Industrial Plant Sanitation

We offer a wide range of Industrial Steam Cleaning Equipment

An effective sanitation program must result in both a plant that is clean (free of any soils and residues that can harbour or promote the growth of microorganisms) and sanitized (microorganisms either destroyed or reduced to a safe level). This then ensures that the food produced is safe for consumption and has the longest possible shelf life.

Typically this is a multistep process that involves:

1. 1.  A pre rinse with water to remove gross soils and food product from equipment
2. 2.  Wash with detergents to clean the equipment.
3. 3.  Rinse to remove detergent residues.
4. 4.  Treatment with sanitizing agents and final rinse.

The vast majority of facilities then validate the level of sanitation achieved with pre operational inspections that typically include ATP testing for protein residues and swabs which are cultivated to determine if, and what type, of viable microorganisms remain on or around the equipment.

Unfortunately this standard multistep process does not ensure all potentially dangerous microorganisms have been eliminated for the following reasons:

• There are many components and areas on processing equipment where water can’t be used due to concerns of damaging motors, sensors etc or causing electrical problems. These areas are often not cleaned regularly as a result and become hot spots or harborage locations for bacteria.
• Food product works its way into crevices, pivot points, open pipes etc (harborage locations) on equipment where sanitizers don’t penetrate facilitating bacterial growth.
• Different types of bacteria have different susceptibilities to sanitizers and individual populations of bacteria can develop resistance to common sanitizers. This requires sanitizers to be mixed and rotated regularly.
• Bacteria can quickly develop biofilms on equipment that protects the bacteria against most chemicals and sanitizers. These biofilms when disrupted during normal operations then expose food product to viable bacteria resulting in food safety or shelf life problems.
• The use of large amounts of water means that water can pool on and in areas of the equipment and in the facility where it can facilitate bacterial growth.

When UltraVapor equipment is integrated into a plants SSOPs (Standard Sanitation Operating Procedures) it addresses these problems and adds an extra level of protection:

• UltraVapor can be used to safely clean and sanitize water sensitive areas and items. The heat will kill bacteria but will not damage wiring, control modules, motors etc.
• UltraVapor easily penetrates into cracks and crevices removing all product residue that provides nutrition for bacteria and then heating these surfaces to well past the point of lethality for bacteria (160F or 70C). The equipment is also capable of adding sanitizer with the steam and aerosolizing the hot sanitizer to penetrate into areas where foam doesn’t reach. This one/two punch kills the bacteria with heat and leaves a residual sanitizer to inhibit re-growth.
• All bacteria and their spores (where applicable) are killed with sufficient heat. For pathogens in food plants a temperature of 160F (70C) is considered lethal.
• With supplied accessories UltraVapor equipment breaks down biofilms removing them from the equipment and killing the bacteria within. In areas where the physical agitation necessary to break down the film isn’t achieved the heat still penetrates the biofilm killing the bacteria.
• UltraVapor uses very limited amounts of water (as little as 5 gallons an hour) and most surfaces are left dry after cleaning since the heated surface causes the water to evaporate away.

In addition to addressing the deficiencies of the traditional sanitation protocols UltraVapor can also further contribute food safety and extended shelf life of product when used as follows:

• Cleaning of packaging lines during mid shift and lunch breaks. A major chicken processor identified a 2 log reduction in bacterial counts on food contact surfaces when UltraVapor cleaning was implemented during production breaks.
• Used by maintenance to deep clean and sanitize equipment during refurbishment or when being repaired.