Updating Campden BRI Guideline 55

Ensuring factories are cleaned and disinfected effectively is a fundamental prerequisite for the safe production of food and drinks. Consequently, having access to expert guidance on the subject is essential.

One of the great things about working for an organisation like Vikan is that I get to support the food industry and advance food safety through many different avenues. During 2019 I was involved with a one year CampdenBRI Member funded research project to update their Guideline 55: Cleaning and disinfection of food factories: a practical guide.

The first addition of Guideline 55 was published by CampdenBRI in 2008. The guidance it provided was based on the knowledge and expertise of food manufacturers and cleaning chemical and equipment suppliers, who were assembled by CampdenBRI (as a working party) to provide food industry best practice and advice on cleaning and disinfection. I was working in the Food Hygiene Dept. at Campden at the time, and helped facilitate these professionals, including those from Vikan, to produce the original Guideline 55.

The guideline was designed to help the food industry understand various aspects of cleaning and disinfection, including:

• how to select the appropriate chemicals – based on differences in equipment, facilities and ingredients/foods being handled;
• the various methods of cleaning and disinfection;
• how to build cleaning schedules;
• the timing and frequency of cleaning;
• the order in which different stages of cleaning and disinfection should be carried out; and
• how to monitor factory cleanliness.

Guideline 55 was also designed to help food manufacturers comply with EU regulation 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, and 853/2004; and consider the costs and consequences of not cleaning properly and/or frequently enough.

Since the publication of the original Guideline 55, several changes have been made in the management of hygiene in food production. For example, new sanitation controls have been introduced in the US, under the Food Safety Modernization Act, and the latest BRCGS (formerly BRC) Global Standard for Food Safety has requirements concerning cleaning, for both microbiological and allergen control. Cleaning is also included as an integral part of the food safety management system in the Codex Alimentarius.

Consequently, CampdenBRI decided it was time for an update and again assemble food industry experts to undertake the task. This time the Working Group included,

• Food manufacturers, including Mondelez, Samworth Bros, and Muller;
• Food retailers, including Morrisons and Asda;
• Cleaning chemical suppliers, including Holchem, Christeyns, and Ecolab; and
• Cleaning equipment and Service suppliers, including Vikan, 3M, and Resin Flooring Association (FeRFA).

The group met three times during the project’s one-year duration (Jan 2019 – Dec 2019), and worked hard between times to develop the revised Guideline. Although the fundamental content and structure of the revised Guideline is similar to that of the original, at the first project meeting, individual chapters of the original text were assigned to volunteers to review and subsequently update. The group’s members were also asked to contribute any new information they felt was lacking, and to the creation of four short educational videos covering,

• drain cleaning;
• writing an effective cleaning instruction;
• choosing the right detergent; and
• effective allergen cleaning.

I was asked to review Chapter 3 – Provision of services, and Chapter 4 – The basic principles. I subsequently wrote a new chapter (Chapter 6) on the Selection, use and maintenance of cleaning tools and utensils; and new sections on Hygienic design, and Global food safety standard requirements. 
I also supplied links and references to external sources of related information, including one to my White Paper on cleaning tool maintenance. 

Additionally, Vikan supplied images of cleaning tools and utensils for the document, and equipment for the filming of the drain cleaning video.

The revised Guideline 55 is due for publication in 2020, to coincide with the CBRI Cleaning and Disinfection Conference on 24th November, https://www.campdenbri.co.uk/disinfection-food-factories.php. I know that the original Guideline was a best seller and I can honestly say that the new version is even better. So keep your eyes peeled for its launch and visit https://www.campdenbri.co.uk/publications/pubs.php to order your copy.

In the meantime, why not check out the accompanying educational videos? These are already available and can be viewed using this link https://www.campdenbri.co.uk/research/cleaning-disinfection.php.