[Ice Chips] Answers to Your Toughest Pest Questions

Q: We are trying to cut costs for cleaning materials in our plant. We now use a cleaner and a chlorine sanitizer on equipment. Our supplier has a chlorinated cleaner that can be used on food equipment. If we use this product, can we eliminate the chlorine sanitizer since it is already in the cleaner?

A: Your question is very common. At a recent seminar, several attendees commented that they had eliminated the sanitizing step because they used chlorinated cleaners. Each of them also mentioned that they had a reduced shelf-life in their products.

A sanitizer is formulated and tested to verify that, if used properly, it will create a 5 log (1,000,000,000 fold) reduction in surface bacteria. It is very important to understand that sanitizing food contact surfaces is a separate step when cleaning and preparing food processing equipment. Any organic material remaining on surfaces can quickly bind with the available chlorine and prevent proper sanitization. Failure to reduce the number of bacteria on equipment surfaces is a primary reason for the reduced shelf life mentioned by the seminar attendees.

The purpose of a chlorinated cleaner is to clean and reduce surface stains. The same concept is found in laundry detergent containing bleach. The bleach helps the detergent eliminate stains and brighten clothing.

Chlorinated cleaners are a great tool for food plants that need to reduce or eliminate stains from mold growth or other surface residues. The chlorine in the cleaning solution reduces the stain, but does not sanitize the surface. A quaternary ammonia sanitizer could be applied to reduce the quick return of the mold.

It is important to prove that the cleaning procedure and sanitizing steps you use provide the desired results. This is accomplished with a variety of testing procedures. The most commonly used method is to wipe the surface with a sterile swab, place the swab in a prepared buffer solution, and send it to a laboratory for culture. This would confirm if the equipment is being properly cleaned and sanitized. AIB