be cleaned and sanitized
properly. The water used for washing, conveying or preparing food products must be of good
sanitary quality. The incoming ingredients must come with a letter of guaranty from the
supplier to ensure absence of microorganisms. Good plant sanitation includes controlling
pests. This includes rodents, birds, insects and more. Pests can carry disease and bacteria
which can transfer to food. Having an outside pest control operator can be very beneficial to
your business. For guidance on good manufacturing practices in a food processing facility,
the FDA has food manufacturing regulations to help with buildings, equipment, production
and more.

The Basics of Cleaning and Sanitation in Food Plants

Sanitation maintains or restores a state of cleanliness and promotes hygiene for prevention of
foodborne illness. It is an essential prerequisite program for food safety. The Preventive
Controls Regulation for Human Food found in 21 CFR Part 117 further underscores the
importance of this element. Preventive controls are defined as: those risk-based, reasonably
appropriate procedures, practices and processes that a person knowledgeable about the safe
manufacturing, processing, packing or holding of food would employ to significantly
minimize or prevent the hazards identified under the hazard analysis that are consistent with
the current scientific understanding of safe food manufacturing, processing, packing or
holding at the time of the analysis.”

The regulation establishes the following preventive controls:

 Process
 Allergen
 Sanitation
 Supply Chain
 Recall
 Other:

(3) Sanitation controls. Sanitation controls include procedures, practices and processes to

ensure that the facility is maintained in a sanitary condition adequate to significantly
minimize or prevent hazards such as environmental pathogens, biological hazards due to
employee handling, and food allergen hazards. Sanitation controls must include, as
appropriate to the facility and the food, procedures, practices and processes for the:
(i) Cleanliness of food-contact surfaces, including food-contact surfaces of utensils and
equipment;

(ii) Prevention of allergen cross-contact and cross-contamination from insanitary objects and
from personnel to food, food packaging material, and other food-contact surfaces and from
raw product to processed product. Check out the definitions below and keep them close at
hand as a reference during the following discussion of cleaning and sanitizing.

Elements of cleaning and sanitizing.

There are many different ways to clean and sanitize equipment. These include the use
of clean-in-place (CIP) systems, foaming, clean-out-of-place (COP), spraying, high pressure
and manual systems. Manual is the old-fashioned route that usually involved scrubbing of
some sort. But no matter which kind of cleaning and sanitizing is selected, there are basic
issues that must be considered. These are summarized using the acronym TACT WINS.

T – Time

A – Action

C – Concentration

T – Temperature

W – Water

I – Individual

N – Nature

S – Surface

Cleaning is a necessary first step because one cannot sanitize a dirty surface. An example that
is seen all too often in some plants and by consumers is the use of chlorine as a cleaner. It is
not a cleaner but a sanitizing agent. Let’s look at the eight elements making up TACT WINS.

Time: The time required to properly clean depends on many factors including, but not
limited to, the method of cleaning, the soil and the type of equipment. If too little or too much
time is used, the surface will be dirty. Too much time might seem to be a misstatement, but it
is not. A company that utilizes foam cleaning must rinse the foam from the surface within a
set period of time. If the foam is allowed to remain on the surface for too long, the foam and
soil will begin to redeposit on the surface, dirtying it. Time is one reason that companies
manufacturing foods containing allergens establish production schedules to minimize the
number of allergen cleanings required.

Action: This is the energy required to properly clean a surface. Action brings the cleaning
compounds into contact with the soil and enhances their removal. Examples of action would
be the activity of a foam cleaner, the flow through pipes in a CIP system, the moving water in
a COP tank, or the use of brushes or white pads when doing manual cleaning. Please note the
reference to white pads. When cleaning one should never use green pads. They are too
abrasive and actually damage or score the surface being cleaned.

