Pathogen contamination of dry ingredients has increased the focus on dry sanitation, dry cleaning and what it means to maintain a dry facility. There are many types of products considered to be dry products and the way in which they are handled can be different for each product. Peanut butter and chocolate are handled very differently than flour and spices. Additionally, recent recalls have involved multiple product types that were produced 1 or 2 years earlier but implicated from being made on the same processing equipment as the contaminated product. This raises questions of how we define microbiological lots in a dry facility and how we validate dry cleaning cycles to prove ‘clean’ and create lot separation. There are many questions the industry has. What is dry sanitation? What is the difference between dry cleaning and dry sanitation? Does dry sanitation apply only to facilities where no water is introduced for cleaning? Or can it apply to a facility that wet cleans a couple times a year? How do we validate a dry clean sanitation cycle? A microbiological lot has traditionally been considered as wet clean to wet clean. How do we define a lot for dry cleaning? Does push through of product work? What kinds of dry cleaning techniques have been tested or validated? While we can’t answer all of these questions in one symposium, it’s important for the industry to start discussing this topic. This symposium will cover the topic of dry sanitation, dry cleaning, validation strategies, dry cleaning approaches and how we might start to define microbiological lots.

Presentations