The presentation is about cleaning and sanitation of dairy and meat plants.

1. Dairy and Meat
Processing Plants:
Cleaning
By
Dr. Geeta Chauhan
Senior Scientist
Division of Livestock Products
Technology
Indian Veterinary Research Institute,
Izatnagar, Bareilly (UP), India

2. Introduction
Cleaning and sanitation has assumed key importance in fast
growing food processing sector in response to enhancing
demography with great impact on food behavior of consumers.
Food legislations and regulations require the food processing
industries to comply relevant food standards especially food
safety standards. Growing awareness among consumers has also
been proved as key drives for compliance of food safety
standards.
Cleaning and sanitary practices are regarded as integral part of
GMP and GHP, which is pre requisite of prevalent food safety
management system like HACCP. Primary objective of cleaning
and sanitation is to control access of microbes to food
environment which has been bearing on public health aspect and
efficiency of food processing operations. Neglection of hygiene
measures results in unwanted costly product recall and shake of
consumers trust.

3. Role of cleaning and
Sanitation
• Meat and dairy products being rich in protein, low in acid and
buffered, are very perishable and hygienically sensitive
commodities.
• Also, demands of livestock products are increasing with the
growing income and urbanization. In response to growing
demands, number of domestic and multinational food retail
chain are catering the need of consumers especially in RTE
segment.
• Failure to observe the sanitary standards by these retail
chain and processing industries may cause huge loss.
• Due to the above facts, well planned cleaning and sanitary
operations are necessary as they not only facilitate the
compliance of legal standards o food but also create pleasant

4. Cleaning
• Dirt, soil, organic matter protects the microbes from
environmental stress particularly physical, chemical
sanitizers used in food processing industries.
• Cleaning refers to removal of soil, dirt which includes
garbage, loose soil, milk, blood, fat residues, organic
and inorganic deposits.
• Cleaning is carried out prior to sanitizing process to
achieve maximum efficiency of sanitizers.

5. Factors affecting the cleaning
efficiency
There are many factors affecting the cleaning process
efficiency and are needed to be considered before
developing GMP and GHP for meat and dairy processing
plants. Some of the important factors are-
1.Sanitary design consideration of plant-
Plant layouts and other details should be properly sanitary
designed to achieve the goals of sanitation.
Sanitary designs should take into consideration aspects
like- interior and exterior of the plant, its location, waste
disposal and drainage, construction material especially of
food contact surface, separate clean and dirty areas.
Spatial design should also be considered to access 360º to
equipments and installation.

6.  Also, factors like proper ventilation, air flow and lighting
should be pay with due attention in sanitary design plan.
2.Sanitary design of tools and equipments-
Sanitary design of tools and equipments facilitate easy and
efficient cleaning.
Dead spots or inaccessible spots on equipments and tools
may serve potential source of contamination. So designing
should eliminate the possibility of dead spots.
3.Material and state of food contact surface-
Food contact surface must be of such materials to assure
cleanliness and desired level of sanitation.
Poorly maintained, cracked surfaces hinder the efficient
cleaning operations and favorthe biofilm formation.
Scratch resistant material allows easy cleaning like stainless
steel.

7. 4. Quality of Airand Water-
 Wateris used as a cleaning medium and chilling medium in
meat and milk processing.
 It is the most important detergent for cleaning and is used
at various stages for various purposes. It comes in contact
of food, thus, act as a source of contamination of its quality
is compromised.
 Spray drying and air chilling require large volume of air
which comes in contact of food and may have potential to
contaminate.
 Installation of air filter and maintenance of positive air
pressure improves the cleanliness and sanitation.

8. Methods of Cleaning
• Cleaning process employs different types of detergent and
energy in the form of pressure, hot water and physical
removal like scrubbing, etc.
• Cleaning method has evolved a lot to meet the demand of
various product specific food industries
DETERGENTS
• Cleaning efficiency is improved by employing chemical
detergents.
• Selection of detergent depends on factors like- nature of
soil, corrosiveness property of detergent, rinsability,
compatibility with other sanitizers and safety issues during
handling of the detergent.
• Detergent should be used in concentration just above the
critical micelle concentration (CMC) that ranges 800 to 900

9. Characteristics of Ideal Detergent
• It must possess capacity to form maximum suspension and
deflocculation of soil.
• Ability to prevent scale formation in hard water.
• It must ensure optimum rinsing.
• It must maintain relatively stable degree of acidity and
alkalinity.
• It should be compatible with sanitizers being used.
• It should be non-toxic and should not tend to taint or
discolorthe food.
• It should be bio degradable and economical
PRESSURE-
 Detergent solution is used with the range of 300 to 1000
psi pressure.
 Generally, high pressure jet cleaners are used in meat
plant. Also, spray gun can be used effectively.

