Top 10 best practices of Sanitation in Food Processing

Andy Pritchard | November 19, 2022 | 5 min read

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Over the past 10 years, Weever has been on the front lines of helping global Fortune 100 manufacturing companies implement and maintain successful 5S programs. We’ve learned a lot from our clientele over the years and we’re happy to share those lessons here.

Here are some best practices to consider:

1. Harness the benefits of Operator-Led Sanitation

Maintaining quality in a food processing facility is everybody’s job, and an essential component of quality is sanitation. Even the people who don’t participate in the sanitation process should have an awareness of its importance and understand how their actions can have an impact.

This starts with leadership ensuring that sanitation teams have adequate resources to perform the work, including time, training, employees, equipment, sanitizers, and potable water.

The fastest way to radically increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your sanitation program is to evolve from a specialist-led to an operator-led methodology. Empowering operators to clean and sanitize their lines increases the scale of your operation. Operators also have more involvement with the equipment and machines they use every day, so they are more likely to provide insights on how processes can be completed better and faster.

The benefits to productivity are fairly obvious, however, operator-led methodologies can come with a host of challenges, including training and skills as well as compliance. Operations management software suited to sanitation programs will help to ensure operators are engaged and are doing the job correctly.

2. Ensure everything is documented

Every step in the cleaning and sanitation process should have an SSOP. Have documentation readily available for sanitation crews, especially for processes that don’t happen frequently.

Closely following SSOPs is critical because using chemicals at the wrong concentration or not following specific steps could result in ineffective sanitation. For the sanitation step, the documentation should also include details such as what products to use in specific situations, how to apply the products, how long they need to stay on surfaces, and how to rinse them.

Documentation helps to ensure compliance and also to identify and record process deviations that may result in issues or opportunities to improve.

3. Provide immediate access to instructions and resources

In order for sanitation to be completed correctly, employees must adhere to fairly complex instructions featuring details on compounds, pressures, and temperatures. All employees engaged in sanitation must be trained, however, they may forget certain steps because it is usually not an everyday operating procedure. Flipping through manuals and documentation can be arduous and inefficient.

To ensure your program is as efficient as possible provide on-demand access to resources in real-time that can provide them with the information they need quickly.

4. Train employees on sanitation procedures

Proper training of employees is essential to ensure that they understand the importance of food safety and the procedures they need to follow to maintain a clean and sanitary environment.

5. Establish a cleaning schedule. Monitor and Verify.

A cleaning schedule helps to ensure that all areas of the food plant are cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis and that the sanitation program is followed consistently. All metering pumps and other devices used for monitoring must be calibrated on a schedule determined by the HACCP or the Food Safety Team. Calibration schedules should be based on a documented risk assessment. Schedules need to be developed, clearly communicated, and adhered to to ensure compliance.

Regular monitoring and verification of the sanitation program is essential to ensure that the program is being implemented effectively and that the food plant is being maintained in a clean and sanitary condition.

6. Use appropriate cleaning and sanitizing chemicals

The use of appropriate cleaning and sanitizing chemicals is critical to the effectiveness of the sanitation program. The chemicals should be safe for use in a food plant, and the employees should be trained on the correct use and handling of the chemicals.

7. Conduct regular internal audits, improve and sustain.

Sanitation is an area that can be dramatically improved through continuous improvement. Efficiency gains can have a huge impact on OEE because sanitation timelines negatively impact productive capacity.

Regular internal audits of the sanitation program can help identify areas of improvement and ensure that the program is being followed consistently.

Have your staff document process abnormalities and suggestions for improvement that can be evaluated by management. Create PDCA improvement projects. Measure the established baseline and assess the ROI of your improvements. Ensure the step-change is sustained by updating training and SOP documentation.

The sanitation program should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that it remains effective and in compliance with current regulations and industry standards.

8. Use Rewards and Broadcast KPIs

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Cleaning and sanitation can be a dirty and thankless job. Employee engagement and retention are challenges in manufacturing so it is vital to continuously empower, enable and energize your staff to keep them motivated.

You can use a reward system to motivate employees to follow the schedule, adhere to the detailed cleaning instructions, and for completing the work efficiently. Some of our customers broadcast dashboards to employees showing KPIs affected by their cleaning efforts, which can also intrinsically motivate staff.

Detailed records of the sanitation program should be kept and made available for review by regulatory agencies, as required by law.

9. Improve and Sustain

10. Use Visual Indicators

Buckets, mops, scrubbers, hoses, sprayers, and other equipment that is used for sanitation should be dedicated only for that purpose. Color-code your equipment so that it’s clear which items can be used for specific tasks to help avoid cross-contamination between sanitation and production equipment.

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