Limit for ATP check for unbaked bakery products producing lines and machines

Hi All,

We are a bakery manufacturer in the Midwest and we make unbaked unfilled and filled croissants / strudels . Products must be baked by customers before consumption. 

We use machines / conveyors belts to in making these products. They are cleaned after production and the cleaning method used is the dry one. 

We use ATP checking device to verify cleanliness at pre-operational inspection. Currently 70 RLU is the current limit (the ATP device is Hygiena Ensure).  It seems hard to meet this limit. 

I know the limit would vary and depends on product and facility. It is great if anyone has suggested limit(s) for reference. 

Thanks

ATP testing is not sufficient by itself in verifying the effectiveness of your cleaning program. Do you have any advice from your chemical provider? Is usage and titration acceptable? Are procedures being followed? Any comparative analysis with 3rd parties such as plate count or other indicators post cleaning?

When you say "hard to meet" what results are you getting? What materials are tested surfaces made of?

Hi All,

 

We are a bakery manufacturer in the Midwest and we make unbaked unfilled and filled croissants / strudels . Products must be baked by customers before consumption. 

 

We use machines / conveyors belts to in making these products. They are cleaned after production and the cleaning method used is the dry one. 

 

We use ATP checking device to verify cleanliness at pre-operational inspection. Currently 70 RLU is the current limit (the ATP device is Hygiena Ensure).  It seems hard to meet this limit. 

 

I know the limit would vary and depends on product and facility. It is great if anyone has suggested limit(s) for reference. 

 

Thanks

Hi ebook,

Dry cleaning is somewhat ambiguous. :smile:

IMO you should obtain some (hopefully ATP correlated) micro data to perhaps more meaningfully evaluate the situation.

ATP testing is not sufficient by itself in verifying the effectiveness of your cleaning program. Do you have any advice from your chemical provider? Is usage and titration acceptable? Are procedures being followed? Any comparative analysis with 3rd parties such as plate count or other indicators post cleaning?

 

When you say "hard to meet" what results are you getting? What materials are tested surfaces made of?

Hello Slab, 

The conveyors, processing tools, equipment and machines usually have a thin layer of flour, which makes it very hard to pass  ATP test. They (conveyors, processing tools, equipments and machiens)  must be dry cleaned by manual cleaning method using clean rags. This dry cleaning method requires a lot of labor. 

The materials are plastic, stainless steels and standard blue conveyor belts

Thanks

Hi, our limit is 200 RLU – UK bakery. We use 3M Clean Trace. Their guidance is: Pass: <500 RLU; Caution: 501–999 RLU; Fail: >1000 RLU. It is also suggested that the 250 RLU pass value be used as a stretch goal to drive continuous improvement and best cleaning practices development.

Do you have cleaning validation swab results?

I agree with the message. There is a difference between Ready-To-Eat vs. Ready-To-Bake (Cook) products. 70 RLU for a product to be baked is very aggressive. Below 200-300 RLU is a good starting point. Is it clearly indicated on the package that it is not a RTE product? When you say dry cleaning, are you still doing wet cleaning for mixers and using spray bottles with detergents and sanitizers for others like extruder, conveyor belts, etc? Make sure you use a quaternary ammonium-based sanitizer (if it's not an organic operation) at 200 ppm quat, after cleaning with detergent and rinsing with water, before doing ATP swab.

Hello Slab, 

 

The conveyors, processing tools, equipment and machines usually have a thin layer of flour, which makes it very hard to pass  ATP test. They (conveyors, processing tools, equipments and machiens)  must be dry cleaned by manual cleaning method using clean rags. This dry cleaning method requires a lot of labor. 

 

The materials are plastic, stainless steels and standard blue conveyor belts

 

Thanks

Hi ebook,

There are no absolute ATP specifications for "Surfaces". "Experts/instruments/surfaces" vary.

If you are determined to rely solely on ATP, a Generic Procedure is detailed in several previous threads here, eg  -

(1) Determine the surface condition which in your opinion is visually acceptable (in the absence of recommended/supportive micro. data) and can be routinely achieved.

(2) Perform (as IIRC published by Hygiena) 5 runs and measure ATP on the appropriate surface.

(3) Apply a [simple] statistical formula to calculate the PASS/FAIL criteria.) (detailed method/calculation is attached in an earlier Post).

(See -

https://www.ifsqn.co...ia/#entry186131

(Presumably if the result is not remotely in the same ballpark as manufacturer suggested values for your instrument, something, eg eyesight/technique, is probably defective).