10.  Pressure should be between 30 to 70 bar and nozzle
should be 15 cm from the surface to be cleaned.
TEMPERATURE-
 Waterwith at least 82ºC with adequate pressure is capable
of removing dirt and soil from surface. Also, if hot water is
used, temperature at the nozzle at 55ºC is sufficient for fat
removal.
 Pressurized steam and water mix is more efficient as
impact temperature of approximately 100ºC can be achieved.
 Disadvantage- Fog and aerosol formation occurs which
affects equipments and other installations due to excessive
humidity and condensation.

11. Commonly Used Detergents
1.Alkaline detergent-
Suitable to remove organic protein and fat.
Sodium carbonate- efficient in dissolving in protein and fat
but may cause corrosion in tools and equipments at pH 11
and above.
2.Acid detergent-
Suitable to remove encrusted residues of soil or scale such
as milk stones, lime and waterstones, etc.
3.Neutral detergent-
It has mild impact on skin and food contact surface
material.
Such detergents are useful for manual cleaning and of
smooth surface without encrusted dirt.

12.  Commercially available cleaning chemicals are complex
compositions of alkaline, acid, neutral substances.
 Detergents may have additional cleaning substances like
chlorine, silicate and phosphate.
 Alkaline and acid cleaners should be used alternatively.
 Alkaline detergent can be used for routine cleaning
operation but acid detergent should be used after certain
interval to remove encrusted scale.
Cleaning Process
• Periodical and frequent cleaning should be performed to
check the build up of microbial niche.
• Cleaning schedule depends on many factors like-
a)Nature of the soil- food components determine the soil
characteristics.

13.  Protein is water soluble and slightly soluble in alkaline
and acidic condition respectively whereas fat is soluble under
alkaline condition.
• Otherfactors are-
 nature of food contact surface
 desired cleanliness standards
 hardness of water
 nature of food products processed.
Basic Steps For Cleaning
• Cleaning process should start from dry cleaning to remove
gross soil as it saves waterand prevent clogging.
• Wet cleaning with detergent remove the residual soil
material which involves soaking, washing, non-abrasive
brushing, rinsing followed by drying.

14. Care During Cleaning
All the food products must be removed from site because
physical cleaning with pressurized water creates aerosols
which is potential source of contamination.
Cleaning Operations In Meat
Plant
• Hot waterat 82ºC at final pressure at the hose nozzle with
14kgf/sq cm is used with high pressure jet cleaners to wash
and clean floorand othersurfaces.
• Trolleys, hooks, gambrel, etc may be sterilized in cabinets
or in the sterilization room where they are immersed in
batches in tanks.
• Smaller items like meat knives, cleavers are sanitized in

15. Novel Cleaning Method
Foam And Gel Cleaning
• Foam and gel adhere to the surface, allow more time to
chemical to breakdown the soil which is then rinsed away
with hot waterunderpressure.
• Both cleaning methods are laborsaving.
• Foam is applied in cold form and gel can be applied in very
hot form.
• Gel, unlike foam, does not collapse and is useful for thin
tenacious protein orfat films.

16. Advantages of Foam Cleaning
• It is laborsaving and coverlarge area in very short time.
• It can penetrate in accessible area of equipment, thus,
dismantling of equipment is not needed.
• Foam clings to surface and does not run to waste. Hence,
it is economical.
• It is bio degradable.
• It is safe to use as does not splash during application.

17. Cleaning System
Various types of cleaning system exists in food processing
units.
Cleaning In Place (CIP) system- It is a closed system.
• Basically designed forcleaning internal surfaces only.
• Here, compounds are circulated by a pump through series of
pipes to the components to be cleaned.
• Central cleaning system has a central pumping source
supplying cleaning solution under pressure to remote
locations.
• Unit should create pressure of 35 to 49 kgf/sq cm with a
flow of 136 to 181 liter/min.

