Can we launder Cleaning Rags at home?
We are SQF certified and recently started using white rags to wipe off syrup that gets on the bottles when filling. Is there something that needs to be in a procedure or a certain process, or can we just laundry at home and bring to work?
Who is in charge of washing the rags?
We have rags for cleaning certain zone 3 areas and we have clothes washer and drier on-site.
A program should be in place for laundry to ensure rags are actually cleaned and that the use of the rags does not pose a risk to the product/facility.
If you end up doing laundry on-site, it would also be important to include the laundry detergent in your sanitation chemicals program along with following SOPs related to storage and handling.
Our laundry program is still in progress, but these are the things that we have implemented thus far prior to our initial SQF audit.
My question however is how do you control this part... "or can we just laundry at home and bring to work?"
Who is laundering these at home and is there reason they can't be laundered on site?
I'm coming in with a hard NO to washing at home How would you ever prove what substances were not present in that machine? things like solvents etc
Hire out the service to a laundry company and be done with it----easier and more controlled
If you don't go with a validated laundry process for these rags, you're always going to have to defend why. I could see an auditor making a case that any package surface should count as zone 1 if they're being wiped down prior to sealing, and if you're doing it near the filling station then the auditor could ask how employees know not to use these rags to wipe messes on the machines themselves. Sure, training works, but as soon as an employee forgets and wipes a dripping fill nozzle with the self-laundered rag, that becomes a major violation in most GFSI codes.
Everyone has good advice about the laundering of the clothes, definitely address that!
I would like to add, you should consider the type of cloths you are using as well. Will it leave microfiber behind on the bottles? and how often are they washed and/or replaced through out the day? also how are you sure they won't be used in sanitation?
We use silver infused (antimicrobe) lint free clothes that are color coded for the job task. They have to be hung on a specific rack when not in use and replaced every quarter shift.
I would guess this would be pointless. The rags cost us $27 a bundle. We go through almost a pack in a week. I don't think that a laundry service would be any cheaper. I guess we will just have to buy and throw away. We don't have a laundry service in town. Thanks.
Now do I have to have a procedure... if the rags are just used to clean the office and the break room? They would not be used for production. That would keep us from having to buy so many.
I don't think you'd need a specific procedure, but it would be worth mentioning which rags are used for office and breakroom cleaning in your master sanitation program. I always call out which tools (such as mops) are for use in bathrooms and how they're not to be used elsewhere, even in a breakroom. I call out which cleaning tools are suitable for equipment, storage areas, etc. You could mention which rags are suitable for office/breakroom use, and the training on that program helps eliminate the chance someone takes an office rag soaked with Lemon Pledge for desk cleaning and walks it out to start wiping the inside of your fill machines.
We are SQF certified and recently started using white rags to wipe off syrup that gets on the bottles when filling. Is there something that needs to be in a procedure or a certain process, or can we just laundry at home and bring to work?
Launder them on site. It sounds like less than a year of replacing material might pay for the equipment.
The wash procedure doesn't need to be complicated (especially if its just basic sugar syrup), just validate its effectiveness, or use an established one.
You cannot control the amount of detergent, water temps, what items MAY get washed with the rags when they are at someone else's home.
Are you also reimbursing employees for this?