Chapter 16 Dairy Processing Plant Sanitation
The dairy industry has the reputation for
being a leader in the food industry in
hygienic design and practices, as well as in
the implementation of sanitation standards.
Also instrumental in the leadership role has
been recognition by the industry of the pri-
mary need for good sanitation practices to
ensure improved stability and high quality of
dairy products that require refrigeration.
The physical and chemical properties of
dairy products, especially fluid items, have
made possible the automated cleaning of the
processing facilities. Some of the following
components have been developed that con-
tribute to automation:
●Permanent piping of nearly all “welded”
construction has been installed to reduce
the amount of manual cleaning of tub-
ing and fittings.
●Control systems based on relay logic,
dedicated solid-state controllers, small
computers, and programmable logic
controllers wired or programmed to
control complex cleaning sequences
have been developed.
●Automatically controlled cleaning-in-
place (CIP) systems have provided a
method to ensure uniformly thorough
cleaning of tanks, valves, and pipes on a
daily basis.●Air-operated, CIP-cleaned sanitary
valves have eliminated the manual clean-
ing of plug-type valves and provided for
remote and/or automatic control of CIP
solution flow.
●Silo-type storage tanks and dome-top
processors have been designed for effec-
tive cleaning by CIP equipment.
●Processing equipment has been
designed for CIP cleaning (homogeniz-
ers, plate heat exchangers, certain fillers,
and the self-desludging centrifugal
machine).These components function most effec-
tively when properly integrated into a com-
plete cleaning system designed and installed
for automated control of all cleaning and
sanitizing operations.
The source of the milk supply is of major
concern. Even the most effective pasteuriza-
tion cannot upgrade quality or eliminate the
problems created by undesirable bacteria in
the raw supply. Although pasteurization is
an effective weapon against pathogenic and
spoilage microorganisms, it is only a safe-
guard measure and should never be used to
cover up an unsanitary raw supply or
improper sanitation.
Polyphosphates and synthetic surface-active
agents have been responsible for changes in the283