Cleaning Small-Scale Dairy Plants: Cleaning the Facility

- [Narrator] A clean and sanitary facility is critical for producing safe high-quality dairy foods.

Today, our cheesemaker Eva is going to do a walk through the processing plant to show you some areas that are prone to sanitation problems.

When areas are not cleaned properly and regularly, soil and bacteria can build up and cause quality and food safety problems in dairy products.

The inside of the cheese vat is not usually a problem because we can see the soil, the vat is easy to clean, and it's easy to do a visual inspection and re-clean when necessary.

Areas around the vat that can become problems are the upper parts of the vat that hold the stirring panels and knives, the outside of the vat near the floor, and the area near the drain valve.

In this facility, the cheesemaking utensils are stored on wall hooks and so it is essential that the wall hooks are cleaned and sanitized each day to prevent cross-contamination to the utensils and to the cheese.

This vat has a platform for the cheesemaker to stand on to flip slabs during the cheddaring process.

The grate is a good place for soil and bacteria to harbor if it is not cleaned thoroughly.

Other problematic areas in the cheese room and processing plant are the wheels of moveable equipment and carts, which can track contamination through the facility.

Areas near the bottoms of tanks and equipment, under pumps, and anything near the floor are often neglected in routine cleaning and can become problem areas.

In addition to paying attention to the low areas in the facility, we need to remember to pay attention to the high areas too.

The tops of the pipes of the pasteurizer, the pipes that carry milk throughout the plant, and the tops of tanks also need to be cleaned.

Looking up even higher, the air vents are a good place to track dirt and bacteria and should be cleaned periodically.

Floor and wall junctures are often prone to sanitation problems.

While floors near equipment are cleaned routinely, the areas where floors meet the walls in the corners of the room should not be forgotten.

Floor in good repair will reduce areas for bacteria to hide.

As we move from room to room in the facility, it is easy to remember to clean the foot baths and replace the cleaning solutions, but the undersides of the foot baths also need to be cleaned regularly to prevent bacteria buildup.

The undersides of trash cans are another area that may be forgotten about, but are important to clean to prevent cross-contamination.

The underside of this trash can has a pattern that allows for soil and bacteria to adhere to many different corners.

These trash cans are cleaned every day and left upside down to dry thoroughly.

The floor drains and drain covers are a critical component of keeping the facility clean.

Drains are known to harbor bacteria that can cause food safety problems, particularly Listeria monocytogenes.

Ideally, drains should be cleaned every day after processing.

If you aren't able to clean daily, then develop a frequent drain-cleaning schedule and stick to it.

The more often the drains are cleaned, the less problems you will have with soil and bacteria buildup and potential food safety issues.

It's important to remember areas adjacent to the processing room.

These include ingredient and finished product coolers, freezers, and cheese aging rooms, and is a good idea to have well-organized coolers and freezers with shelving made of easily-cleanable material.

Coolers and freezers should be well lit to help see where there are sanitation problems.

Areas of particular concern in coolers are floors, floor-wall junctures, walls, and the condensate pans.

Condensate pans are a known harbored site for Listeria monocytogenes.

During Eva's walk through the facility today, she's shown you some areas that need to be cleaned daily, and others that should be cleaned periodically.

Best practices for facility sanitation include developing appropriate SSOPs and developing periodic sanitation schedules for cleaning different areas of the plant.

With these documents in place, Eva is sure that her facility is clean and suitable for producing high-quality safe dairy foods.