Design and validation for Clean-in-Place (CIP) in a food process

Sammanfattning

Equipment and facilities for food processes need to be sufficiently clean to prevent the spread of bacteria which could cause disease and spoilage. Clean-in-place (CIP) is a cleaning system that allows for automated cleaning without disassembling. It is important that these systems are functional and that they can be validated. The objective of this study was to design and validate a sampling plan for CIP-operation in a food process. Several methods were chosen based on food safety standards, scientific literature, and the food producer’s own information. A total of 13 different methods for validation were used for 13 sampling points each with their own CIP-system. Acceptance criteria were defined for all methods. Total aerobic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae analysis of dip slides, Enterobacteriaceae analysis of swab-samples and rinse water gave results under the detection limit. ATP-bioluminescence gave uniform results when compared to the visual inspection. These methods were therefore removed from further validation. In this study, analysis of total aerobic bacteria of swab-samples and rinse water were adequate methods to detect false-negative results when compared to visual inspection. The reduction of the amount of total aerobic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae in batter samples were significant before and after CIP-operations. Conductivity monitoring and UV-light seemed to be useful for detecting chemical residues and mineral coatings. Based on results from this study, useful methods for CIP validation were conductivity, UV-light, analysis of total aerobic bacteria batter samples, rinse water and swab-samples. However, adjusting the acceptance criteria for each method could change the results.