Page 38 - Food and Drink Business Magazine May 2019

TESTING & MEASURING
A hygiene
program
checklist
Cleaning is a vital component of any allergen management plan. Paul Bagshaw from Holchem Laboratories explains the importance of cleaning validation and verification.
FOOD manufacturers and processors rely on a variety of differing policies and procedures to enforce allergen controls. They are also subject to rigorous validation criteria such as those stipulated by the Global Food Safety Initiative.
The overarching principle is for validation to be carried out under worst-case scenarios before any program is verified.
The following 10 steps provides a guide to ensuring the best outcomes.
1. DETERMINE THE CLEANING OBJECTIVE Define the products and process lines that the validation will cover as well as the type of cleaning to be validated.
2. ENSURE ORGANISATIONAL BUY-IN A multi-departmental (production, engineering, technical, hygiene, hazard specialists) team with the backing of senior management will ensure seamless collaboration.
3. KNOW THE HYGIENIC DESIGN OF EQUIPMENT Reviewing equipment's hygienic design helps you identify the most difficult areas to clean and worst-case scenarios.
4. REVIEW CURRENT CLEANING PROGRAMS AND REGULATIONS
Ensure cleaning and chemical parameters (e.g. number of cleaning operatives and the required cleaning window) are correct. Health and safety legislation also needs to be taken into account. Chemical disinfectants should have the relevant efficacy data.
5. DETERMINE THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO Choose a food product that has the strongest adhering soil, the highest level of allergens or the hardest allergen to remove. Also, take into account the processing it goes through, including the longest processing time, the highest temperature or the period of time during which the equipment sits idle before cleaning.
6. SAMPLE, SAMPLE AND SAMPLE AGAIN
Determine the best type of sampling so you know whether the cleaning and disinfection program objectives have been met. The simplest assessment is
also the most overlooked – a visual inspection. Other options are: direct (e.g. surface swabbing) and indirect (e.g. rinse water samples) sampling. Product sampling normally involves taking a sample of the first product off the line for testing after cleaning has been carried out.
7. CHOOSE THE RIGHT ANALYTICAL TEST
Testing should be specific, sensitive, representative and reproducible. For allergens in the product itself, ELISA should be used wherever possible for validation. For allergen testing, positive controls should be established to ensure that the target allergen, in food products and on process surfaces, can be detected under the conditions of food manufacturing under test.
8. CARRY OUT VALIDATION
Validation should be repeated no fewer than three times. It is also good practice to carry out validation at varying times to account for different cleaning teams, seasonal variation in raw
ingredients, variation in production pressures and other factors. Validations should also be reviewed regularly.
9. INTERPRET RESULTS
If allergens are detected after cleaning, in the product as well as on food contact surfaces, the program needs adjustment. There are two important factors: cross-contamination from the food contact surface to the food; and differences between product and surface testing.
If surface cleanliness is achieved by LFD but not by ELISA (or other alternative, non- routine sensitive techniques), then a risk assessment is needed to determine if the detectable allergen present on the surface is likely to be a significant
risk to the subsequent batch
of product.
10. VERIFY WITH ATP OR PROTEIN SWABS
After validation comes verification. Cleaning verification is intended to demonstrate that on subsequent cleaning occasions, the cleaning
38 | Food&Drink business | May 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au