INTERNATIONAL

BIODETERIORATION
&
BIODEGRADATION
ELSEVIER

International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 41 (1998) 201-208

The importance

of disinfection for the hygiene in the dairy and

beverage production
Reinhard Orth*

Biological ResearchjDep. Microbiology, Henkel KGaA. Diisseldorf, Germany

Accepted; 29 January 1998

Abstract
The disinfectants
used in the fields of unfermented
and fermented milk products and in the alcoholic and nonalcoholic
beverage
production must achieve primarily the efficiency demands of the specific contamination
flora. But besides this microbiological
effects
also the technological,
toxicological, ecological and economical requirements are considered in detailed discussion. In this connection
it is to be expected that in the future only those disinfectant types will play an important part which are corresponding
to all legislative
requirements
like the European biocidal product directive and to the new European efficiency test standards. The main disinfectants
of the two concerned industries are discussed in the correlation to the cleaning and disinfection procedures i.e. for CIP, open surfaces,
environmental
areas with setting examples for specific hygienic plants. Modern disinfectants based on a new modified peracetic acid
product generation were characterized besides classical products based on chlorine, quaternary compounds, amphoterics, halogenated
carbonic acids, aldehydes, biguanides, alcohols and considering also combined cleaning and disinfection products. 0 1998 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Milk & milk products; Brewery; Nonalcoholic industry; ATP-bioluminescence; Disinfectant compounds; Efficacy; Technological conditions
and procedures; Residue level; Ecological components.

1. Introduction

Discussing disinfectant procedures an agreement should

be found on the definition and understanding of the term
disinfection in order to eliminate confusion on the meaning of terms used to describe products and processes in
the disinfectants industry or in the application field of the
food industry. A well accepted and tolerated definition
of disinfection was given by the British Standards Institution (BSI 5283, 1986) in the following text:
The destruction
spores. It does
reduces them to
example, a level
quality

of microorganisms, but not usually bacterial

not necessarily kill all microorganisms, but
a level acceptable for a defined purpose, for

which is harmful
of perishable foods.

neither

to health

nor to the

This general requirement on the efficacy of disinfectants must be achieved by the majority of the products used in the hygiene programs of dairy and beverage
plants with the target to kill or reduce the plant specific
harmful contamination flora. The applicability of disinfectants therefore is selected according to the spectrum
of activity based on the chemical characterization of the

*Corresponding

author.

SO964-8305/98/$19.00
$c 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: SO964-8305(98)00036-5

agent and the suitability to different food production

processes. But besides a broad spectrum of activity and
a rapid efficiency a modern disinfectant for industrial
hygiene must have additional properties for an efficacious
application process:
low toxicological risk
easily to rinse off without any residual problems
low ecological risk, classification as readily biodegradable, concern to water hazard classes (O-3)
compatibility with different technological surface
material, no corrosion problems
economical application
If the rating readily biodegradable is awarded, it means
that within 28 days 60% or 70% of the disinfectants will
have been degraded depending on which measurement
is made in terms of BODjCOD (= 60%) or DOC loss
(= 70%) limiting value. The products are tested for this
evaluation in accordance with OECD-test No. 301 A-F
screening tests.
2. Disinfection technology for closed food contact
surfaces

Considering the disinfection technology you have to

distinguish between appropriate procedures of closed

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R. Orthllnternational Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 41 (1998) 201-208

