Top Editors ... ImprovingHygiene: a practical approach

Title: ImprovingHygiene: a practical approach
Date: 07/02/2007
Autor: By Sian Thomas, Regional Manager, Hygiene Group


Brand reputation, high customer expectation and legislation all combine to make tt more important than ever to maintain the highest possible levels of cleanliness and hygiene in food and beverage production. Different areas and applications within the plant all require a carefully planned and specialised approach.
Sanitising and deep cleaning processes for plant and equipment at end-of-run represent a particular challenge, especially where raw food materials such as meat are involved. The imperatives here are to remove debris and contamination, ensure micro integrity and prevent pest infestation - while at the same time minimising downtime. A structured procedure is therefore required at the end of every production run, typically involving the removal of gross debris followed by pressurised washdown with alkaline detergents, then sanitisation using foam spray. Kitchens and ovens similarily require deep cleaning with detergents and caustica. Here, as elsewhere, efficient processes and specialised equipment will ensure high levels of hygiene combinad with minimal disruption to production.
For applications where caustic cleaning is insufficient or inappropriate, cryogenic cleaning can provide a safe and effective altemative. Using this new and innovative process, solid pellets of CO2 are accelerated by an air jet onto the desired surface. Food residues are instantly frozen, shattering into smaller pieces, and blown away by the airflow. As the pellets evaporate instantaneously, all that remains is a 100% clean surface and frozen debris that is easily removed by suction cleaning. Cryogenic cleaning can be especially useful for removing dry carbonated deposits in hot environments such as baking, as well as around motors and on wrapping belts.
Dry steam cleaning is ideal for roller conveyors, wall/floor junctions and pillar footings. Using a variety of hand-held tools, pressurised steam vapour at 130ºC acts swiftly and powerfully to loosen and release dirt particles from the surface, while removing and preventing germs and bacteria in inaccessible grooves and corners. Cleaning agents can also be introduced into the steam flow at the tool tip in order to speed up cleaning and degreasing.
For floors in production areas, corridors and stairways, foam-activated scrubber/dryer systems are used to remove contamination, reduce the risk of slips and falls, and raise hygiene standards and perceptions to a high level. Modern, environmentally-friendly cleaning technology uses foam to reduce consumption of both water and Chemicals, as well as achieving more efficient use of machinen/ and manpower by reducing filling and emptying times.
Cleaning in confined spaces can involve unusual challenges. Production area vessels such as storage tanks and ventilation systems require oxygen level checks and often special breathing apparatus. By contrast, cleaning in large sugar or grain storage silos at depths of 40ft can sometimes involve internal access using a winch and bosun's chair for high pressure washing or dry cleaning and sanitisation.
High level cleaning of ceilings, structure, pipework, tanks, ducting and conduits can also be challenging - as well as vital for removing contamination and controlling pest incidence. With health and safety an obvious critical issue, specialist equipment such as mobile towers and operator harnesses are essential, together with risk assessments, method statements and strict procedural regulations. One innovative solution for reducing risk and enhancing safety at high levels comes in the form of environmentally-friendly 'reach and wash' pole-fed cleaning systems for Windows and cladding. Tap water is deionised by an operator at ground level and then fed through lightweight polycarbon fibre coles up to heights of 60ft - eliminating all the risks of working at height on ladders.
The cleaning of offices and general environs including road sweeping and grounds maintenance can be an important factor in reducing the risk of dirt transfer and keeping the whole environment as hygienic as possible. With new technologies now available for carpet cleaning and dirt extraction, hygiene standards and perceptions on an entire site can be raised to a new level. Waste segregation and streaming into categories such as food, packaging, hazardous and confidential is similarily important - not only for hygiene and environmental reasons but also on
economic and legislation grounds. Source, segregation and target treatment planning all contribute to effective control and management.                    Cleaning at Carlsberg One of the largest breweries in the UK, Carlsberg's Leeds facility occupies a 20-acre site and produces 2.8 million hectolitres of beer every year, including famous brands such as Carlsberg lager, Tetley's Smoothflow keg bitter and Tetley's cask bitter. Accreditation to the British Retail Consortium standard was a key driver in Carlsberg's review of cleaning specifications, and this led to a contract being awarded to the Hygiene Group for the entire site including the brewery, packaging and warehousing áreas. Challenges included a mix of new and oíd buildings, and the need for a close understanding of production issues to integrate the cleaning programme into brewery shift pattems. Hygiene invested in ride-on machines for the scrubbing and rapid drying of warehouse floors, and worked closely with the brewery's technical team to develop an audit system. As Alison Ranee, brewing and processing manager for the Carlsberg site explained, "We were impressed by Hygiene Group's approach and their extensive experience of the food processing industry. We have seen real improvements all round since the Hygiene Group contract started."

Auditing
United Biscuits (UB) has implemented an electronic audit system, developed by the Hygiene Group, to improve the efficiency of the auditing of its production line cleaning. Previously the manual audit trail system at the company's McVrtie's Stockport factory, where brands such as Penguin, Jaffa Cakes and Chocolate Digestives are made, involved inspection staff verifying the print-outs of the 'end of run' cleaning schedules against 50 pieces of equipment. The Hygiene Group worked with UB to replicate electronically this time consuming and labour-intensive paperwork system.
The Hygiene Group Maximiser now allows staff to use a robust IPAC palm-held touch-screen unit around the plant. Work can be prioritised and scheduled, recorded as completed, with a note of by whom, re-scheduled if necessary, audited to demonstrate compliance and finally validated with digital signatures.
"Our previous cleaning auditing method involved our inspection staff having to carry a wad of inspection sheets around our very large plant," said Terry Willis, the Hygiene Group's site manager at Stockport. "Maximiser overcomes this problem, and enables them to audit faster and more accurately. Before, on average it took about an hour to run off hard copies of inspection sheets and up to four hours to carry out an audit manually. Using Maximiser, auditing can be fitted in amongst daily routine tasks."
Other major customers who benefit from the Hygiene Group's expertise and specialisation in food hygiene include CPUK, Fox's, Walkers, Safeway and Heinz.


This article was reproduced with permission from Food & Beverage
International (copyright Haydon Jackson Publishing Ltd)
www.foodandbeverageintemational.com
Food & Beverage International September 2006