28.1 Introduction
It is a given that cleaning and sanitizing food processing equipment are
fundamental to protecting public health. This has not always been the case.
These fundamental truths about food safety have not always been understood by
sanitarians and food processors. Upton Sinclair's seminal work,The Jungle
(Sinclair, 1906) provides graphic accounts of putrid materials held in overtly
soiled containers, prior to their being processed for human food on equally
soiled processing equipment. This 1906 depiction of the sanitary conditions
within food processing resulted in a massive intervention by the US government.
Both the Pure Food Act and the US Federal Meat Inspection Act have their
genesis inThe Jungle. However, if the conditions described by Mr Sinclair, and
not to justify them for one moment, are put into context of the time, a different
picture emerges as to why such pernicious conditions would have existed. The
industry of that era simply did not understand that their lack of hygiene in food
processing jeopardized the health of the nation. Consider that Joseph Lister's
theories on antisepsis were not universally accepted until 1876, and in Germany,
by 1878, Robert Koch was demonstrating the usefulness of steam for sterilizing
surgical instruments and dressings. Pasteur's germ theory was not finally
consolidated and accepted until 1880. The collective efforts of Lister, Koch and
Pasteur in illuminating the mechanisms of microbial contamination and
infection provided important insights into developing strategies for their
prevention. Lister's use of carbolic acid for wound treatment and equipment
disinfection may represent the first modern case in which a chemical
intervention was used for preventing the spread of infectious agents.
28 Improvingcleaning-out-of-place(COP)
L. Keener, International Product Safety Consultants, USA