One type of action that is now discouraged is the use of high-pressure spray devices. These
can aerosolize soil and microorganisms, which may then settle back onto the equipment.
Action is exceptionally important with CIP systems. The speed and type of flow through
pipes and over surfaces directly affects the efficiency of cleaning. The table below shows the
flow rates needed through different size pipes to achieve a minimum velocity of 5 feet per
second, which is necessary for proper cleaning. When cleaning tanks using CIP systems, the
system must also achieve the minimum 5 feet per second flow rate. Failure to do so will mean
a dirty tank. Others recommend that when cleaning, a flow rate of at least four times that of
the product flow should be employed.

CIP needs velocity to be effective

PIPE VELOCITY FLOW (GPM)

SIZE

1.5 in. 5 ft./sec. 24

2.0 in. 5 ft./sec. 43

2.5 in. 5 ft./sec. 69

3.0 in. 5 ft./sec. 101

4.0 in. 5 ft./sec. 180

Concentration: To properly clean surfaces, the processor must use the correct cleaning
compound at the proper concentration. There are a wide range of cleaning compounds
available to the industry. What is needed depends upon factors such as the nature of the soil,
water hardness and the surface being cleaned. Cleaning compounds have many functions,
including saponification, wetting (surfactancy), emulsification, water softening, foaming or
lack thereof, and risibility. 

Temperature: The temperature at which cleaners are used affects their efficacy. The rule
of thumb is that cleaning efficacy doubles (up to a point) for every 10°C increase in
temperature. Each cleaner has an optimum temperature range at which it should be used.
When developing procedures for cleaning, it is imperative that the temperature range at
which the product is used be clearly specified. Temperature is especially important when
cleaning fatty products. Heat will melt fats, allowing them to be removed.

Water: Water is the universal solvent. The first step in cleaning is a rinse with water to
remove gross soil from the surface and away from the equipment. Water is also used to
convey the detergents to the surface and to carry away the soil. The use of surfactants in
cleaners enhances the ability of water to react with the soils. When selecting a cleaning
compound, the hardness of the water is an integral part of the equation. When working with a
supplier of cleaning compounds, the supplier should collect water samples from the plant.
The type of compound that the supplier will suggest will be based on water hardness. If a
processor uses water from multiple sources, the business must provide water from each
source. 

Individual: Who will do the cleaning?  Each person assigned to cleanup must be properly
educated on each and every cleaning procedure that he or she will be conducting. This
training must be based on documented procedures and include the mandatory personal
protective equipment (PPE) needed to properly and safely do the work. Given the importance
of cleaning to food safety, many companies now not only have given the cleaning crew more
important titles, but are also paying them a bit more.

Nature: What products are being manufactured in each plant will determine the kind of soil
that must be removed. There are five basic kinds of soils the food industry must deal with:
fats/grease, proteins, minerals, sugars and complex carbohydrates. The food industry today
must also address food allergens, which will be incorporated into one of the five basic
categories. In addition, part of the equation must also include how the products are processed.
As an example, processing milk products through a plate heat exchanger will begin to burn
onto the surface of the heat exchanger. This will make the soils harder to remove.

Surface: What is the equipment that is being cleaned made of the most common material is
stainless steel, but one sees plastics in various shapes and forms, rubber, and other metals. All
metals will corrode, some more quickly than others. Stainless steel is favoured because it has
high resistance, whereas aluminium corrodes easily. One rarely sees food processing
equipment made of aluminium, but it may be used in other places in a plant, such as
refrigerators or ice machines. So, these are the elements that must be addressed to properly
clean a surface. Once the surface has been cleaned, it must be sanitized. Sanitization may be
done with chemicals or with heat. Many companies that employ COP tanks chose to sanitize
parts that have been cleaned in the tanks by simply flushing with hot water at greater than
180°F for at least five minutes.

Establishing a cleaning and sanitizing program

Processors must develop, document, implement and maintain procedures for cleaning each
and every piece of equipment, floors, walls, ceilings, overheads, loading docks, utensils, etc.
on their master cleaning schedule. An integral element of implementation is making sure that
the workers doing the cleaning and sanitizing have been properly educated on the
documented procedures and fully understand that they must follow the procedures as written.
Part of developing the procedures should include validating that all pieces of equipment that
pose a potential health hazard are cleaned using procedures that effectively clean and sanitize
them. This is especially true for foods containing allergens. In other words, validate the
procedures. During cleaning, the documented procedures must be followed, and the company
should conduct verification activities to ensure that the work was done properly.

