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Considering the issue of contamination from cleaning equipment

12 April 2021

Mariane Hodgkinson looks at the issue of brush filament loss and explains how the choice of tools and their maintenance can help minimise risk. 

Cleaning plays a critical role in the management of food safety. It is important to make a careful choice when it comes to cleaning equipment and systems, to minimise the risk of microbial, allergen, and foreign body cross-contamination and there is a need for food producers to comply with a range of regulatory requirements, food safety hazard management systems such as HACCP, external accreditations such as BRC and individual customer audits. 

When it comes to cleaning tools consider the potential risk of brush filaments contaminating contaminated finished product. Choosing the wrong brush for the job, having an ineffective monitoring system in place or not maintaining brushes correctly could be a costly error.

As part of a company’s food safety procedures, it is important to identify any hazards related to cleaning. When related to the control of specific hazards, steps should be validated to confirm that actions are correctly set, that the correct cleaning tool has been selected for the task and ensure that the action can be repeated consistently and that the tools are delivering the right result. It should not be a question of simply picking any brush – there needs to be careful consideration of tools selected for a specific task. Stiffness and length of filaments, brush materials and the type of soils to be removed need to be considered. A cleaning audit from a brush supplier can be helpful when creating a plan. For example, brushes with flagged fibres, are usually used for sweeping smooth floors but should not be used in dry food production areas such as bakeries as loose fibres can pose a risk of foreign body contamination (as dictated by FEIBP charter section 2.1). Brushes with extra soft or crimped plastic filaments will help ensure filament retention. 

Minimising filament loss
Opting for moulded brushes can help minimise the risk of filament loss. Cleaning tools treated with a metal detective additive will add another level of security because any contamination will be picked up via X-ray equipment. 

Reviewing the equipment or area to be cleaned needs to be done hand-in-hand with tool selection. While hygienic equipment design will make cleaning easier, such equipment is not always installed, particularly in production plants that rely on older equipment. Some processing equipment may also have areas where entrapment of foreign bodies – such as filaments – is more likely, so regular inspection should always be undertaken.

While choosing tools that are less likely to shed filaments will play an important role in minimising risk, regular inspection procedures are also needed to verify the integrity of the cleaning tools. Failure to replace old or faulty cleaning tools, and incorrect design of cleaning equipment, are all key factors that contribute to potential microbiological and contamination hazards.

The visual appearance of a food factory will be the first assessment by an auditor or customer to a site and will offer a good indication of the standards and culture of the business. It can have a big impact on the outcome of an inspection. 

Good manufacturing practices – including regular assessment of the effectiveness and lifespan of cleaning tools – will tell the auditor that the business is serious about safety. Use of shadowboards, where cleaning tools are grouped together and off the floor, helps to demonstrate compliance at factory floor level and so this should also be considered alongside cleaning tool selection. 

Mariane Hodgkinson is a hygiene specialist at Hillbrush.


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