Consistency of terminal disinfection step in tray washing - chemical v hot water
Good morning all.
I am currently working on the design phase of a new processing facility that will manufacture high care ready to eat fresh produce.
There will be a number of tray washers on site that will be used for the cleaning of plastic food contact trays. I have worked at a number of sites in the past that have used tray washers, and micro result consistency post-wash has been mixed.
I am looking for maximum consistency from the terminal disinfection step and have the luxury of still being able to spec units with either a chemical or hot water terminal disinfection step.
Setting aside the purchasing and operational costs of these two systems, (and assuming an effective prior pre-rinse/detergent/rinse cycle prior to), what would you consider to be optimal in the achievement of consistency in disinfection? My bias at the moment is telling me that whilst both should theoretically be able to produce analogous results, hot water would be the "safer" way to go?
Many thanks.
Hi,
We have purchased a crate washer system that has both of those functions - chemical detergent and also hot water option (toy can use it should you need to or switch it off). We are alos fresh produce manufacturer. We alos wash raw material crates from our field, therefore detergent really helps to lift up stubborn dirt.
We achieve consistent results through application of chemicals. Therefore we swiched off hot water cycle. The amout of steam produced wasnt really something we wanted, but with good ventilation I guess this wouldnt be a problem.
Regards
Thanks KingaZ.
The nub of my question really is assuming I have a clean tray, i.e. after the detergent wash, which of a chemical or hot water terminal disinfectant step gives more consistent micro results? I am talking about captive WIP crates inside the high care facility and not the washing of low risk field crates.
Regards
We are an egg grading house, trays need to be very clean to go back into barns
We run a 2 step system for our trays, step pH of 11 (with chemical) then a rinse of about 80 ppm sodium hypochlorite in fresh potable water I have not swabbed our trays, however a two step approach is required under our legislation
Given what CFIA has done in the past, this will be a validated process achieving at minimum 5 log reduction
I would NOT rely on hot water alone as you probably cannot get it hot enough for a sufficient log reduction without damaging the trays
Good morning all.
I am currently working on the design phase of a new processing facility that will manufacture high care ready to eat fresh produce.
There will be a number of tray washers on site that will be used for the cleaning of plastic food contact trays. I have worked at a number of sites in the past that have used tray washers, and micro result consistency post-wash has been mixed.
I am looking for maximum consistency from the terminal disinfection step and have the luxury of still being able to spec units with either a chemical or hot water terminal disinfection step.
Setting aside the purchasing and operational costs of these two systems, (and assuming an effective prior pre-rinse/detergent/rinse cycle prior to), what would you consider to be optimal in the achievement of consistency in disinfection? My bias at the moment is telling me that whilst both should theoretically be able to produce analogous results, hot water would be the "safer" way to go?
Many thanks.
Hi RT,
It might relate to the context, eg, bacterial levels of handled "material" (??), quant. micro. meaning of "consistency" ? logistical aspects ? micro meaning of "safe" ??
Not trying to nit pick, just a lot of unknown variables .
IMEX, OCl- (say 100ppm) will not "disinfect" if you mean sterilise. Neither will 5 seconds of "hot" water (say 70degC). Both will however reduce bacterial loads although IMEX thorough cleaning/chemical sanitising/drying will achieve reasonable results for NRTE production. IMEX steam treatment achieved lower micro data and was used for RTE although this was for relatively low volume Production and logistic factors not significant. The steaming process did have some deleterious effect on Plastic storage containers though.
PS - micro. APC data such as for above procedures is IMO typically not consistent if you mean +/- 10-50%