Today, almost all CIP systems are automated. There are tanks for cleaners and sanitizers,
metering pumps from drums or bins of chemicals that must be properly calibrated to ensure
that the proper concentration of cleaner is mixed with water, control panels, and a means to
document the cleaning process. The CIP system will be linked to the processing equipment
and used as needed, which would usually be at the end of a day’s production run or between
products. CIP equipment is almost always stainless steel of some sort (surface). The type of
CIP system that a company would use depends upon the products being manufactured or the
nature of the soil. Complex formulations, such as puddings, will require a more complex
cleaning regimen, especially if they are being processed aseptically, which means there will
be burn-on on the surface.One feature that any system with CIP must have is the capability of
being properly drained at the end of the cycle. One doesn’t want water, sanitizer or cleaner
accumulating in the system. Such a situation can compromise product quality or product
safety because the product would now be adulterated. In addition, it can create safety
concerns. There have been serious injuries resulting from a failure to properly drain or purge
cleaners or water from lines, especially in deep-fat frying operations.

Processors should work closely with their chemical supplier to develop the proper CIP
sequencing for their CIP cleaning. As noted above, the proper sequencing, complexity and
setup of the pre-rinse, cleaning and sanitizing steps depends upon the nature of the soil. There
are five- and seven-step CIP cleaning regiments. There are also CIP sequences that are much
simpler; that is, rinse, caustic wash and final rinse. The first step for any cleaning process is,
as mentioned earlier, the pre-rinse with water. In a CIP system, this may be done with cool or
hot water. Most use hot water (temperature) that will dissolve sugars, melt fats and ensure
that the lines are properly wetted.During the wash steps, it is imperative that the flow rate
through the system is enough to properly clean the system (action), especially the walls of
tanks. The minimum flow rates shown above must be achieved to properly clean the surface
of the soil. In addition, proper temperatures must be used with each chemical to ensure proper
cleaning. The chemicals that are selected for cleaning and sanitizing will be determined based
on water hardness. The different solutions are circulated through the system for set times to
further ensure proper cleaning and minimize potential damage to the surfaces. When
establishing cleaning parameters, serious consideration should be given to properly validating
those parameters that are established. One of the 10 basic principles of sanitary design
established by the American Meat Institute (AMI) for equipment is “Validate to a Cleaning
and Sanitizing Protocols.” If a company is running allergens, workers should test rinse water
or equipment surfaces for the most prominent allergen in the product. Ideally, validation
testing should be done at least twice to establish the proper parameters. Many companies do
even more; they run their validation trials in triplicate. And if they are looking at a filler, this
means swabbing each filler head three times.  Finally, processors must document that the
proper cleaning and sanitizing parameters are used for each cleaning cycle. This means that
the information should be captured electronically by the processing system software or the
CIP equipment software, or the individual monitoring the program must record times,
temperatures and concentrations of chemicals. These records should be reviewed by the
preventive controls qualified individual or a trained designate under the supervision of the
PCQI. In addition, all metering pumps and other devices used for monitoring must be
calibrated on a schedule determined by the HACCP or Food Safety Team. Calibration
schedules should be based on a documented risk assessment.

Cleaning and preventive controls

The Preventive Controls Regulation for Human Food states that sanitation may be deemed a
preventive control. Whether this is the case must be established by each processor based on
its hazard analysis. This was incorporated in the regulation because cleaning and sanitizing is
deemed an essential element for ensuring the production of safe foods. The acronym TACT
WINS defines the eight elements that must be considered when developing a cleaning
program. There is a reason that the focus is on cleaning and not sanitizing; one cannot
properly sanitize a dirty surface, so cleaning of paramount importance. Get that surface clean
and sanitizing is almost secondary.