Stains food industry sector

The stains

Before studying how to carry out cleaning or disinfection, it is necessary to know the type of stains to be cleaned and the surface on which these stains adhere.

Soiling can be formed from components of the processed food product, or from degradation products. However, a second group of stains can appear without any relation to the processed food (precipitation of water hardness salts, glues and other sticky materials, label remains, metal wear, etc.).

It is understood that the condition of the stain has a great influence on the speed of cleaning; however, it is very difficult to mathematically evaluate this impact. We know that a dry stain is harder to remove than a hydrated stain.

The simple observation of the stain still allows a first selection of the type of effective formulation for the cleaning in question:

Mineral stain: acid detergent

Organic stain: alkaline detergent

The detergent should attack the stain without attacking the support. When soils and materials have the same properties as detergents, cleaning becomes particularly delicate. This is the case, for example, with the removal of resinified grease from varnished surfaces or tartar deposits in masonry containers.

Glass is the easiest material to clean, and if we take the base 100 for this support, we can make the following references as a first approximation:

Base 100: Glass

80: Stainless steel

70: Aluminum

30: Rubber

20: Plastic

It is clear that the roughness of the surface to be cleaned will have a great impact on the cleaning speed.

4 Factors of Detergency

The hygiene application process can be summarized in four distinct factors:

• The product
• Mechanical action
• The temperature
• Time

The presence of these fours factors is essential and their combination variable. Regardless of the method implemented and the organization chosen, they are always present, and a decrease in one is always compensated by an increase in one or more of the other elements.