piping systems (CIP=cleaning in place) and containers

with large quantities of circulated solution and good turbulence, good microbial suspension, simple temperature
application between cold (4 or 1OC) to heated (40-60C)
and generally good pre-cleaning. The separate disinfection, carried out after the cleaning operation, deals
with less soiling, but is an additional step. If the extent of
soiling is not too excessive one would therefore normally
carry out a combined cleaning and disinfecting step. In
this context, the choice of cleaning and disinfecting agents
must depend among other parameters on the type and
intensity of soiling and contamination considering also
the material quality of the process equipment. The CIP
disinfection technology can be generally applied with low
concentration of active ingredients.
3. Disinfection technology for open food contact
surfaces
The treatment of exposed open surfaces and containers
with direct food contact is additional to the disinfection
of flow through areas (CIP) of the same high importance.
This type of surface can only be sprayed or covered by
the low pressure foam system or treated with the new
thin film cleaning product technology for (Duzounis,
1996) brief periods and only where the residual film is
active for a longer period. The rapid cooling of warm
solutions and the more difficult microbial suspension and
precleaning must be considered. For a successful surface
disinfection the concentrations of active substances are
necessarily higher and the quantities of solution lower
compared with CIP cleaning. Normally a quantity of at
least 0.41 use solution of the applied disinfectant per rn
treated surface (DVG, 1996) is calculated for this type of
disinfection.
To minimize the risk for secondary contamination,
from the food production environmental field, all surfaces which do not come into direct contact with beverage
and dairy products have to be disinfected. For this procedure the choice for different active agents is larger also
because of longer possible contact times.

if all the surfaces of the equipment were reached, for

example the critical ones like sealings, joints, openings
and lids with the control on dead spaces and the need of
dismantling of parts of the pipe system. As the use of
disinfectants must be followed by thorough rinsing of
the working equipment the bacteriological quality of the
rinse-water must be controlled on quality of potable
water to minimize the recontamination risk. Also according to the European standard prEN 1672 on the safety
and hygiene requirements of food production the
machinery surfaces shall be cleanable and where required
capable of being disinfected.
For this purpose the hazards shall be eliminated or the
associated risks reduced by ensuring that machinery is
properly designed, constructed with smooth, continuous
or sealed surfaces and capable of being properly installed,
operated, cleaned and maintained.
In Germany the DINstandards 11483 and 11484 (1983)
contribute to define the technological conditions and limits for the cleaning and disinfection of the dairy machinery considering the material of surfaces, joints and the
CIP system (DIN Report 18/1988).
The validation of the cleaning procedures is an essential part of successful hygiene maintenance and management. Validation provides the information that
confirms the efficacy of the cleaning procedure and helps
to identify problems or shortfalls in the cleaning regime.
It should be pro-active, enabling immediate correction of
problems or action to prevent potential product damage.
Now, by the availability of ATP bioluminescence monitoring systems as proactive methods of validation, the
cleanliness of food contact surfaces can be controlled
within a few minutes by the operators on the line to detect
in real time the cleaning efficacy. This rapid methodology
measures ATP from both microbial contamination and
product residues but does not identify numbers of organisms or identify them to species level. Results allow fast
action to be taken on areas of non compliance where
surfaces should be recleaned. This validation system corresponds also to the check up requirement of cleaning and
disinfection mentioned in the European council directive
92146 on milk hygiene and to guidelines for good hygiene
practice of brewery and beverage associations.

4. Monitoring for cleanliness and critical control points

The cleaning and disinfection programs should be continually and effectively monitored for their suitability
and effectiveness with microbiological methods at various
stages of production in compliance with council food
hygiene directives like 93/43 EEC or for milk based products 92/46 EEC.
Different conditions of the practice, such as water
hardness, temperature, soiling factors influence the disinfecting effects which have been integrated therefore in
the lab test methods. Besides these factors the success of
a chemical hygiene program depends also on the question

5. Important aspects for the disinfection in the beverage

production
The disinfectants used in the alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage production must achieve primarily the
efficiency demands of the specific contamination flora
which is shown according to Back (1997) in Table 1. The
most frequent types of active agents used in breweries,
soft drink and fruit juice industries are listed in Table 2.
In CIP systems disinfectant formulations based on peracetic acid/hydrogen peroxide combinations as well as

