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Getting a Consistent, Repeatable, Validated Wash

Automated systems abound as legacy systems get the boot. New cleaning and sanitizing technologies help food and beverage manufacturers keep workers and food safe while minimizing water usage.

worker sanitizing equipment
The sanitizing process can be modified with the addition of improved application equipment, refinement of the chemistry used and personnel training.
Photo courtesy of PSSI.

Who knows what evil and vile things may lurk in the parts of your legacy systems? If you don’t know, you better find out. According to an anecdote from one cleaning and sanitation expert interviewed for this article, all kinds of unpleasant things could be backed up in the pipes for years. 

Amy Lowe, executive vice president of PSSI, a food safety solutions company, agrees with this assessment. “One of the biggest challenges we face is associated with poor sanitary design of legacy equipment,” she states. “Microbes can become resident contamination when they become established in niche sites, multiply, and persist for extended periods of time, even years.” 

While many food and beverage processors continue to upgrade their cleaning methods, automation is helping them be successful.

According to Lowe, automation allows PSSI to eliminate waste in its process dedicated to costly setup and tear-down activities. “Spray bars, clean in place (CIP) and assisted cleaning can be designed to clean those hard-to-reach areas without the human element, making the process faster, safer and more efficient,” she says. 

The No. 1 thing manufacturers have been asking for in CIP and cleaning is automation, says Eric Gore, technical director at Central States Industrial (CSI). “They need more sophisticated control systems and electronics, and they want it primarily because they want tighter control over the steps that the cleaning goes through,” he says. In addition, processors want to electronically document what happened and when it happened, he says. 

Adding this type of automation efficiency to cleaning and sanitation means you don’t have to rely on a human to get the job done. “Even if you have a person who has written work instructions and worked there a long time, their behaviors will creep,” states Gore.

But if you program your requirements into a control system, it’s going to be the same every time, says Gore. “If changes are warranted, then you can make that adjustment, and you know exactly when you made the adjustment.”

Trent Bullock, manager of engineering services at CSI, sees many food and beverage manufacturers upgrading to CIP skids, especially replacing legacy systems and adding more stringent specs, automation and instrumentation. In the past, plants may have used a chart recorder to log process parameters. Today, of course, that’s done electronically and stored in a database or in an historian program. Higher levels of automation result in better reporting and tracking, he states.

Some CIP skids now may include sensors for pH monitoring. “So not only can we get the chemical conductivity, but we can get the pH. We use that a lot in sanitizers so we can monitor how much sanitize work we’re dosing,” Bullock says.

One of CSI’s customers had 6-in. lines in a meat conveying application, and it was going to take deep circuits to clean the whole process, according to Bullock. The customer wanted a CIP skid, but it only had a four-hour window to clean, to run a caustic sanitizer every time and rarely run an acid step that would require eight circuits.

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Trends for Food at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to food packaging and processing challenges. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
REGISTER ASAP FOR $30!
LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Trends for Food at PACK EXPO Southeast