A clean break is a defined production break that involves a documented, verified, and validated cleaning and sanitation process of all food/product contact surfaces. Clean breaks are used to establish lots to trace their products and limit the quantity or product recalled in case of a contamination. Similar to a firebreak in a forest, a clean break gives you that line of safety. Some municipalities will clear out a section of the forest to act as a “clean break” so that in case of a fire, you have a line of containment already in place. Preventive measures are always hard to value, because like insurance, it is hoped to be a sunk cost that has no return on investment. However, if it is used, its value is tremendous.
Now the problem is, what happens if you cannot defend your clean break? If your clean break cannot be defended during a recall, then as far as an investigator is concerned, you didn’t have one. When that happens, your recall will grow. In October 2018, McCain Foods recalled 63 different products back to a shipped date of January 1, 2016 because they didn’t have a more recent clean break. In order to defend your chosen sanitation method, you must understand decontamination and sterilization. The traditional sanitation methods do kill – you see the log reduction right on the label of the products – 99.9% antibacterial, and so on. However, these methods can have difficulty guaranteeing that all organisms have been contacted or contacted with the proper effective dosage. Even ozone, which is an effective method, doesn’t hold the concentration very long, which makes it difficult to do larger areas. Alternatively, chlorine dioxide gas is able to achieve a complete 6-log sporicidal decontamination of all surfaces within a space, including hard-to-reach areas such as cracks and crevices, because it is a true gas above -40 degrees and its molecule size is smaller than the smallest virus. Because ClorDiSys Solutions’ process is pure and dry, our chlorine dioxide gas doesn’t leave a residue. Once the gas has been removed, the area is safe and does not require additional cleanup. ClorDiSys’ approach to process control has enabled us to be trusted to keep critical environments safe, including 31 of the Top 100 food manufacturers.
To learn more about utilizing chlorine dioxide gas for a clean break in production, email us or call us at (908) 236-4100.
