Help! One of My Tanks Will Not Come Clean
Help!!!
I have one mix tank in general that has been giving me troubles for the last week and a half. I have CIP'd it 4 times and still come up with dirty swabs, both ATP and Protein. My QA team said that it was high in Yeast/Mold and coliforms. I am at my wits end, and if it does not swab out after the current wash I will wash it cold in case there is a heat resistant yeast or mold.
Any Ideas?????
Thanks
Sounds like biofilm in the tank/lines and/or your CIP tank or a continuing source of contamination from an attached pipe.
What chemicals/time/concentrations are you using for your CIP? I highly doubt the cold wash will do the trick.
Sounds like biofilm in the tank/lines and/or your CIP tank or a continuing source of contamination from an attached pipe.
What chemicals/time/concentrations are you using for your CIP? I highly doubt the cold wash will do the trick.
Thanks FurFarmandFork,
I looked further yesterday into some piping that is rarely used that lead to that tank in question. It was full of nasty grape residue so I cleaned it really well, and re-cleaned the tank and lines as well.
If this is a biofilm that has penetrated my CIP system however, how do I get rid of it?
Oh, to answer your questions, we use Caustic at 1-2%, and a warm acid wash at 1%, then a sanitize rinse using peroxyacetic acid.
Your stuff should do the trick provided the times and pressures are appropriate, and I assume this wasn't an issue in the past?
Leaking valves from unused pipes might have been the problem, I'm interested in how that affected your microbial results.
make sure your swabs aren't contaminated, prepare negative controls.
I spoke with a dairy last year that struggled and found a hairline crack in one of their tanks that kept causing high micro counts. Required replacing the tank in that case. Maybe a pressure check as well for leaks?
I thought that I had gotten rid of the problem, but we got one colony of the EB show up again. I am working on emptying all tanks and lines associated with this system so that I can thoroughly clean it all.....
You might try this, it's designed for biofilms. You also might want to think about a camera through your system. Had a similar problem once, camera found something stuck in the pipe.
Just in case you have not yet solved the problem, I suggest the following:
1. Checking the sanitation of your transfer pumps. We had a similar problem at a dairy where I worked and after days of trouble shooting we discovered that one of the pumps had an area of product residue in one of the seals
2. If the issue is biofilm, consider using a QUAT sanitizer after cleaning. QUATS are very effective at handling biofilms.
Good luck!
Just in case you have not yet solved the problem, I suggest the following:
1. Checking the sanitation of your transfer pumps. We had a similar problem at a dairy where I worked and after days of trouble shooting we discovered that one of the pumps had an area of product residue in one of the seals
2. If the issue is biofilm, consider using a QUAT sanitizer after cleaning. QUATS are very effective at handling biofilms.
Good luck!
Thanks for your comments, I got rid of this particular issue, it was an operator error. They neglected to clean one portion of piping that dripped into the tank periodically.