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Elevate your food safety standards with smart cleaning tool management

In the food industry, maintaining the highest standards of hygiene is not just a regulatory requirement, but a commitment to your customers.

Cleaning tools, often overlooked, play a pivotal role in ensuring food safety and quality. By prioritising the management of cleaning tools, you can minimise hazards like microbes, allergens, and foreign bodies while meeting global food safety standards and enhancing operational efficiency.

Why cleaning tool management matters

Effective cleaning tool management brings a wealth of benefits, including:

  • Enhanced cleaning efficiency: The appropriate selection, use, and maintenance of tools improves cleaning effectiveness, reducing the downtime required for thorough sanitation.
  • Improved product quality and shelf-life: Maintaining hygiene ensures food stays fresh longer, optimising your customer expectations.
  • Waste Reduction: Effective and well-maintained tools minimise the risk of product cross-contamination and reduce unnecessary product rejection.
  • Minimised Risk of Recalls: Proper sanitation reduces product contamination risks, saving your brand from potential setbacks.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Meet global food safety standards including those operated by BRCGS and FSSC.
  • Cost Efficiency: Achieved through all of the above simply by implementing good cleaning tool management.

Global standards highlighting cleaning tool care

Global food safety standards emphasise the critical role of cleaning tool management in the maintenance of food safety. For instance:

  • BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety: Requires cleaning equipment to be hygienically designed, suitably for intended use (e.g., colour-coded), and cleaned and stored to prevent contamination.
  • FSSC 22000 (ISO/TS 22002-1:2009): Advocates the establishment of validated cleaning and disinfection programmes, including those for cleaning equipment. Best Practices for Cleaning Tool Management

To align with these global standards and safeguard your operations, consider implementing the following practices:

  1. Hygienic Design: Choose cleaning tools that are easy to clean and minimise the risk of contamination build-up.
  2. Colour-coding: Use tools of different colours for different areas, tasks and hazards, e.g.,
  • Red tools for High-risk areas, Green tools for Low risk areas;
  • Brown tools for floor cleaning, blue tools for food contact surface cleaning;
  • Orange tools for cleaning gluten-free product lines.
  1. Regular Decontamination: Establish validated cleaning tool cleaning methods and frequencies, tailored to your food safety needs.
  2. Scheduled Inspections and Replacements: Periodically inspect tools for wear and damage. Replace as needed to maintain functionality and minimise contamination risk.
  3. Proper Storage: Use wall racks, shadow boards, or mobile units for hygienic and efficient tool storage. Store tools with heads down and handles spaced apart to avoid cross-contamination.
  4. Documentation and Monitoring: Keep detailed records of cleaning tool sanitation, inspections, and replacement. Verify tool hygiene using appropriate tests, e.g., ATP swabs for rapid cleanliness verification.

Tackling contamination risks

Cleaning tools, if not properly maintained, can become sources and vectors of contamination.

  • In 2020 the FDA highlighted the importance of cleaning tool maintenance in preventing product contamination.
  • A critical food safety violation warning letter was issued when inspectors found listeria in RTE food production areas.
  • Using genetic analytical techniques Inspectors were able to trace the source of the contamination to a broom that was used both in a wet-cooler passageway and the RTE processing areas.
  • The FDA concluded that the food manufacturer did not sanitise their utensils and equipment in a manner that protected against contamination of food.

Address these risks by implementing stringent decontamination routines and leveraging risk assessments to tailor cleaning protocols. High-risk areas may require thermal sterilisation of tools or dedicated tools for allergen control.

Cost-effective and sustainable practices

Replacing brushes after every use may seem like a guaranteed way to avoid contamination, but it’s neither cost-effective nor environmentally sustainable. Instead:

  • Invest in high-quality, durable tools that can withstand frequent cleaning and disinfection.
  • Use industrial dishwashers or autoclaves for thermal disinfection.
  • Implement colour-coded systems to simplify compliance and streamline audits.

Supporting your success

Partnering with a trusted provider of hygienic cleaning tools ensures you’re equipped with solutions tailored to your unique needs. From consultation to implementation, expert support can help you establish a robust hygiene program that fosters trust and efficiency.

Cleaning tool management is more than a routine, it’s a cornerstone of food safety. By investing in proper selection, use and care of your tools, and leveraging best practices, you protect not only your operations but also the health and satisfaction of your customers. Take the first step toward excellence in hygiene and discover the benefits of optimised cleaning tool management today!

To learn more, and see the full whitepaper, click here.

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