Cleaning and Sanitation in production area

Hi, we are currently working towards BRC certification for food packaging. I am fairly new to this, so please excuse me if I am asking anything strange or dumb. We don't currently have any cleaning or sanitation procedures beyond the high risk surfaces and sweeping the floors but not on a schedule. If there is an obvious mess it gets cleaned up, but I was wondering if there are any guidelines or examples I could use in order to build a proper schedule/procedure.

I was also concerned regarding the floors. Right now we clean the floors by sweeping with a broom when we are able to, or when we notice that there is a mess. I am not sure if that is enough, considering that product isn't touching the floor directly. Any kinds of help/advice would be really appreciated. Thank you.

You could create a schedule using excel---list the items/area to be cleaned down one side, and the days of the week across the top and shade in what needs done when

you also need to create SSOP, standard SANITATION operation procedures. this tells the employee exactly what do do, how often, using what tools and/or chemicals

it doesn't need to be fancy, long to complicated BUT you do need to do what you say you will when you said you would

What Scampi said.  In my first QA job, I used tables in word documents to create checklist forms for master sanitation.  Started by listing out all of the cleanings we were doing and needed to take credit for on a separate schedule document: cleaning the restrooms/breakroom/common areas, sweeping the production and storage areas, cleaning the overhead areas, so on and so forth).  Some things needed daily attention, some could be done once a week, others monthly or even quarterly, so I typed in the schedule how often they would be done.  Then I made sure each of the items ended up on either a weekly checklist or a monthly one, and persons performing the job would initial and date when they completed that task.  We included signoff sections for management review to show we monitored and made sure they happened as prescribed.

The hard adaptation for you would be scheduling.  You describe things getting cleaned when they're "noticed", but that's not going to be sufficient for a GFSI scheme.  Ultimately, there shouldn't be trash piling up to begin with.  Removing some trash and debris from the floor should be immediate and never allowed to accumulate.  For these sweepings you describe, I'd add it to a schedule that says it needs to be done daily at the end of shift.  Ideally an auditor should be able to point to any area in your plant, ask "when was this last cleaned?" and you should be able to show them a form indicating when it occurred.

3rd in support of what has been said, though I don't have anything new to add. Schedules, SSOPs, and records/documentation are needed. For ANY activity in a plant, simply doing it "when it needs to be done" isn't sufficient. You need to be able to provide proof when asked the question "when was the last time you did X?"

Since your the process  owner of that section then its just simple to document the procedure down as what its actual required in terms of cleaning and have it as an SOP.  "CLEANING AND SANITATION"

What also required is to identify and list down all the cleaning activities done and area or section then describe the cleaning way and method used. This will make easy of coming up with a check list which can be  used as "Daily/Weekly Cleaning Inspection Sheet".

i understand whenever there is a mess, immediately its cleaned up, but also you need a clean place/area/section at all time to ensure there is no hazards(Contaminations).In this case you will have to maintain effectiveness of the activity hence the inspection sheet should describe the frequency of the number of times the cleaning activity have to be done and for the purpose of continuous improvement then a Schedule has to be made.

In addition to the already mentioned SOP, schedule and cleaning checklists, don't forget to perform trainings regarding GHP, GMP for the workers and add it to the training schedule. Also the cleaning tools for different sections should be well labelled and stored. 

Hi :) 

This is in section 4 - Site standard, 4.8 Housekeeping & Cleaning, page 39 and is fundamental. 

- You will need a risk assessment to assess how often and how you should clean your floors, walls, equipment, vehicles etc. List them in the excel spreadsheet and use risk assessment attached 

- Based on your risk assessment cleaning frequency you will need to make a cleaning schedules. 

- Once they are done, create a cleaning cards (how to, with colour coding equipment, chemicals etc) 

- train the team  

:) 

Thank you all for your help! I will get to work with the risk assessment, schedule, and checklist.

I was also wondering if sweeping the floors is sufficient, and just in general how do I know if my cleaning is working? I planned to look for some kind of swab test for tabletop surfaces, but must I do the same with the floors? 

Thank you all for your help! I will get to work with the risk assessment, schedule, and checklist.

I was also wondering if sweeping the floors is sufficient, and just in general how do I know if my cleaning is working? I planned to look for some kind of swab test for tabletop surfaces, but must I do the same with the floors? 

think about risk associated with the floors, can you see any ? think about environment, is wet? high risk? do you have raw material products for example raw vegetables / salmon that might support Listeria issues? 

to validate (proving that it will work) you will need some swabs for TVC, Entero etc,  lab testing , but for verification (is proving that it is working) ATP swabs will be sufficient. 

;) 

Food packaging manufacturer here also. Our RA concluded the floors posed no significant risk to our products given they are all low risk (paperboard primarily baker boxes). No swabbing has been performed. This is mostly due to GMP requiring no raw materials, WIP, finished product, or packaging ever come in contact with the floor. Or SSOP states the cleaning be done according to the Master Cleaning Schedule which states areas to be cleaned, who is responsible, supplies needed, and method of the cleaning to be done. We have one schedule each for daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual. Our weekly cleaning is one sheet that covers all cleaning for a month.