18. Sanitation
• Food contact surfaces are subjected to sanitation after
cleaning.
• Sanitation plan involve the use of several physical and
methods to reduce pathogenic and spoilage microbes to the
acceptable microbiological standards.
• Physical methods employs
 hot water
 steam mixed hot water
 UV radiations
• Chemical sanitizers are more frequently used and includes
 Chlorine based sanitizers
 Iodophores
 Hydrogen peroxide

19. Characteristics Of Ideal Sanitizer
• It must be stable in presence of organic residues and
hard water.
• It should be non-corrosive and non-staining to the skin
and surface.
• It should not cause taint to food products.
• It should be non-toxic.
• It should be watersoluble and easily rinsable.
• It should be compatible with otherchemicals.
• It should be readily available in the market.

20. Criteria for Selection Of
Sanitizers
Selection requires consideration regarding-
• Microbial niche likely to be present
• Amount of organic matterpresent on surface.
• Anti microbial spectrum of sanitizers.
• Volume, concentration and contact time required
• Method of application
• Safety aspect of the procedure forworker.
• Economy and availability.

21. Factors Affecting The
Efficiency Of Sanitizers
Various factors are-
1.Concentration of sanitizers
2.Temperature and duration of contact
3.Acidity and alkalinity of the solution
4.Presence of organic matteron the surface

22. Sanitizers Used In Meat and
Dairy Processing Units
There are basically fourtypes of sanitizers-
1.Halogen based Sanitizers-
Chlorine and Iodine is used as sanitizer.
a.Chlorine- most widely used in the form of HOCl in
aqueous solution
Oxidizing effect is the basis of bacteriostatic action.
More effective in low pH.
Limitations-
Corrosive to metal at high temperature
Certain resultant compounds are undesirable, like-
Chlorophenol- cause taints at low concentration
Organochlorine- health hazard and regarded as POP.

23. b. Iodophores-
• MajorIodine compounds
• Complex of elemental Iodine and surfactant
• More stable in presence of organic compounds as
compared to Chlorine compounds.
Limitations-
 Less effective as sporocidal than Chlorine.
 Iodine may be lost at 50ºC due to sublimation.
 Costly, pHsensitive and have off flavours.

24. 2. Quaternary Ammonium Compounds-
 Commonly known as Quats
 It is essentially bacteriostatic.
 Application- on floors, walls, furnishing and
equipments.
Advantages-
 Form stable film which confer continuous
bacteriostatic action.
 Non- corrosive to metal
 Good penetrability
Limitation-
 It is expensive

25. 3. Amphoteric Compounds-
 Long chain substituted amino acids
 Compatible with all detergents
 Unaffected by hard water
4. Acid Sanitizers-
 It is frequently associated with cleaners
 Effective on stainless steel surface
 Mode of Application- CIPorspray orfoaming
 Precautions- cleaners to be rinsed away as presence
of cationic surfactant will diminish efficacy.

26. Antimicrobial Spectrum Of
Sanitizers
Sanitizer G+ G- Mycobacteria Endo
Spores
Fungal
spores
envelo
ped
Non-
envelope
d
Prions
Chlorine ++ ++ + + + ++ ++ ±
Iodine ++ ++ + + + ++ + -
QAC ++ + - - + + - -
Acids ++ + - ± + + ± -
Alkalies ++ ++ + + + + ± ±
Aldehyd
e
++ ++ + ++ ++ ++ ++ -
Peracetic
acid
++ ++ + ++ ++ ++ + -

27. Monitoring Of Cleaning And
Sanitizing Efficacy
 Cleaning and sanitizing efficacy of process is assessed
by visual and microbiological examination.
 Visual examination is not very reliable but gives
indication of cleanliness to some extent.
For example- Sometimes soil is not easily seen if it is
underfilm of water.
 Generally employed routine tests are microbiological
culture methods like total viable counts and presence of
indicatororganisms.
 ATP bioluminescence method is rapid but it cannot
differentiate the microbial ATPand ATPof otherorigin.

28. It utilizes luciferin and luciferase system to emit light
in presence of ATPwhich is present in living cells.
 Now it is commercially available and provides results
within 5 to 10 minutes onsite.

29. Thank you…..