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Cleaning, Sanitizing, & Disinfecting
37 Plays5 years ago
This episode features Emily Hale, a Produce Safety Technician with the Blue Water Conservation District, and Chris Callahan, who runs the Agricultural Engineering Program within University of Vermont Extension. They discuss the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting, along with where and how often these activities should occur on the farm.
Additional Resources:
A Guide to Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting for Produce Farms: This guide, developed by Chris Callahan, helps to further explain the differences between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting.
Introduction to Selecting an EPA-Labeled Sanitizer: The Produce Safety Alliance created a guide to help growers better understand what to look for in a sanitizer label.
Funding for this podcast was made possible in part by the Food and Drug Administration through grant PAR-16-137. The views expressed in the posted materials do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does any mention of trade names, commercial practices or organization imply endorsement by the United States Government.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Topic
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Agri-Food Safety Produce Bites podcast, where we discuss all things produce safety and dive into the rules and regulations surrounding the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule. My name is Emily Hale. I am a produce safety technician with the Blue Water Conservation District, and I assist produce growers in Southeast Michigan. And I'm Chris Callahan with the University of Vermont Extension. I run the agricultural engineering program.
00:00:29
Speaker
With an extension here, my work has focused on post-harvest handling, washing, storage, with a focus on equipment and hygienic design most recently. And my role in the produce safety world, in addition to the post-harvest end of things and hygienic design, is I am the director of the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety, which is one of four FDA and USDA supported regional centers focused on training and outreach related to the FSMA produce safety rule and preventive controls for human foods rules. And I'm a PSA lead trainer.
00:00:59
Speaker
And I'm Allison Work. I'm the digital media designer with Michigan State University Extension for the Produce Safety Team.
Understanding Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting
00:01:07
Speaker
And today we're going to be talking a little bit about cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting and why it's important and when and where you should do it on your farm. So I guess for the first question here is what is the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting?
00:01:24
Speaker
So cleaning is the physical removal of dirt from a surface. And usually this includes using a detergent and clean water, usually like scrubbing. Yeah. And then sanitizing is really, you know, I tend to lean on the CDC definitions for these things and then also the PSA curriculum. And so when we think about sanitizing, we're actually talking about going beyond cleaning, beyond the physical removal.
00:01:54
Speaker
of germs, dirt, impurities, and actually getting into chemically lowering the number of germs on a surface or on objects to a safe level. And that's judged by public health standards or requirements. And then we have disinfecting, which is the treatment of a clean surface to destroy pathogens on that surface. And this is usually done to non-food contact surfaces.
00:02:22
Speaker
What areas on the farm should you clean, sanitize, and disinfect?
Areas and Levels of Cleaning on Farms
00:02:28
Speaker
Are there any areas that often get missed or overlooked when it comes to cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting? Yes, I'll start. In terms of areas on the farm that should be cleaned and different ones that might be sanitized,
00:02:44
Speaker
and other ones that might be disinfected. I think of it in terms of getting back to those different zones, zones one through four, and really with a primary focus on food contact surfaces. So zone one surfaces, surfaces that we know in normal practice will come into contact with food. And making sure that we have an appropriate cleaning
00:03:11
Speaker
plan and schedule for those surfaces. And in my experience, even surprisingly, many of those surfaces do get missed. And sometimes it's just an accessibility or a visibility issue. And one of the things we've been working on a lot is bringing hygiene design principles to increasingly to produce operations.
00:03:36
Speaker
And that's a key part of it is making sure these food contact surfaces that we can actually see and reach them so that we can at least get them effectively cleaned. And by and large, they should also be getting sanitized. So again, back to Emily's introduction to cleaning, we want to first remove any, physically remove germs, dirt, soil, other impurities, and then
00:04:01
Speaker
follow up with a sanitizer to lower the number of germs on the surface and pathogens on the surface using some sort of chemical sanitizer or antimicrobial solution. So zone one, for sure. Zone two is definitely considered a best practice to do the same sort of thing with. And maybe on a slightly different schedule, depending on the operation. And then I think going beyond that, zones three
00:04:29
Speaker
four, it will likely have a different schedule and different approach, but also are very, very important for for being maintained with cleaning and at times sanitizing. And Emily, you want to add anything to that before we get into disinfecting?
