Cleaning and disinfection J. Holah, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association 14.1 Introduction Chapter 13 has outlined the concept of hygienic designand hygienic practices'in controlling the safety of chilled food products. This chapter deals with hygienic practices, specifically those related to cleaning and disinfection Contamination in food products may arise from four main sources: the constituent raw materials, surfaces, people (and other animals) and the air Control of the raw materials is addressed elsewhere in this book and is the only non-environmental contamination route. Food may pick up contamination as it is moved across product contact surfaces or if it is touched or comes into contact ith people(food handlers)or other animals(pests). The air acts as both a source of contamination, i.e. from outside the processing area, or as a transport medium, e.g. moving contamination from non-product to product contact surfaces Provided that the process environment and production equipment have been hygienically designed( Chapter 13), cleaning and disinfection (referred to together as'sanitation)are the major day-to-day controls of the environmental routes of food product contamination. When undertaken correctly, sanitation programmes have been shown to be cost-effective and easy to manage, and, if diligently applied, can reduce the risk of microbial or foreign body contamination. Given the intrinsic demand for high standards of hygiene in the production of short shelf-life chilled foods, together with pressure from customers,consumers and legislation for ever-increasing hygiene standards, sanitation demands the same degree of attention as any other key process in the manufacture of safe and wholesome chilled foods This chapter is concerned with the sanitation of "hard surfaces only equipment, floors, walls and utensils-as other surfaces, e.g. protective clothing14.1 Introduction Chapter 13 has outlined the concept of ‘hygienic design’ and ‘hygienic practices’ in controlling the safety of chilled food products. This chapter deals with hygienic practices, specifically those related to cleaning and disinfection. Contamination in food products may arise from four main sources: the constituent raw materials, surfaces, people (and other animals) and the air. Control of the raw materials is addressed elsewhere in this book and is the only non-environmental contamination route. Food may pick up contamination as it is moved across product contact surfaces or if it is touched or comes into contact with people (food handlers) or other animals (pests). The air acts as both a source of contamination, i.e. from outside the processing area, or as a transport medium, e.g. moving contamination from non-product to product contact surfaces. Provided that the process environment and production equipment have been hygienically designed (Chapter 13), cleaning and disinfection (referred to together as ‘sanitation’) are the major day-to-day controls of the environmental routes of food product contamination. When undertaken correctly, sanitation programmes have been shown to be cost-effective and easy to manage, and, if diligently applied, can reduce the risk of microbial or foreign body contamination. Given the intrinsic demand for high standards of hygiene in the production of short shelf-life chilled foods, together with pressure from customers, consumers and legislation for ever-increasing hygiene standards, sanitation demands the same degree of attention as any other key process in the manufacture of safe and wholesome chilled foods. This chapter is concerned with the sanitation of ‘hard’ surfaces only – equipment, floors, walls and utensils – as other surfaces, e.g. protective clothing 14 Cleaning and disinfection J. Holah, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association