Mold on production surfaces, equipment and walls
Dear All,
I want to ask if somebody have this kind of problem in their production line. i will be attaching photos for your reference.
We are a powder seasoning company operating 10hrs/day, 5days/week Our Cleaning and sanitation procedures as follow:
After production batch finish, we are using hot water (boiler) to rinse our machine after which we will use chemical to wash our machine. We are also doing this in our environment/surfaces.
Our aircon system is then turned off 4hours, after cleaning.
But the following Monday we will be having this situation:
Floor is very wet
Parts of the machine and other surfaces has moldy/ black stains.
Can someone help on this situation, and what you think the causes of this problem?
Hope you can help me. Thank you very much in advance.
Attached Files
Hello Fuse_23:
The weather for both Malaysia and Singapore is hot and humid (high relative humidity). These few weeks are also raining quite frequently. Try to check whether there is any leakage as well as the %RH at the affected areas .
Regards,
Yong
Hi Yong,
The humidity during production normally is <50%. What you mean leakage, leakage from where?
Hey Fuse
I agree with Yong , you need to check the relative humidity beside using boiled water increase it & lead to spread of water particles allover the place.
after finishing the cleaning process , As fast as possible use dry air to dry out any water particles allover the machine , check the ceiling , check your ventilation system.
the mold Spores can spread very fast in both high temperature & high humidity.
Hi Hassan,
As mentioned our humidity average is <50%. We are using floor blower to dry the area, but still the same problem. We are also thinking why only some areas have this black/green spots.
Okey, Correct me if i am wrong please! It Seams that the only Galvanised metal only whom get molds! or as well the Stainless steal too!
even if its 50% & still high temperature in-presence of the spores its gonna show-up again.
Hi Hassan,
Both stainless steel and galvanised metal has the black stains.
We are using centralized aircon system, but one problem is that cleaning the ducting is a challenging part for us.
You probably need to put a chemical fumigating bomb through the plant and the end of the production week and schedule cleaning for after the allotted time for activation with the air system working to kill all the spores that may be living in the duct work.
The fact that you only have mold living in particular areas, means that those areas are NOT being cleaning correctly and the spores are either not being removed, or there is a perfect food source for them on those surfaces.
~50% humidity is VERY high for a dry manufacturing site, mold likes anything above 30% (depending on the type). You may need to also look at a negative pressure atmosphere (air only travels from in the plant to outside)
Molds are particularly difficult to get rid of once it is in the duct work----don't forget to dispose off and replace all of the filters
I believe using a good cleaning agent (like Ecolab in USA) might also help in resolving the issue, but relative humidity is the culprit ......
Posted Yesterday, 12:54 PM
Hi Yong,
The humidity during production normally is <50%. What you mean leakage, leakage from where?
Any leakage from the roof / ceiling? How about condensation (is there a big temperature gradient between that particular room and the surrounding)?
Is there any possibility that spores (mould) are not totally eliminated even with the routine cleaning? Using any UV lamp for post-cleaning sterilization?
Yong
Wow, that's pretty intense. That whole area will need to be disinfected to kill all those spores. I did a quick google search, maybe these links will help.
- http://supplysanitat...ocessing-plant/
- http://www.buildings...ic-mold-removal
- http://www.qualityas...ucing-moisture/
- https://www.epa.gov/...se-chapter-1
I would also suggest implementing an Air Quality Testing System, if you don't already have one in place.
Question...why do a wet type of cleaning? It sounds like your process is a dry process. In this environment your sole objective would be to prevent any type of moisture and eliminate any type of moisture in the environment. As others have said, 50% humidity is too high....you need to figure out a way to lower it and get positive pressure flowing out of your process/packaging room.