Developing Cleaning Schedules
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah, so I would say when I first start working with a grower who's looking to develop food safety on their farm,
00:04:52
Speaker
I often like to sit down and kind of go through their food contact surfaces and list those and then how are they gonna clean them and what's the frequency? How often do they plan on cleaning those? And it's definitely gonna change depending on what the surface is and how frequently it's going to be used. So that's something I've also found. Great idea. Walk through it together and identify all the food contact surfaces.
00:05:18
Speaker
So, and then I also think in terms of when deciding between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting, I think it really comes down to what's your intent and what's the trigger for doing this activity. So, you know, cleaning can be triggered by just some visible impurity that needs to be removed, right? It can also be triggered by a schedule or the need for a clean break between lots or between
00:05:47
Speaker
Crops, for example, they're being handled. Sanitizing much the same way. I think I may differ with some people on where I'm going next. So I welcome a conversation on this. But I do think there are times when we should be considering disinfecting food contact services.
Disinfecting vs. Sanitizing Criteria
00:06:07
Speaker
And I think the difference between the two for me is if you have a known hazard,
00:06:16
Speaker
we should be considering disinfection. So if there's something that is clearly a human pathogenic hazard, you know, we may want to be looking into disinfection doses and times and application details going beyond sanitizing.
00:06:42
Speaker
happy to talk some more about that, but I do think that there's another level that may be important beyond just beyond sanitizing and that's disinfection.
00:06:52
Speaker
So if you were to go to the next level from sanitizing to disinfecting a food contact surface, are you just following a label on that as far as your steps to disinfecting that food contact surface? And are you finding labels that are addressing disinfection of food contact surfaces?
00:07:16
Speaker
Yeah, I recently went through the labels for common antimicrobial solutions that are used in our area, everything from sodium hypochlorite-based solutions to peroxocetic acid and hydrogen peroxide-based products. And with the exception of one,
00:07:40
Speaker
a very common one common brand that they all include labeled applications and labeled uses for both sanitizing surfaces, but also disinfecting food contact surfaces. And the differences that I noted are the level of the concentration of the product used when mixed for use, and then the amount of time, the amount of contact time.
00:08:03
Speaker
And products also differ, of course, based on what the final step is. Some indicate draining, some indicate air drying, and some indicate rinsing. But yeah, there are definitely labeled applications that provide for that. And if you were advising a grower to choose disinfection, when would it be better to use
00:08:25
Speaker
a disinfecting step than a sanitizing step. So for me it comes down to the difference between I mean really what we're trying to address here is are the risks of hazards being present and so to me what it comes down to is
00:08:41
Speaker
the probability that you have a hazard. And so I think of it in terms of if it's a possibility of a hazard. So for example, we grow in an open environment. And so there are human pathogens
Impact of Hazard Awareness on Practices
00:08:56
Speaker
in the open environment. We don't necessarily know that we have a human pathogen on the produce, but there's a possibility of it. And so that points to the need for sanitizing.
00:09:12
Speaker
If we have a known or probable hazard, for example, maybe we have a worker who is diagnosed with a communicable disease.
00:09:27
Speaker
been in contact with a food contact surface in a way that might transmit that. That to me, that's a known hazard and that really calls for disinfection. So to me, it's the likelihood of the hazard and that would determine what approach to take. Is this something that you've kind of moved towards recently based off the current climate or is
00:09:52
Speaker
this something you've always, I guess, advised people to maybe choose disinfection. So my current thinking on this came about as a result of growers asking about what to do in the face of more increasingly likely hazards. So hazards that we haven't been dealing with using traditional training curricula necessarily, and hazards primarily involving
00:10:21
Speaker
labor and work crews. And so yeah, it definitely has introduced a new level of consideration for farms and for growers and as a result for educators like myself. So trying to provide some guidance that will help people decide when to do either of these things so that on the one hand, we're not overdosing
00:10:50
Speaker
food contact surfaces unnecessarily, but at the same time the growers have some peace of mind that they're addressing what could be a known hazard. Interesting. Yeah, I guess they hadn't really discussed disinfection like they are now and then just with
00:11:08
Speaker
the
Choosing the Right Sanitizers
00:11:09
Speaker
last few are the amount of information I've gotten. It's always been for non-food contact services. That's interesting. I've never heard someone say, talk about disinfecting food contacts. Yeah, it is. It's interesting. I think what we're seeing is a blending of medical practice or hospital practice with commercial practice, farm practice, and home practice.
