The cleaning of equipment and lines occupies a vital place in the food processing industry.  Often, a piece of equipment is chosen for its ability to assure a requested single unit operation, but knowing whether or not it is going to be easy to clean is not always evident.  Furthermore, an easy cleaning ability is rarely expressed in the purchase specifications.

At the same time, regulatory and commercial demands related to equipment are increasing : Hygiene pack, quality referential, certification of food compatibility of materials…

The hygienic conception of equipment studies the criteria of conception to respect, in order to obtain from the equipment an easy cleaning ability.

Well designed equipment brings benefits in the following areas:

• reduction of microbial contaminations
• reduction in cleaning time
• accrued cleaning efficiency
• minimizing water and detergent consumption
• no withholding of product during production
• longer equipment life
• layout of the cleaning area

The CTCPA is working for many years on the hygienic conception of equipment :

The CTCPA is an active member of the administration council of EHEDG France (European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group). It is also coordinator of the RMT CHLEAN (Technological Mixed Network - Hygienic Conception of Line and Equipment with Cleaning Improvement). And it leads regional collective actions.  For example:

• 2010-2012: Hygienic conception and line cleaning (DRAAF and Loire region) in partnership with IDAC
• 2011-2012:  Optimization of cleaning and disinfection and conception of the lines (Franche-Comte). Project developed by ARIAT
• 2012-2013:  Hygienic conception and layout (DRAFF and Loire region) in partnership with ARACT

The CTCPA also writes guides for hygienic conception of canned lines.

This acquired knowledge of hygienic conception allows the CTCPA to help companies through :
 

• Training sessions dealing with hygienic conception of equipment :
  These trainings allow the food companies to better understand the stakes in the hygienic conception of equipment, to know the criteria of hygienic conception and to apply them during some practical work on the line. They are adapted to maintenance, cleaning quality, new work and production teams.

• Audits of equipment and production lines
  These audits detect the defaults in the hygienic conception of line and/or equipment. They provide recommendations to modify the equipment or the cleaning protocol, and they also measure the microbiological contaminations on the line.

• Assistance in expressing the hygienic specifications requested for the conception of the equipment or line