To define detail, scope and purpose.
To establish the developed detail in a viewable format to facilitate information.
To facilitate the application of the documentation.
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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
When considering the development, documentation, and implementation of Cleaning and Sanitation within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Cleaning and sanitation programs are an integral part of any food business, supporting the food safety and quality management system through an established presence within all areas of the premises and surroundings. Cleaning and Sanitation programs should be continually monitored and recorded to ensure their suitability and effectiveness.
The importance of proper cleaning can be appreciated by recognising that contaminated equipment has historically been a major cause of food-borne illness outbreaks (see Food-borne Illness Prevention). Cleaning and sanitation include many individual and complementary operations in every food premises. Cleaning procedures are commonly specific to the type of cleaning necessary. The priority for Cleaning and Sanitation tasks within any food business is for food contact surfaces, premises, equipment, and utensils.
The goals of Cleaning and Sanitation are to:
Appropriate cleaning and sanitising procedures, in their planning and application, will reduce the risk of cross-contamination of product or process.
Factors in the ability of Cleaning and Sanitation applications to reduce cross-contamination include:
Documented cleaning and sanitation procedures need to be in place to monitor and control related issues. This documentation must outline the boundaries that need to be addressed in ensuring safe and quality food production. Cleaning and sanitation procedures need to be developed, documented, and implemented for all areas of consequence to food safety and quality.
Where written cleaning schedules and procedures are used, they should specify:
Where appropriate, Cleaning and Sanitation programs should be formatted in consultation with relevant specialist expert advisors, including your cleaning and sanitation chemical suppliers where applicable.
There are many cleaning and sanitation tasks that need to be delegated to specific staff within any food business operation. The following sections give an indication of tasks to consider for food handlers and for housekeeping and cleaning staff. Further guidance is available within Good Housekeeping Practices.
All food handlers may be responsible for the day-to-day cleanliness of the food processing areas in which they work. They may also be responsible for communication with the housekeeping department whenever specific cleaning is required or urgent issues arise. Food handlers must also meet the requirements of Personal Hygiene Standards.
Food handler Cleaning and Sanitation duties may include:
Housekeeping and cleaning and sanitation staff are generally employed to carry out general and specific housekeeping duties relating to cleaning and sanitation among other tasks.
Housekeeping and cleaning and sanitation staff duties may include:
The following example shows commonly applied cleaning and sanitation, commonly known as wet cleaning:
Cleaned and sanitised equipment and utensils must be:
The use of chemicals within any food business must include elements that not only promote food safety but also promote the general safe use, handling, and storage of all cleaning, sanitation, pest control, maintenance, and other chemicals. This can generally be facilitated by ensuring procedures for chemical control are documented and available to everyone using chemicals. Further guidance is available within Chemical Control.
Chemical usage procedures may include:
All pesticides, sanitisers, cleaners, polishes, lubricants, and other toxic and non-toxic chemicals used in the food business must be:
Food business chemicals must be approved for use in the food establishment. Some products, such as food-grade lubricants, may contain statements by the manufacturer as being approved for use within the food industry or a specific industry sector. Before use within a food business, a confirmation must be received that chemical products are approved for a specific use, and will not potentially contaminate foods. Pesticides and other regulated chemicals must only be applied by persons licensed or certified under local regulatory requirements. Regulatory approvals may also be required for the use of some chemicals within food businesses.
There are many different types of cleaning and sanitation chemicals available for use within the food industry. Detergents are used to remove dirt particles. They are not designed to kill microorganisms, although their pH levels can affect microbial growth and survival. Detergents are chemicals that usually contain a surfactant, which makes the removal of dirt from surfaces easier. The most appropriate time to clean surfaces with detergents in solution, or as recommended, is immediately after use. This removes food particles before they harden and become more difficult to remove, and before they support microbial growth. The strength of a detergent regarding its cleaning power is reflected in its alkalinity. The use of hot water as a component of cleaning and sanitising routines, where appropriate, can dramatically improve the capability of the system to control microorganisms.
Sanitisers are generally not good at removing dirt but do kill microorganisms if used according to the conditions of use. The majority of food poisoning bacteria are killed if they are exposed to heat, chemical sanitisers, or a combination of both. Sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach) is one of the most commonly used chemical sanitisers in the food industry today. Commercial bleach typically contains around 10% available chlorine, while the domestic variety is commonly around 4%. High-risk areas to be sanitised should use a solution at a concentration of up to 100 parts per million of available chlorine. Other areas and applications may require a solution of around 50 parts per million. Concentrations should always follow the supplier’s directions and your validated cleaning and sanitation procedures.
Chemical sanitising generally requires greater controls than sanitising with hot water or steam. The following factors must be considered to obtain effective sanitation by chemical methods:
The factors that determine the performance of a particular detergent or sanitiser include:
When not using an automated chemical dosing system, chemical sanitiser instructions call for a given amount of chemical sanitiser per litre of water. This ratio of chemical sanitiser to water is important to ensure ongoing appropriate outcomes for the sanitation process.