00:11:35
Speaker
And including to the point where the CDC recommendations for using germicidal bleach isn't even on the label for germicidal bleach, for disinfection. So it's interesting to me. We're kind of in a new land. Yeah.
00:11:57
Speaker
So then how should a grower decide what detergent, sanitizer, or disinfectant to use?
00:12:05
Speaker
So mostly when I'm talking to growers about using sanitizers, I'm focusing on making sure they have EPA labels for their sanitizers and they know what the label says and that they're using it, how the label directs. That's mostly what I discuss with growers when choosing a sanitizer or determining if the sanitizer they're currently using is safe to be used.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yeah, for a lot of the growers I work with, it comes down to issues of things like access and availability. There are a handful of sanitizers in particular that are readily available through supply chains that they're accustomed to. A lot of it also is, I don't know if you see this as well in me,
00:13:03
Speaker
you know, we have a significant number of new or emerging farms and they've they've learned what they know working with other farms so working on other farms and so a lot of it
00:13:19
Speaker
comes down to what they've been exposed to and what other folks have used. So there is a lot of sort of peer learning that happens. But absolutely, regardless of all that, I completely agree with Emily's point about being grounded in the label and understanding why the product is being used. What is the intent in making sure that intended application is a labeled use and is being
00:13:48
Speaker
carried out in accordance with the label. They can be incredibly confusing with the labels. And so I think starting with a very clear idea of why am I using this to what end, and then making sure you ground that application with the label.
Food Safety Modernization Act Insights
00:14:09
Speaker
So then lastly, what are the Food Safety Modernization Act requirements when it comes to cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting? For example, what is required versus what is recommended? So under the FSMA Proto Safety Rule, cleaning and sanitizing are covered primarily under section 112.123. And that section asks what general requirements apply regarding equipment and tools subject to this subpart.
00:14:40
Speaker
And in D1, 2D1 under that section, sort of the framing requirement is as follows. You must inspect, maintain, and clean, and when necessary and appropriate, sanitize all food contact surfaces of equipment and tools used in covered activities as frequently as reasonably necessary to protect against contamination of covered produce.
00:15:09
Speaker
That's a mouthful, but a couple of key things. There's a must in there. So you must do something and that something is inspect, maintain, and clean, and when necessary and appropriate, sanitize. And then what they're talking about are food contact services of equipment and tools, specifically those used in covered activities.
00:15:31
Speaker
how frequently, as frequently as reasonably necessary to protect against contamination of covered produce. So this is a very flexible statement. And so as a result, it's also a somewhat vague statement, but it does provide for a consideration of risk at the farm level and the development of
00:15:57
Speaker
not only SOPs, standard operating procedures, but also schedules that make sense for that farm based on the specific risks. That's how I summarize. That's how I would summarize this. And the rest of it, I think, depends incredibly on the individual operation and the specific line or piece of equipment. Emily, how do you approach this? Yeah, so I usually approach it as you're required to clean.
00:16:27
Speaker
And then that line that says sanitizing is required when necessary and appropriate. So that we kind of talked about this earlier is developing those schedules of when you'll be cleaning and then sanitizing is going to help you either move through your to a different commodity or maybe establish your clean breaks. And that might be the when necessary inappropriate, but it's all like you
00:16:58
Speaker
of your operation.
Resources and Conclusion
00:17:01
Speaker
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for your time today and for coming out and doing this podcast. Yeah, you're welcome. I do have one resource that may be helpful that's at go.uvn.edu slash clean.
00:17:17
Speaker
hyphen sanitize, hyphen disinfect. And one of the things that's there is a label comparison between four common products used in our area. So that provides a summary of the CDC definitions of the different things, but also the label summary. So maybe helpful to folks.
00:17:41
Speaker
Links or definitions to anything referenced in this episode are provided in our show notes, which can be accessed on the website at c-a-n-r dot m-s-u dot e-d-u slash agri-food underscore safety. You may also visit the Agri-Food Safety website for additional produce safety resources, trainings, and assistance offered by MSU Extension. Thank you to everyone for listening and don't forget to tune in next month for another episode of our Produce Bites podcast.