Getting ready for an audit?  This inevitably takes months of  preparation, and often includes incorporating once-off services in your cleaning protocols to help mitigate the long-term risks to your business, and to ensure the audit is a success. Partnering with a highly trained and accredited health and sanitation expert such as Ecowize, can help ensure audit readiness. Here, Cilna Roux and her team of experts share their thoughts on frequently asked questions, relating to our once off services, and how they can assist you to ensure preparedness for the audit season.
What are once-off cleaning services and when are they used?
Once-off cleaning is used in conjunction with a periodic cleaning regime, to ensure specific cleaning standards are maintained throughout a facility, and can also be used when a pathogen problem arises and a specific pathogen protocol is required to be performed. This sort of service is usually performed by a specialised team when the on-site cleaning team is not equipped to handle the situation, or if additional resources are required.
What are the benefits of using once-off cleaning services?
Using once-off cleaning services  achieves the result without having to employ a specialised team on a permanent basis , nor purchase specialized equipment. Incorporating  once-off cleaning services in your master cleaning schedule keeps businesses on track with audit and hygiene standard requirements.
What is the difference between regular and once-off cleaning services?
The frequency of cleaning within a food processing facility is based on the food safety risk to the product and consumer. Regular cleaning happens daily, according to a master cleaning schedule, and ensures all food contact and non food contact equipment and surfaces have been cleaned and sanitised before the next production shift starts. Once-off cleaning however, focuses on a specific cleaning requirement, outside of the norm, and  the onsite cleaning team is not always equipped to provide as the period between cleans could be weeks or even months, such as high level cleaning and silo cleaning.
What services should already be in place before commencing with once-off cleaning?
Once-off cleaning works together with daily cleaning. For example, the on site team ensures that the basic daily cleaning is performed, while the specialised high level cleaning team will focus on addressing hard to reach areas and beams using rope access and scaffolding. This work requires a Health and Safety Risk Assessment, specific for the plant, to ensure compliance to the Occupational Health and Safety Act. (OHS Act)
How often is once-off cleaning recommended?
As already stated, food safety risk is the most important factor, in determining frequency, and this is determined by: the type of soiling (protein / fat / liquids / powder / dust / mould,  etc).  Other factors to consider are the type of facility, the accessibility of areas to be cleaned, the client’s audit requirements and even the legislation applicable to that industry.
Ecowize offers the following services to the food, beverage and other industries to assist these facilities to comply with hygiene and sanitation standards:
- Extraction hood cleaning: performed in accordance with SANS 10400 regulations.
- Silo cleaning: remove build up and waste material,
- Rope access and high-level cleaning: cherry-pickers, scaffolding and sky vac
- Confined space cleaning: removal of dry ingredient build up, brine, oil, limestone and water tank sediment
- Fogging: to remove bacteria and viruses
For more information on Ecowize’s once-off service offering, https://beulah.rcm-test-web.co.za/eco/contact-us/
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