Sanitation frequency during shutdowns
We have always operated under teh rule to sanitize surfaces every 24 hours. Which typically works as we are a 24/7 facility so cleaning and sanitizing every night was a given. On the odd day we were down in production we would come in at night to sanitize all surfaces before production restarted so the sanitizing every 24 hours was kinda defaulted.
Now we're looking at being down for 2 days in a row and we're stuck on the sanitizing every 24 hours whether production has been in or not. Specifically this is over the holidays coming up. Can anyone point me to the rule/CFR/guidance etc that says every 24hours regardless of use? I know this is commonly accepted during production activities. My inclination would be a full clean and sanitize after production ended then come in and re-sanitize surfaces a couple hours before production resumes 2 days later. Is this completely out of normal? We are a wet refrigerated facility and refrigeration and room temps would stay at consistent refrigeration during the shut down.
veruca
We have always operated under teh rule to sanitize surfaces every 24 hours. Which typically works as we are a 24/7 facility so cleaning and sanitizing every night was a given. On the odd day we were down in production we would come in at night to sanitize all surfaces before production restarted so the sanitizing every 24 hours was kinda defaulted.
Now we're looking at being down for 2 days in a row and we're stuck on the sanitizing every 24 hours whether production has been in or not. Specifically this is over the holidays coming up. Can anyone point me to the rule/CFR/guidance etc that says every 24hours regardless of use? I know this is commonly accepted during production activities. My inclination would be a full clean and sanitize after production ended then come in and re-sanitize surfaces a couple hours before production resumes 2 days later. Is this completely out of normal? We are a wet refrigerated facility and refrigeration and room temps would stay at consistent refrigeration during the shut down.
veruca
You don't need to sanitize every 24 hours. My facility operates 5 days a week/no weekends. With the holiday coming up or holidays like Labor Day, we are shut down 3 days. We clean/sanitize right after production. QC then pre-ops the next time of being in operation (could be 3 days). We then will re-sanitize before production starts. FDA and USDA are fine with this - never had a problem. We are refrigerated facility as well.
You don't need to sanitize every 24 hours. My facility operates 5 days a week/no weekends. With the holiday coming up or holidays like Labor Day, we are shut down 3 days. We clean/sanitize right after production. QC then pre-ops the next time of being in operation (could be 3 days). We then will re-sanitize before production starts. FDA and USDA are fine with this - never had a problem. We are refrigerated facility as well.
agreed.
your freqency of cleaning should be based on risk. if you equipment sits idle for a certain length of time, it is wise to resanitize prior to commencing produciton. (i think a 24 hour limit is pretty common).
It all comes down to risk assessment of your product(s), equipment and facilities.
I can't imagine shutting down production every day to clean and sanitize (unless your risk assessment says you have to do so)
That's a huge waste of production efficiency.
Marshall
The frequency may be defined by your industry. For dairy processing, the regulation is you need to re-sanitize after being down for 72 hours.