Dairy and non dairy yoghurts made using the same equipment

Hi members, 

 

I am trying to create a new HACCP Plan for dairy yoghurt and non dairy yoghurts production. 

We are a very small business and we would like to use the same pasteuriser to make both yoghurts. 

My question is, would cleaning procedures and allergen swabs before non dairy production would be sufficient to produce both yoghurts in the same machine? If not, what more preventative methods should we use to avoid allergen contamination? 

 

Thank you in advance. 

Hi members, 

 

I am trying to create a new HACCP Plan for dairy yoghurt and non dairy yoghurts production. 

We are a very small business and we would like to use the same pasteuriser to make both yoghurts. 

My question is, would cleaning procedures and allergen swabs before non dairy production would be sufficient to produce both yoghurts in the same machine? If not, what more preventative methods should we use to avoid allergen contamination? 

 

Thank you in advance. 

 

Hi Fisalida,

 

Assume by "contamination" you mean milk allergenic component being transferred to a "non-dairy" item

I assume you mean that on a given day you first produce non-dairy followed by dairy then implement cleaning and (dairy) allergen swabbing. Correct ?

Yes correct.

I am worried for allergen contamination as we claim that the product is dairy free. At the moment we produce it in separate equipment but it's a very lengthy process and the production yield is very low.

So we are looking to produce dairy free in the same pasteuriser as the dairy but we would never produce both products on the same day. 

In fact it's difficult to envisage any other way of routinely checking with the caveat that you might be encountering detection level aspects. :smile:

It may also be necessary to strip and check/swab any parts that are difficult to clean if you are relying on CIP.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

Yeah, I though swabs in the outlets too. 

I agree with ATP and allergen swabs. My factory has recently started doing more vegan products with the consumer demand becoming popular. Trouble is we are traditionally a meat-based product manufacturer so some of the same equipment i.e. Bowl Chopper is used for meat and non-meat products. We've set a strict ATP limit for vegan that all equipment used for vegan production must pass after cleaning before it can be used. 

Brilliant! thank  you all for your responses, I really appreciate it. 

I'd worry a bit about your pasteuriser and filler head. I'm not convinced you'd know if you'd removed all traces of milk but this is how I'd validate and verify. I'd produce milk, take a positive control sample (the milk yogurt) then clean the line as normal. Post clean I'd take the last rinse water from the pasteuriser in triplicate and test for milk, swab any difficult to clean areas on the filler with allergen swabs and test, then I'd test the first three samples off of the dairy free. All the tests should be using ELISA and don't send any of that product out while waiting for results. If that's all clear I'd repeat minimum yearly but also do rapid testing on each batch ideally of those same hard to clean areas and rinse water.

Depending on what the dairy free yogurt is, you may also need to validate and verify the other way too (eg if it's soy.)

I'd also make no claims about dairy free and put an on pack warning "produced and packaged on machinery which also packs products containing milk" it wouldn't prevent prosecution but could help a due diligence claim.

Also remember that milk allergies are very common in infants so even if it's not specifically targeting young children it's very likely to be fed to them.

GMO gives excellent advise on this.  

 

To clarify one point, don't rely on swabbing areas of equipment that is CIP'd.  It is not as representative of a sample.  Instead, take a sample at the end of the post rinse (not the sanitize step).  Sanitizers can affect testing results.  Typically, sanitizer is not used in a pasteurizer, but in some cases it is.

 

Save the swabs for areas of the equipment that are hand cleaned and always swab the areas that are the most difficult to clean.

 

One area of caution...with tanks, or blenders that have sprayballs / spraybars / spraydishes for CIP check for any shadowing.  Typically, the shadowing will be behind pieces of inlet piping at the top of the tanks which always need to be removed for proper cleaning.  The piping hand cleaned and allows the tank to be CIP'd completely.  I've had experience with personnel not removing these pieces consistently before CIP.