If manual chemical sanitiser measuring and mixing methods are used, the processes involved must follow procedure and be verified on an ongoing basis.
Staff involved in applications where they are required to manually measure and mix chemicals must be trained and deemed competent in the required tasks.
Food contact surfaces of equipment and utensils are the surfaces with which food is normally and expected to come into contact. The effective Cleaning and Sanitation of food contact surfaces, including equipment and utensils, serves two primary purposes:
Ware washing is a familiar practice, but many people do not understand its principles, or the outcomes where Cleaning and Sanitation are not completed as required. For the most part, chemistry plays a very important part in the cleaning and sanitising process. Washing equipment and utensils until they are visibly clean is not enough to guarantee the production of safe, quality foods.
The most common methods used in cleaning and sanitising include:
An example of a swabbing process may include the following steps:
It is highly recommended that specified procedures be followed during Cleaning and Sanitation as part of any effective food safety and quality system.
Special cleaning and sanitising should be completed:
Where bulk water and food transport vehicles are required to undergo Cleaning and Sanitation, the procedure should generally be similar to that used for food processing equipment, commensurate with the materials previously carried by the transport vehicle. Further guidance is available within Transport Standards.
Food processing equipment that requires in-place cleaning should be designed and constructed so that:
Equipment used in production-line food processing should undergo Cleaning and Sanitation on a schedule set according to the defined risk levels involved, for example after each use, at the end of each shift, daily, weekly, or as part of periodic deep cleans.
A cleaning schedule defines what is cleaned, how often, by whom, and how completion is recorded. Schedules should be risk based, with food contact surfaces and higher risk areas cleaned more frequently than lower risk areas such as walls and ceilings.
Cleaning schedules commonly include:
A master sanitation schedule that lists every area and item, with the method, frequency, responsible person, and verification activity, helps to ensure nothing is missed. Completion should be signed off and reviewed by a supervisor.
The following logical sequence is an example of a basic automated ware washing procedure:
The following logical sequences are examples of basic manual ware washing procedures:
Three compartment sink method using hot water sanitising:
Three compartment sink method using chemical sanitising:
The following points should be considered within the scope of application for any Cleaning and Sanitation activity:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Development requirements in relation to their items.
Cleaning tools such as brushes, brooms, scourers, cloths, and buckets can spread contamination if they are not controlled. Tools should be fit for purpose, kept clean and in good repair, and stored off the floor in a designated area.
Many food businesses use colour coding to separate cleaning tools by area or risk, for example one colour for raw food areas, another for ready-to-eat areas, and another for toilets and amenities. A colour coding chart should be displayed and team members trained in its use.
A pre-operational inspection is completed after cleaning and before production starts, to confirm that premises and equipment are clean, sanitised, and ready for use. Inspections commonly include sensory checks (sight, smell, and touch) and may include verification swabbing.
ATP bioluminescence swabbing gives a rapid indication of residual organic matter on a surface, with results available within minutes. ATP tests do not identify specific microorganisms, so they are commonly used alongside microbiological testing (see Product Assessment and Testing).
Determining if equipment, utensils, and the premises have undergone effective Cleaning and Sanitation can be done through a variety of methods including:
Document: A document provides guidance and or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgements that affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions, and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following documentation formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Cleaning and Sanitation:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Cleaning and Sanitation Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Cleaning and Sanitation documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Cleaning and Sanitation within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff, and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step that requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Cleaning and Sanitation do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Cleaning and Sanitation must include a clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff, and visitors to the site.
When implementing Cleaning and Sanitation within a food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements before completion:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Implementation requirements in relation to their items.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within HACCP plans, implementation procedures, and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record-keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. Advancements in technology have produced many systems and processes that are self-monitored or self-adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used, the goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Cleaning and Sanitation monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process where applied to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
The following examples of monitoring activities and record formats may apply to Cleaning and Sanitation:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Cleaning and Sanitation Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Cleaning and Sanitation documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly in relation to a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action are implemented to ensure that any identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated and rectified within appropriate timeframes. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming or outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the HACCP Plans and to the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Cleaning and Sanitation related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Corrective Action requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored, and reviewed. All food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, HACCP plans, and their operational applications must be verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible, and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate timeframe. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may apply to Cleaning and Sanitation:
Methods for determining whether equipment, utensils, and the premises have undergone effective cleaning and sanitation are described in Assessing and Verifying Cleaning and Sanitation below.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Verification requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality systems elements such as procedures, HACCP plans, and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product, and process control outcomes, and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any inappropriate limits of control or acceptability are identified and rectified within an appropriate timeframe. When non-conformance issues are identified through the validation process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may apply to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Cleaning and Sanitation:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Validation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specific job-related task.
Training and competency requirements for Cleaning and Sanitation must be ongoing, including regular scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Cleaning and Sanitation should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Cleaning and Sanitation should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Cleaning and Sanitation should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Cleaning and Sanitation Training, Competency, and Resources requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency, and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
