Area of Concern
A yogurt processing plant was battling the presence of mold on a plastic spiral conveyor.
Issue
In a yogurt plant, a plastic spiral conveyor and its framework was situated near the dairy filler, making it difficult to access for cleaning. In this wet environment, mold quickly grew on the conveyor.
Background
In order to clean the moldy track, the plant removed the track 2–3 times per week, washed it in a COP tank and then reassembled it. This process was extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming.
The shock treatment using Sterilex’s Solution 1 and Solution 2 was only applied to the eviscerator, cropper, venters, wash/rinse cabinets and IOBW’s on both lines.
Recommendations
The plant trialed Sterilex Ultra Disinfectant Cleaner Solution 1 (Solution 1) and Sterilex Ultra Activator Solution (Solution 2) to foam clean the conveyor and remove mold. Initially, the conveyor was foamed 3 times per week for the first 2 weeks, then the cleaning frequency was reduced to 1 time per week.
Results
Sterilex Ultra Disinfectant Cleaner Solution 1 and Sterilex Ultra Activator Solution completely eliminated the mold from the spiral conveyor belt. By implementing Sterilex PerQuat® technology, the plant ultimately saved 2,288 hours annually in conveyor cleaning time. This significant 98% reduction allows for additional production time and the reassignment of workers to other value-added tasks.
