Meat + Poultry - October 2009 - 84

Sanitation Tips (Consejos Sanitarios)

Making contact
Food-contact surfaces are a top priority for
cleaning and sanitizing crews
BY BERNARD SHIRE
meatpoultry@sosland.com

t may seem so obvious that it
may not seem worthy of mention. While all areas of meat and
poultry plants require thorough
cleaning and sanitizing, a top
priority is food-contact surfaces
throughout the plant. These surfaces are in slaughtering and processing facilities on conveyor belts,
cutting tables and anywhere animals or meat products touch surfaces. They need to be sanitized
and cleaned consistently to prevent

cross-contamination as they move
through the plant toward the packaging and shipment areas.
When possible, it is a good idea
to remind members of sanitation
and cleaning crews that poultry
and meat manufactured at the facility could ultimately be purchased
and consumed by their own families and friends. Often, if crew
members put themselves in the
position of the eventual consuming
public, they'll get good insight as
to what needs to be done
in cleaning and sanitizing a food plant.
Crew members need
to be reminded of the
steps required in cleaning and sanitizing foodcontact surfaces in meat
a nd pou lt r y pla nts.
There are a number of
steps to be carried out,
including the sanitizing
procedure itself, making
use of approved sanitizers, methods and concentrations for use of
chemical sanitizers, why
sanitizing is done and
not just cleaning. Other
factors to think about
include heat sanitizing,
air drying, frequency
of cleaning and drying
food-contact surfaces,
and making sure sani-

84 * Meat&Poultry * October 2009 * www.MeatPoultry.com

tizing agents are used in proper
concentration.
Some of the procedures to be
used by crews are basic, but they
are among the most important crew
members can learn. They include
knowing food-contact surfaces first
must be cleaned and then the surfaces must be rinsed.
Third, the surfaces should be
sanitized. And fi nally, they should
be allowed to air-dry to minimize
the chances of re-contamination.
Crew members should remember the difference between cleaning and sanitizing. Cleaning is removing soil, food and other debris
from a surface.
This is accomplished by detergents removing the fat or grease
part of food residue. Cleaning does
not reduce food-contact surface
contamination to safe levels.
Sanitizing is used after a surface
is clean by using heat or chemicals
to bring down the number of microorganisms to a safe point. ■
Bernard Shire, an M&P Contributing Editor,
is a free-lance writer based in Lancaster, Pa.
He also works as a food safety consultant and
writer for Shire & Associates.
M&P's Sanitation Tips are to be used only
as guidelines for cleaning and sanitizing processing facilities. Specific issues and questions should be addressed by a sanitation
crew supervisor.
We would like to hear from you - to comment
on this story or to request reprints, contact us
by e-mail at:meatpoultry@sosland.com.

at:meatpoultry@sosland.com http://www.MeatPoultry.com

Meat + Poultry - October 2009

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