203

R. Orth/International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 41 (1998) ZOI-208

Table 1
Contamination

flora in the beverage

industry

(Back,

Beverage
Brewery

Microorganisms
Bacteria
Lactobacillus
Lactobacillus
Leuconostoc
Pediococcus
Enterobacter

brevis
lindneri
mesenteriodes
damnosus
cloacae

industry
Soft drink/
Fruit juice

x
x

x
x

Yeasts with Ascospores

Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
Saccharomyces
cerevisiae var. diastaticus
Zygosaccharomyces
bailii
Pichia anomala
Moulds
Penicillium

Mainly in breweries they were integrated in a very

economic and environmentally safe acid tank cleaning
concept. In comparison to conventional tank cleaning the
optimized new acid tank cleaning processes have obvious
advantages in saving total process costs by reduced rinse
water, time and without an alkaline detergent a reduced
effluent charged. By the new generation of peracetic acid/
H,Oz based products combined with organic acid the
fungicidal effects against a mixed yeast contamination
flora could be enhanced and with the phosphorus-free
acid cleaning and the AOX (adsorbable organic halogen
compounds)-free disinfection this procedure has a high
economic efficiency and environmental safety (Fig. 1).

1997)

x
x
-

5.1. Differences of resistance of yeasts and their ascospores to disinfectants

expansum

Whereas the majority of the beverage spoiling yeasts

with many differences in natural resistances can be controlled for example by good killing effects of the mentioned acid disinfectants and quaternary ammonium
compound based product types on vegetative cells, the
activity on ascospores of the most common yeast contaminants are not considered in efficiency results. Wittich

halogenated carbonic acids like the monobromic acetic

acid are the predominant product types, because they can
be regulated by conductivity due to the combination with
anorganic and organic acids.

Table 2
Disinfectants

in the beverage

Disinfectant

production

plant

type

Soft drink/fruit

Brewery

juice

tanks, filters, mixing machine, pipelines container,

bottle washing (rinse water), PET-bottles centrifuges
pasteurizer, conveyor chains, filler, crowner

1 Hydrogen peroxide-Peracetic
acid/H,O,
(a) PAA 2.5~15%
(b) with organic or anorganic
acids and or
surfactants

brewhouse
fermentation-storage-pressure
pipelines
filler
cask cellar
bottle washing (rinse water)
dialysis, reverse osmosis

2 Halogenes
(a) alkaline chlorine
(b) acid iodophores

malthouse
brewhouse
tanks and pipelines
hoses, fittings, filter cellar
bottle washing (rinse water)

tanks, filters. mixing machine, pipelines, container,

presses, filter cloths, general plant, cleaning, bottle
washing (rinse water)

general plant cleaning

malthouse, hoses, fittings
mixing machines, filler

general plant cleaning

centrifuges, pasteurizer
evaporator,
filler, crowner
conveyor chains

tanks and pipelines

tanks and pipelines

5 Alkylamines
(foam disinfection)

filler
environmental

filler
environmental

6 Biguanidines

soaking

7 Aldehydes
formaldehyde-glutardialdehyde

air sanitation

8 Chlorine

bottle washing

3 Surface active agents

(a) quaternary
ammonium
4-9
(b) amphoterics
4 Halogenated
carbonic
chlorine-iodine-bromine
acids

dioxide

compounds

pH

acids
with

tanks

anorganic

hygiene

of small utensils and instruments

by fogging

(bottling

(rinse water)

hall)

soaking

hygiene

of small utensils and instruments

air sanitation
hygiene
bottle washing

by fogging (bottling

(rinse water)

hall) environmental

R. Orth/International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 41 (1998) 201-208

204

Processsteps
F-l

freshwaterrhse

Process A

Process B

Process c

Fig. 1. Comparison

100

50

of conventional

and new processes

150

200

for tank cleaning

Time (minutes)

in breweries

(Kluschanzoff,

1994).

1.0

0.8

0.7
-

0.61
0.6
0.48

0.39

0.29
0.25

0.2

i
Biguanide

QAC

Chlorine

Aldehyde

PAA

Halogensted
Carbonic acids

Active APcnts
Vegetative ceils
Index of resistance

Fig. 2. Comparison

II
0.43 0.43

0.4

of the resistance

of ascospores

I-1

= number of tests with reduction rates -Z5 log

total number of tests

and vegetative

and Kramer (1992) and Neumayr et al. (1988) demonstrated in the Fig. 2 and Table 3 that ascospores
showed a higher resistance against the majority of the

Table 3
The resistance of vegetative cells and ascospores
(Quantitative
suspension test method at 20C)

Disinfectant

against

Ascospores

3 disinfectant

cells against

different

disinfectants

(Wittich

and Kramer,

1992).

tested and applied disinfectants than vegetative cells. The

most distinct differences were observed with the biguanide containing disinfectant but also for the PAA and

types based on peracetic

acid, quaternary

ammonium

compound

and biguanides

Yeast type log cfu test solution

log reduction rates after

5 minutes
Vegetative cells Ascospores

15 minutes
Vegetative cells

Ascospores

Peracetic acid 0.5%

Quaternary
ammonium
Biguanides 0.6%

compound

0.1%

Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
Vegetative cells 5.7
Ascospores 6.0

25.7
3.7
35.7

4.3
3.0
1.7

> 5.7
5.6
> 5.7

a6.0
3.6
1.7

Peracetic acid 0.5%

Quaternary
ammonium
Biguanides 0,6%

compound

0.1%

Saccharomyces
uvarum
Vegetative cells 6.5
Ascospores 6.5

5.3
36.5
36.5

0.9
3.9
0.5

26.1
2~6.5
36.5

a6.4
4.1
> 1.7

(Neumayr

et al., 1988).

R. Orth/International

Biodeterioration

QAC based disinfectant types must be concentrations

much higher and or the contact times longer to get good
disinfection results under field conditions.
The Fig. 2 shows the resistance indices of ascospores
and vegetative
cells of a yeast group (Zygosaccharomyces, Hansenula, Saccharomyces) against six
frequently used disinfectant types in a comparison with
nearly the same results shown in Table 3. These results
are of special interest for the application of disinfectants
in the soft drink industry where ascosporogenious yeast
species belong to the frequently occurring contamination
flora. Thus the higher resistance of the ascospores of
yeast species to disinfectants could cause in some cases
risk factors for the production hygiene and the disinfection procedure which can perhaps be explained by
this knowledge.
5.2. Cold aseptic bottleJiIling

with the integration

& Biodegradation

41 (1998) 201-208

205

cumstances which could not be avoided technically are

disintegrated quickly into harmless substances. Brewery
institutes have certified by testing that minor residues
as 3-5ppm PAA (threshold value in beer) are harmless
(Versuchasstation
schweizerischer Brauereien, Zurich
1977).
For disinfection concepts for fillers and conveyor belts
also spraying systems for foaming procedures are used
with sanitizers based on alkylamine with good disinfecting efficacy also at cold conditions. This disinfection
technology is mostly combined with the innovative thin
film alkaline or acid cleaning technology as a precondition for a successful disinfection.

6. Important aspects for the disinfection in the milk

processing industry

ofper-

acetic acid

The presence of new beverages with high bacteriological susceptibility especially in new creatively
shaped packaging materials for refillable and non refillable bottles, very sensitive to temperatures, constituted
a new hygienic filling system with the use of modern
disinfectants in the bottle washer. This cold aseptic bottle
filling technology for microbiologically sensitive products
in packaging materials (i.e. plastic bottles PET) without
the use of preservatives, bottle or can pasteurization, or
hot filling is working with an improved killing efficacy by
a peracetic acid based disinfection in combination with
wetting agents.
Synergistic effects of both chemical components produce optimized killing results with short contact times on
yeasts and moulds which could be confirmed by different
equipment and system suppliers.
5.3. Specific safe, ecological and economical hygiene concepts

