7 Steps of Sanitation for Industrial Food Facilities

Sanitation of a food processing environment is critical not only to assure that the product meets food safety and quality excellence, but also to establish a clean break in the processing regimen between production dates.  The 7 Steps of Sanitation follow a sequence designed to remove soils, eliminate pathogens, and ensure regulatory compliance under the SSOP (Sanitation Standard Operating Procedure) plan.  The completion and verification of the sanitation process should be documented.  The steps are as follows:

1. Dry Clean

• Remove all loose debris, product residue, and waste from equipment and floors.

• Tools: brushes, scrapers, shovels.

• Purpose: prevents water from spreading debris and reduces the organic load before washing.

Note: the Operations team can help with this process before leaving and can make the Sanitation process much more efficient as there are typically more processing team members than sanitors.  Further, Sanitation is typically held to a certain time sensitive window so by having the Operations team remove the majority of the food debris remaining it can greatly benefit the sanitation process.

2. Pre‑Rinse

• Rinse equipment and surfaces with potable water to remove remaining visible soil.

• Typically done with low‑pressure, high‑volume water.  It is important not to use high-pressure water as this can blast food debris onto other equipment and into the processing environment, taking longer to clean and spreading any bacteria that might be present.

• Purpose: hydrates soils and prepares surfaces for detergent.

3. Apply Detergent (Foam, Gel, and Manual Scrub)

• Use an appropriate food‑grade detergent to break down fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.

• Allow proper dwell time.

• Mechanical action (scrubbing) improves soil removal and is highly recommended.

• Purpose: removes organic material that would block sanitizer effectiveness.

4. Post‑Rinse

• Rinse thoroughly to remove all detergent and loosened soils.

• Prevents chemical interactions with sanitizers.

• Purpose: ensures a clean, residue‑free surface.

5. Inspect

• Visual and tactile inspection of equipment, floors, drains, and hard‑to‑reach areas.  It is important to use a flashlight and all senses (sight, smell and touch).

• Correct any missed spots before sanitizing.

• Purpose: verifies cleaning effectiveness and prevents contamination risks.

Note: The Sanitation team should perform their own inspection of the equipment followed by a documented visual inspection by the Operations/Quality team before final completion of the sanitation process.

6. Final Rinse & Reassembly

• Some sanitizers require a potable‑water rinse; many no‑rinse sanitizers do not if mixed at food contact approved levels. Refer to the labeling and chemical documentation regarding approved product contact allowances.

• Reassemble equipment.

• Purpose: prepares equipment for safe production.

7. Sanitize

• Apply an approved sanitizer (e.g., quaternary ammonium, chlorine, peracetic acid).

• Ensure correct concentration and contact time.  This should be done after the reassembly of the equipment to assure that any inadvertent contact by maintenance or other team members with insanitary tools is resolved.

• Purpose: reduces microbial load to safe levels.

All team members performing sanitation activities should have documented training on file for each area they are trained to clean.  Each piece of equipment has different requirements for safety and disassembly/reassembly so the steps for proper cleaning should be specific to each.  Having a strong, well-documented, Sanitation program can protect the company from unnecessary quality or food safety incidents (including recalls).

On a final note, suppliers of sanitation chemicals can provide the necessary training and steps to efficiently clean the equipment and environment using their cleaning products.