THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CLEAN OR SANITARY IN THE FERMENTATION INDUSTRIES

It might surprise many to learn that the cleanliness or sanitary conditions of certain fermentation plants or its production floor as being cleaner even compared to the cleanliness of surgical rooms. Of course this statement doesn’t apply to all types of fermentation industries!
By being clean requires a lot of investment in terms of labour, cost and loss of downtime in fermentor operation. However the benefits derived from being clean far outweigh the investments cost. In fact being clean is in most cases part of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
A fermentation plant which is not clean will generate numerous problems ranging from poor quality control of the process to even loss of production due to microbial contamination. It is not a random activity or do as you like attitude in trying to be clean or sanitized. Most fermentation plants require skill operators just to clean the plant. And it is not easy cleaning the fermentation plant as you have not only to clean the fermentors but even the production floors, walls and many other surfaces.
Most of these cleaning activities are complex and require Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which must not only be adhered to but validated. Any inefficient cleaning will likely be a source of future problems in the fermentation industries.
Cleaning process is basically removing the dirt or contaminating particles. In most cases it is not easy to see these dirty particles with our naked eyes and might even require special advance analytical tools to detect the dirt. Some of these dirty particles are hidden and so inaccessible to normal cleaning procedures that it will always remain in the nooks, corners and crevices. What is even more challenging this dirt is so microscopic and can even hide itself under protective surfaces
As we have said before the danger of not cleaning could be the cause of recurring infection of the fermentation process. To make things worst the remnants of improper cleaning could result in residues of organic particles such as traces of the fermentation broth that not only help in protect the microbial contaminants from the effect of cleaning activities but even support or provide nutrients for further proliferation of the microbial contaminants.
Biofouling of surfaces due to improperly cleaned surfaces could result in many engineering problems such as microbial corrosion ans loss of heat transfers which will ultimately add to the operational cost of the fermentation plant.
So it is wiser if in the first place that cleaning of the fermentation plant be carried out efficiently to prevent secondary problems arising in the later stages!


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