Chapter 20 Beverage Plant Sanitation
Because the soils found in beverage plants
are primarily high in sugar content and are
water soluble, they are less difficult to
remove than those described in some plants.
Soil removal and microbial control present
more of a problem in breweries and wineries.
Therefore, a large percentage of the discus-
sion in this chapter will concentrate on these
two areas.
Mycology of beverage manufacture
Because beverage plants such as breweries
must maintain a pure yeast culture, it is
important to retain the desirable microbes
and to remove those that cause spoilage and
unsanitary conditions. Ineffective sanitation
can cause product acceptability problems
because contaminating microorganisms,
although kept under control, are never elim-
inated from the environment.
Breweries differ from most plants in that
commonly recognized pathogenic microor-
ganisms are normally of minimal concern,
primarily because of the nature of the raw
materials, processing techniques, and limit-
ing environmental characteristics of the final
product (low pH, high alcohol concentra-
tion, and carbon dioxide tension). An excep-
tion to this is the unlikely possibility that sig-
nificant levels of toxic metabolic products
from certain fungi may pass from infected
raw materials into finished products. Rigid
control of raw materials is essential to ensure
an acceptable product because there is no
satisfactory method to detoxify a finished
product that is contaminated.Sanitation principles..............................................................................
An adequate supply of urinals should be
provided, kept in a sanitary condition, and
located within a short distance from the bot-
tling area and other production areas.
Employees must be required to wash their
hands after using the toilet facilities. Drink-
ing fountains should contain guards to pre-
vent contact of the mouth or nose with the
metal of the water outlet.Employee Practices
As with other food operations, sanitation
is a team job. It is important in beverage
plants that employees clean as they go. Peri-
odic cleaning increases tidiness, reduces con-
tamination, and minimizes cleanup time at
the end of the production shift or during a
production change from the manufacture of
one product to another. Furthermore, one or350