While the value of the Indian dairy industry is expected to reach Rs5 lakh crore, milk output will touch 190 million tonnes by 2015. With such ambitious targets and increasing pressure of demand and supply, the need to maintain high quality standards of cleaning is imperative, says Rahul Kumar Srivastava, MD-Amul Dairy, India.
Cleaning is the most important function in a dairy and I consider it as one of the most important ingredients of a food processing industry. It does not mean that cleaning adds to the original food quality but if the plant is not clean, it might contaminate the complete food production process leading to food poisoning. Any loose food material should be removed before the application of cleaning solutions.
“When compared to global scenario, it is not exactly the food quality where we lag, but hygiene. At Amul, we have taken utmost care to ensure that there is no dust inside the production circle. The atmosphere inside the plant has to be free from microorganisms as these are not visible. Mechanised cleaning of surfaces reduces the number of microorganisms present to a degree and the surviving ones are subjected to final disinfecting and sanitizing treatment. We have installed CIP (Clean-In-Place) online cleaning system, anti-foaming devices and COP systems. The Hygiene Station we are using at Amul is NIEROS from Slovenia, which is hands-free solution that prevents any chance of cross contamination. CIP systems have an automated cleaning system generally used in conjunction with permanent welded pipeline systems.
I feel very happy about Clean India Journal. I personally go through each and every page of it. It is a very good mandate about the importance cleaning and hygiene. It is spreading wonderful message of necessary cleaning and hygiene across the society. This will upgrade the overall hygiene quality.
“In CIP cleaning, fluid turbulence in pipelines is considered to be the major source of energy required for soil removal. These units are similar to sanitary pipe washers. A sanitary tank is generally utilized in combination with a recirculating pump and distribution headers that provide considerable agitation of the cleaning solution. In some cases, the washer for parts may also serve as the recirculating unit for CIP cleaning operations.
“The present turnover is around `500cr and on cleaning equipment and material we usually spend around a crore of rupees, excluding manpower and other maintenance costs. There is no problem of investment, expenditure, infrastructure or accessories. But the manpower handling the accessories are unskilled and lack of the necessary hygienic standards. Thus, attitude, mindset and training for cleaning staff are very important.
“The Quality Assurance department which trains staff with prescribed modules. Before cleaning the plant and machines, we have to impart training on personal hygiene. As training & retaining manpower is not an easy task, we are in the process of outsourcing it. Many of the plants are already outsourcing their facility services. The Virar Plant is being outsourced to Sasha Housekeeping & Security Management based in Thane.
“With global exposure, customers expect better quality and standards. They themselves maintain better quality.