When specifying or designing dairy processing equipment, the first criterion is functionality for its purpose. But it is critical to remember that functionality includes cleaning and sanitizing. It is commonly thought that cleaning and sanitizing is the last step in the process, but it is not — it’s the first step.
We clean and then sanitize the cleaned equipment before we start processing. So when defining the functional requirements, it is critical to determine in advance how the equipment will be cleaned and sanitized. Will it be cleaned in place (CIP), cleaned out-of place (COP), or manually cleaned?