5 Steps CIP Procedure & Sanitizing with Hot Air or Hot Water in Beverage Processing Plants

The most important sanitation program in the beverage plant deals with the cleaning and sanitizing of those surfaces that come in contact with syrup, beverage, or ingredients used in their preparation. Proper sanitation, performed at the recommended frequency, will minimize, and most likely completely eliminate the potential for bacteria, yeast, and mold reproduction and growth. The "Five-Step Procedure" or variations of such are typically used for cleaning and sanitizing beverage processing equipment. All surfaces must come in contact with each CIP step. This means tanks, filler bowls, etc. should be filled completely, with vents open, to assure full contact. In syrup tanks with spray jet headers, the spray header should be sufficient to assure good contact. For snift valves and filling tubes/valves, special procedures are available to assure complete sanitation.

The five key steps include pre-rinse, clean, intermediate rinse, sanitize, and final rinse.

1. Pre-Rinse – Requires that all surfaces be rinsed with adequate water until syrup and beverage residues are removed. This step also improves the effectiveness of the cleaner. The pre-rinse always goes to drain because of the high level of product and soils removed by the rinse.

"As a good water reuse practice, the Final Rinse water can be reused in the Pre-Rinse Step."

2. Clean – A clean surface is required for effective sanitizing. Product residues can provide growth and harborage sites for microorganisms and form a protective film around microorganisms, preventing the sanitizing step from working. The pre-rinse removes loose soil and only softens some residues that are difficult to remove.

"Therefore, the cleaning step is critical."

3. Intermediate Rinse – All soil, cleaner residue, and any remaining residue must be rinsed from the surface to prepare for sanitizing.

4. Sanitize – Sanitizing is the treatment of a cleaned surface to reduce the microbial contaminants to safe levels as determined by public health requirements. Effective sanitizing can be accomplished using heat or chemicals.

5. Final Rinse - When a chemical solution has been used as the sanitizing agent, rinse until all traces of chemical have been removed. When hot sanitizing has been used, the equipment should be gradually cooled to avoid damage. Most of the CIP protocols require that Final Rinse Applications use Treated Water.

Sanitation protocols have been defined for each product/process produced on beverage manufacturing equipment. More than one CIP protocol may be used for the same product/process. In addition, the same CIP protocol may be used for multiple products/ processes. Products/ Processes are defined as:

• Cold Fill, Hot Fill,
• Aseptic Carton and Bottle (Juice / Gatorade),
• Aseptic Carton and Bottle (Low-Acid Beverages),
• Tunnel Pasteurized, Chilled Juice, Bottled Water,
• Calcium /Tea Solid Containing Beverage (Post-Production Cleaning).

Heat has a number of advantages over the use of chemical sanitizing agents and, for this reason, is often the first choice of the beverage bottler. Hot water sanitizing is one method of using heat to sanitize equipment. Moist heat from hot water or steam is more efficient in microorganism control than dry-heat air.

Hot water is an effective, nonselective sanitization method for food-contact surfaces. Hot water has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, easily available, nontoxic, and effective on microorganisms. It is generally non-corrosive and provides excellent heat penetration into hard to reach areas such as behind gaskets, and in threads, pores and cracks (an advantage over chemical sanitizers).

There are some disadvantages of using hot water as a sanitizer. It is comparatively slow and requires a lengthy process involving heat, hold, and cool down as compared to a chemical sanitation. Hot water can also lead to film formation or heat fixing any remaining soils, making further cleanup much more difficult. Hot water can also shorten equipment life due to thermal expansion and contraction, which may cause stress to the equipment. For this reason, the temperature should be brought to ambient slowly to avoid equipment damage. In addition, hot water in the system can create condensation problems within the plant production environment. 

When using hot water as a sanitizer, suitable precautions to keep all unauthorized personnel away from the area being sanitized should be enforced at all times. Employees with sanitation responsibilities should have suitable protective glasses and clothing. 

For Low-Acid and Aseptic processes, hot water, culinary steam, or hot air is used to sanitize and/or sterilize the product contact surfaces. Hot water and culinary steam can be used up to 125°C and hot air can be used up to 360°C. 

References

1-  International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT) Sanitation Manual, 2005

2- Food Plant Sanitation, Hui, Y.H., 2003 

3- Inside Aseptic, Process Engineering GEA Procomac, 2008 

4- PI Operational Practices Manual – GMP and Sanitation, 2005

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