The most prevailing disinfectant group used in the

beverage industry has the peracetic acid as active agent in
different formulations and modification (Schroder, 1984).
Besides the universal efficiency against all types of microorganisms and the good complete biodegradability into
the components water, oxygen and acetic acid residues
and even with the qualification as indirect food additive
for no rinse procedures by the FDA this disinfectant type
achieves also technological advantages in the field. With
the new more acid product types they can be easily controlled in the cleaning process by conductivity measuring.
This advantage is beneficial for example in the above
mentioned acid tank cleaning process in breweries in
presence of the CO* atmosphere. Residues which are
added to the beverage product through disinfection without rinsing, by misapplication or because of special cir-

According to the council directive 92/46 EEC where

the health rules for the production of raw milk, heat
treated milk and milk based products are laid down the
manager of a milk processing plant has to take all measures necessary to ensure at all stages of production a
sufficient hygiene. That means also that all the premises,
equipment and tools, tanks, pipelines in contact with milk
must be cleaned and disinfected at regular intervals before
use. Only a successful cleaning and disinfection as a precondition for a successful critical control point concept
contribute to minimise the risk factors by microbial
recontamination of milk products (Wildbrett, 1996). Also
some technological factors in the milk processing like
the bactericidal effects of pasteurization, the sterilization
process for inactivating all microbial life including heat
resistant bacterial spores in the UHT milk, and the fermentation of milk to yogurt by using starter organisms
produce preservation effects which have the purpose to
lengthen the shelf life of milk products. The chemicals of
cleaning procedures play on the other hand an important
part to reduce and kill the contamination flora of each
milk production stage. Representative species of these
microorganisms were also considered for the evaluation
of the activity of a disinfectant in the dairy field (Table
4).
6.1. Monitoring for cleanliness and critical control points
Technological critical points in the three way valves or
rubber joints in modern installations are often hard to
reach with cleaning products or working sectors in which
automation is hard to achieve, where human intervention
is indispensable are risk factors difficult to keep under
control. Those hazards for good hygiene results must be
integrated in a monitoring program with regular check
up. Personal hygiene training for hand hygiene and the
awareness of the possible microbiological consequences
of direct human contacts in sensitive production zones

R. Orth/International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 41 (1998) 201-208

206

Table 4
Contamination flora in the dairy industry (according to the european
CEN/TC 216 test standards for disinfectants and DLG-test guidelines)
Bacteria: Escherichia coli
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Salmonella typhimurium
Enterococcus hirae
Staphylococcus aureus
(Listeria monocytogenes)
Spore forming bacteria: Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus cereus
Bacteriophages:

Lactobacillus lactis subsp. lactis-bacteriophage PO01

Lactococcus lactis, subsp. lactis-bacteriophage PO08

Fungi: Geotrichum candidum

Kluyveromyces sp.
Penicillium roqueforti
Mucor sp.
Aspergillus niger

ilisation. The application of hot alkaline or acid detergents which have primarily the purpose to remove organic
and mineral residues are able in the same time to reduce
and to kill the harmful bacteria in rates of 99.9 to 99.99
percent. But higher product quality mostly requires still
a separate disinfection step to kill the residual germ
content. For equipment like a bulk milk tanker or storage
milk tanks with low level soiling it is sufficient to use a
combined cleaning and disinfecting step as a standard
procedure. Products for this purpose are based on alkaline active chlorine or formulated with organic or an
organic acids combined with surface active agents. With
increased temperatures of 50C these products show also
sufficient bactericidal effects of a 510g microbial
reduction.
6.3. Selection criteria for the right process adapted disinfectant

