Sanitizing bins before entry into the RTE rooms

Hi Everyone, 

Right now our plant is going through a tough time with a new USDA inspector. 

We currently dip/ spray sanitize the bags of produce before they enter into the RTE rooms.

Any bins that enter we dip the bottom of them in the sanitize because this is ultimately what touches the tables.

They are saying that if we are sanitizing the bins we need to sanitize the entire thing. We ordered a grate so we can place the bin on top of it and spray sanitize the top and sides and then dip the bottom, but now he is concerned we are not sanitizing underneath the lip of the bin. 

 

Can someone please help??

 

Thanks!

Without seeing your set up this is a toughie.  Generally speaking we try to keep the raw unclean produce separate from the finished or clean.  In one operation we poured the raw (not cleaned produce in clean bins because we did not want cardboard going into a wet environment) we kept them separate from any washed product.  So if we were creating carrot sticks we did everything we needed to do to cut and then we washed them.  I realize this general and probably too general for what your looking for, but it really depends on how your process works.  I have also had difficult inspectors who just want it there way. 

I can see your inspector's concerns. Hard to reach, hidden, under and inbetween objects are some of the most forgotten areas to be sanitized. The lip of bins is one of these areas, because your never actually looking at that spot on the bins, so its easily forgotten.

Can you set the bins on your grate upside down and sanitize the bottom and sides (this would get the lip on the bins) and then flip it over and do the top. This may meet the inspectors requirements and eliminate the dipping process.

At home the toilet seat moves to the side when you sit on it; it's annoying and I knew it would only be a matter of time before it broke. This evening I decided to fix it and took the thing apart.  Even though the bathroom was fully refurbished 6 months ago and my wife (Simon holds hands up) cleans the bathroom a lot there was a fair bit of cleaning and sanitizing to be done before I put it back together.  

I can vouch there are hard to reach and hard to see places where horrible stuff can fester, and believe me when you have three young boy's they can certainly find them. :shades: