Are there exceptions of using cloths inside food production areas?

Dear All,

In my experience as a food safety officer in a meat production unit, the use of cloths inside production areas are strictly discouraged as they promote and increase chances of cross contamination. Also, bacteria are spread from one point to another by a vehicle, the wiping cloths.

My question is, are there exceptions of using wiping cloths inside production areas? If we use it to wipe external parts of a drum or other non-food contact surfaces inside the production area, will that be an exception?

You professional advise will be deeply appreciated.

Kind regards,
Food safety boy

Dear foodsafetyboy,

My question is, are there exceptions of using wiping cloths inside production areas? If we use it to wipe external parts of a drum or other non-food contact surfaces inside the production area, will that be an exception?

Who is doing the wiping ? I can visualise that it may be a routine occurrence for engineers doing preventive maintenance assuming that relevant SOPs are maintained.

If you mean by production personnel as part of a process, I hv seen cloths used for cleaning guides / glue-pots in automatic box-closing systems, ie no possibility of contact with product. But in the mainline processing sections never (not meat). I guess it depends on the necessity / specific situation / associated risks.

Rgds / Charles.C

I am anxious to hear from others concerning this matter!

I am in a facility that will soon be completing our first BRC. We currently have the practice of keeping a small bucket near the line. The bucket is half full a water/sanitation solution. The bucket also contains a small rag/towel that is submerged. This rag/towel is used for wipe downs...as needed.

I dont like it.
But then again...they have passed other audits with no mention of these buckets and/or towels.



What would you do????

Thanks!

In my experience a cloth within a properly formulated sanitizer solution that is changed, validated and recorded, throughout a shift would be acceptable. As far as in a meat production faciltiy I do not have much experience. I have seen squeegies used to get rid of excess debris and liquid then a thorough cleanig and sanitizing done every fews hours. Hope this helps

Dear All,

IMO this thread is taking on the appearance of a hygienic horror story.

Personally I can only suggest that if you can find no more "palatable" alternatives to the procedures mentioned, be well-prepared to prove that the procedure can still be hygienic. i appreciate that some process functions are difficult to carry out in a nice, clean, manner, it's a question of what are the boundaries before causing a significant risk of a health hazard.

Rgds / Charles.C

Thank you all guys for the wonderful insights!!

I agree with CharlesC's comments in this thread, especially "hygienic horror story"!

In my opinion, you may be able to get away with the cloth in sanitizer procedure provided it is documented as effective and checked *frequently*. However, a failure here can be catastrophic. If you must use cloth, I suggest keeping it away from direct food contact surfaces and away from exposed product. Also, check your applicable regs and standard - just in case it may be prohibited.

I think it is best not to have them in the facility and to let maintenance/engineering keep their hidden stash of rags in their department. ;-)

Edit: just to add that I would never want cloth anywhere in a RTE meat or dairy plant or any other high risk RTE.

Tricky. I agree; never in high risk foods. I work in a bakery now though and cloths are used for cleaning where there is limited water used. You don't want to do full on foam and lance cleaning in a bakery and even if you did, the machinery wouldn't take it so we use cloths but replace them every hygiene shift. We'd never do anything along the lines of a cloth in santiser though; presumably the sanitiser effectiveness would get depleted throughout the shift? What about using disposable sanitiser wipes for that purpose?

Many thanks!!!

We are plannng on moving from "buckets/rags" to spray bottles and single use toweletts. I will let you know of any issues.