must develop the sensitivity for a hygienic behaviour of

the staff. It must be well translated to the operators on
the machines what is the right time for application of
hand disinfectants and how to use the mostly alcohol
based products.
The cleaning success as the main precondition for the
following disinfection step can be controlled in a similar
way as it was recommended for the beverage industry by
the ATP-bioluminescence monitoring on organic residues. Those residues are able to inactivate partially disinfectant use solutions on the base of chlorine and
peroxides.
6.2. Dairy cleaning technology with integrated disinfection
A very sensitive hygienic zone of the milk processing
is at the end of the production line the packages or containers in which the milk products are filled up and the
filling machines belonging to it.
High concentrated hydrogen peroxide combined with
temperatures of 70430C is a technological system to
sterilize the interior surface of carton packages within
N 6 seconds integrated in a high speed filling process.
Only the biocide application together with an adapted
technology is able to keep the microbial hazards under
control in this field. But the security of this process is also
depending on the sterility of the internal surfaces of the
filling machine which is mostly achieved by the use of
peracetic based disinfectants. Because of the universal
efficiency against all types of contaminants this type of
disinfectant with different new modifications considering
conductivity and surface activity is widely distributed in
dairies for the disinfection of precleaned CIP surfaces,
pipelines, tanks, fillers, evaporators, pasteurizers. Already
every classical cleaning step in the milk processing industry is to be regarded in addition to the concomitant
removal of microbial contamination as a partial ster-

Generally there is a lot of disinfectants available for

the milk processing industry with different active agents
which are summarized in Table 5 with the conditions and
fields of application (Wildbrett, 1996).
The choice of the right disinfectants and its handling
has to be determined for each process stage in the hygiene
plan according to the typical contamination and spoilage
flora but also considering the compatibility with the technology, material-, temperature- and time conditions.
A special microbiological problem arising during yogurt manufacture and other milk fermentation processes
is the danger emanating from bacteriophages. Initially
slight contamination results in the possibility of leading
to slow acidification or even to a stop of the process (FILIDF, 1991).
There are only chlorine and peracetic acid based disinfectants which have a sufficient rapid efficiency on lactococcal bacteriophages
which shows a efficiency
comparison of 5 different disinfectant in Table 6 (Lembke
and Teuber, 1981). The reduction of bacteriophages by
hydrogen peroxide, formalin and quaternary compounds
are after 10 minutes too low to be recommended for
practical application. But this virus based contamination
problem is too complex to be solved only by very efficient
disinfectants. Its also an appropriate example that nearly
bacteriophage free production area can be reached only
by a total hygienic management of the plant excluding
all possible infection sources. In addition to the disinfection of the technological equipment and environmental surfaces after each production without neglecting
the staff hygiene washing and disinfection of hands and
changing shoes and clothes each time a job routine is
changed, there are also other following measures against
phage contamination for example necessary:
0 application of multiple cultures as starter
defined cultures with rotation

R. Orthjlnternational Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 41 (1998) 201-208

Table 5
Disinfectants

in the milk processing

industry

(Wildbrett,

207

1996)

Disinfecting

active agents

Conditions

1 Hydrogen

Peroxide

CIP-Vapourisation-Spray
disinfection
- 100~10000 mg/l cold disinfection
- lO~lOOOmg/l
hot disinfection
- 30-300 g/l hot disinfection of packaging surfaces
tanks, pipelines, filters, fillers, external disinfection of machines

2 Peracetic acid (PAA) HzOz

(a) PAA 2.5-15%(b)
with organic
surfactants

3 Halogenes
(a) active alkaline

chlorine

or anorganic

anorganic

carrier

UP-spray
disinfection
- 0.3 mg/llO mg/l water circulation system
- 25-50 mg/l CIP-disinfection
- 1OQ-400 mg/l combined cleaning and disinfection
- 1000-5000 mg/l open surfaces
pipelines, tanks, fillers, rinse water bottle washing machine
CIP-spray disinfection cold-40C temperature
limit
- 15-50 mg/l CIP-disinfection
- 50-200 mg/l combined cleaning and disinfection
-30&l
000 mg/l open surfaces
tanks, pipelines. fillers

