Food Packaging & Processing Plant Cleaning Guide
An essential part of successfully managing a food packaging and processing plant is maintaining the highest cleaning standards.
This is imperative, in order to ensure your business is successfully maintaining the required hygiene standards, remaining compliant with industry regulations, and keeping your products safe for your customers.
At Alpha Power Cleaners, we work with food packaging and processing plants across the country, providing a range of dependable services including machine hire, flexible packages, and team training. We make maintaining a clean, organised site easier than ever.
In this guide, our cleaning specialists have explained the best cleaning methods for different areas in your plant, including the most effective cleaning steps and machines to use.
Cleaning Different Areas of a Food Processing Plant
By choosing the right equipment and following the correct cleaning steps for each specific area, you can ensure your site is running safely, efficiently, and hygienically.
1. Storage Areas
Storage areas need to be kept clean, in order to prevent dust and debris, and minimise the risk of pests. Floor scrubber dryers are the ideal choice for these areas, as they can quickly and easily clean hard surface floors. They can also be used with chemicals, to disinfect the floors while keeping it safe for foot traffic.
2. Machinery & Equipment
This includes conveyor belts, packing machines and other types of processing equipment. Often, these are difficult to clean properly by hand. With hot pressure washers, users can quickly and effectively break down grease, residue and other build-up, even in hard-to-reach areas.
3. Walkways & Staff Areas
Walkways must be kept free from debris and slip hazards. For these areas, floor sweepers can achieve a thorough clean, quickly collecting dust and debris. Then, floor scrubber dryers can sanitise the areas, to maintain the highest hygiene standards.
Floor Sweepers Floor Scrubber Dryers
4. Distribution & Delivery Areas
These areas are particularly prone to dirt and packaging waste. So, floor sweepers can be used to quickly remove the debris. Then, pressure washers can easily remove stubborn grime across the loading bays and other external surfaces.
Floor Sweepers Pressure Washers
7 Steps for Cleaning Food Processing Sites
By following a structured cleaning process, you can make sure nothing is missed, and that the area is cleaned to the highest standards.
The 7-step cleaning method is widely used across the industry.
These recommended steps are:
- Dry clean – Clean away any visible debris and waste.
- Pre-rinse – Rinse away any loose residue with water.
- Apply detergent – Use cleaning chemicals to tackle the grease and other stuck food residue.
- Post-rinse – Rinse the area again with water, to remove the detergent and loosened grime.
- Disinfect – Apply disinfectant to the area, to kill any bacteria and pathogens.
- Final rinse – Rinse the area again with water, to remove the sanitiser.
- Drying – Allow the surfaces and equipment to fully dry, before you resume using it.
By working with Alpha Power Cleaners, you can speed up this process, and ensure all the steps are completed thoroughly yet efficiently.
At Alpha Power Cleaners, we offer a wide range of state of the art cleaning equipment, available through flexible hire options. This includes machines from industry-leading brands, available for short and long-term hire contracts.
We also offer comprehensive training for teams, to help your staff use these machines safely and effectively.
We serve customers across the South of England, West Midlands and East Midlands, including Nottingham, Derby and Loughborough.
Get in touch with our team for machine hire, sales, service and repairs.