systems

(b) acid iodophors

4 Surface active agents

(a) quaternary
ammonium

CIP-spray disinfection pH 5-10

- 100 mg/l grampositive
bacteria. yeasts
- lO&lOOO mg/l grammegative
bacteria
mould-open
surface
pipelines, tanks, fillers. external disinfection
CIP-Spray
disinfection
- 250-2000 mg/l CIP disinfection
- 2000-10000 mg/l open surfaces

compounds

(b) amphoterics

of machines/equipment

5 Biguanidines

CIP-spray disinfection pH 5-7

-200-l 000 mg/l CIP-disinfection
- 5Ot&3000 mg/l open surfaces

6 Alkylamines

foam disinfection of open surfaces

fillers-environmental
hygiene
- 600-2000 mg/l open surfaces

7 Aldehydes
formaldehyde-glutardialdehyde

spray disinfection
- 100&10000 mg/l cold disinfection of open surfaces
floors, walls, general disinfection of machinery and equipment

Table 6
Efficiency

of various

disinfectants

against

lactococcal

bacteriophages

Active agents

Cont.

Formalin
Sodium-hypochlorite
Peracetic acid product
Hydrogen-Peroxide
Quaternary
ammonium

0.6
0.5
0.5
6.0
0.5

l
l
l

coumpound

and equipment

CIP-spray-short
time disinfection
- 50-200 mg/l cold disinfection
-40&2000mg/l
hot disinfection spores, bacteriophages,
viruses
tanks, pipelines, pasteurizer, filter, fillers. cationic exchanger ultrafiltration

acids and or

and organic

and fields of application

(Lembke

and Teuber

Log reduction rates

After 10 min

application of resistant bacterial cultures

use of direct set cultures
total elimination of whey residues as nutrient factor
for lactic acid bacteria

0.5
4-9
6.8-9
0.1-0.3
No effect

floors

1981)

After 60 min

Number

4.5-9
5-9
9
0.551
4

6
6
6
2
1

of test phages

blocking the infection sources by using only plastic

pallets
all recycled packing must be cleaned and disinfected
daily

208
l

R. Orthllnternational Biodeterioration Br Biodegradation 41 (1998) 201-208

separation of hygiene zones between raw materials and

manufactured and limited access to production rooms

Therefore the application of disinfectants must always be

regarded with the integration in a plant hygiene concept.
The prevailing disinfectants group in the dairy field is
similar to the beverage industry as already mentioned
the peracetic acid based products because of the broad
microbicidal spectrum even against viruses and bacterial
spores but also because of the excellent ecological properties as the biodegradibility (readily biodegradable). The
ecological challenge factor on the environment and the
waste water system has today already the same importance on the scale of field requirements for disinfectants
as the efficacy.
Surface active agents like quaternary ammonium compounds and alkylamines are mostly used for foam disinfection of the external sites of the equipment and the
environmental surfaces around the production lines or
the transport conveyor systems. They are not so much
preferred in fermented milk based production because
of growth inhibition risk factors of low residues on the
development of lactic acid bacteria.
In contrast, to the beverage industry halogenated carbonic acids dont belong to the routine disinfection procedures in the dairy field among others because of their
protein precipitating property.

7. Future prospects
After the acceptance of the European CEN TC 216
standard test methods for the efficiency of disinfectants
used in the area of food production as obligatory international accepted normes, the application of disinfectants
differ only in the concern of plant and technology specific

factors which should be regulated by a hygiene plan. The

European Biocidal Product Directive with the option
of a catalogue of requirements for a future common
European product approval point out that the safety
factors for human health, the foodstuffs, and the environment will be more placed into the foreground for the
application of disinfectants.
References
British Standard 5283, 1996. Glossary of terms relating to disinfectants
(CEN/TC 216 HWG N 2).
DIN-Norm 11 483, 1983. Reinigung und Desinfektion von milchwirtschaftlichen Anlagen-Beriicksichtigung
der Einflilsse auf
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