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Food Production Cleaning Service
Food production and manufacturing facilities are critical businesses that require high-levels of hygiene and specialist cleaning solutions throughout the production process, from food handling to processing and packaging, making the need for scheduled specialist cleaning integral.
With regular deep cleaning, food production facilities can reduce the risk of unwanted pest infestations, unpleasant odours and product contamination. Cross contamination can occur through decomposing food matter and other deposits, building up between the edge of wall junctions, high-level areas and inside food production machinery.
At Rentokil Specialist Hygiene, we can provide a comprehensive deep cleaning service for food manufacturing areas and machinery to ensure your facilities are free from contaminants. Ensure your facility consistently and comprehensively meets audit standards with our extensive range of hygiene services for food manufactures. With our tailored cleaning solution options, we can ensure all food waste is disposed of and manufacturing downtime to your production schedule is reduced to a minimum.
What Is Food Production Cleaning?
Food production cleaning is the vital process of maintaining cleanliness and hygiene within food factories and production sites to ensure the safety and quality of the nation's food from farm to fork. This cleaning is critical because all food purchased from stores or supermarkets has passed through a food production site—such as a bakery, butcher, or dairy—each of which must invest significant resources to maintain hygienic facilities.
The task is highly varied and complex because no two food production sites are identical, and even a single factory contains numerous areas, each with unique hygiene requirements and challenges.
In a typical food factory, like a bakery, areas can range from bulk dried ingredient silos and potential ATEX (explosive) areas to high-care production zones, wet rooms, refrigerated warehousing, ovens, and provers. Factories contain dozens of metres of intricate machinery lines, all of which require specific cleaning methods and are susceptible to pest infestation if maintenance is neglected.
Food production cleaning involves a combination of routine and scheduled deep cleaning to maintain continuous quality control. Daily cleaning is a massive part of the day-to-day running of a factory, but regular, scheduled deep cleans are also vital to help ensure the products that arrive in the shops and supermarket are of the highest quality.
Food production facility cleaning often involves working around shutdowns and to a schedule, sometimes utilising specialist access and application equipment, and always with a knowledge of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) procedures. Whether to preserve a food manufacturers reputation, or pass the latest audit with flying colours, food production cleans are imperative to the running of a successful food manufacturing facility.
Risks of Poor Hygiene in Food Factories
Food safety is always of the utmost importance when handling any food product, but during the manufacturing and production process it is even more vital to prevent any mishaps. Poor hygiene standards can lead to contamination of food in a number of ways.
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Bacteria and mould - Given the right conditions, many food ingredients and products are susceptible to contamination with bacteria and mould. Moisture, time and an ambient temperature will all allow food to spoil and become mouldy, or bacteria to spread once contaminated, leaving it unfit for consumption and resulting in a costly write off, or if undetected, resulting in complaints or even illness of consumers.
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Allergens - Many food factories operate an allergen control procedure. If poor hygiene practices are in place then potentially harmful allergens can be spread into areas where they can contaminate food and pose a serious threat to health.
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Pests - Food factories are a haven for a multitude of pest species if given the chance. From rats and mice in the warehouse, SPI’s (Stored Product Insects) in dry goods and silos, to pigeons on the factory roof, without good hygiene practices and pest control measures pest infestation is never far away. The consequences of which can be devastating to reputation and damages should pest evidence be found by a customer. Good hygiene is a major part of effective pest management.
Our Food Factory Cleaning Services
From the small fruit and vegetable grower, to the largest food factories in the country, an effective cleaning and hygiene service relies on understanding the needs of every customer. Our food factory cleaning services begin with discussing what your factory produces and importantly, what standards you operate to. Through our industry knowledge and decades of experience in cleaning food manufacturing facilities we can tailor a deep cleaning service to the requirements of your factory. Some of the services we would incorporate into a clean include:
Deep mechanical cleaning of production lines: Daily cleans will remove most of the day-to-day build-up of food waste that gathers, but a shutdown is the only way to really get into the small gaps and crevices where food stays hidden and pests can remain unseen. Using a range of cleaning methods and equipment we can clean where daily cleans do not and remove pockets of food that can cause a serious issue.
Machinery disassembly and sanitisation: Where an even more in-depth clean is needed, and where disinfection and sanitisation of surfaces is needed, in a meat factory for example where the risk of bacterial contamination is high, we will work with your engineering teams to clean and disinfect within machinery once it has been isolated and disassembled.
Cold storage and freezer cleaning: Even in the coldest parts of a food factory, the risk of contamination is not eliminated. Mould, bacteria and even some pest species will thrive given the chance. We offer cleaning of cold storage facilities to ensure these crucial areas are not missed during regular cleans.
Floor, wall, ceiling and duct cleaning: Whether cleaning floors and walls at ground level, using high reach equipment to access hard-to-reach spots, utilising access equipment for high level cleans or a scheduled clean of extraction ducting, Rentokil Specialist Hygiene can include them in a detailed food factory clean to minimise downtime and restore food production quickly.
Food production area sanitisation: We use powerful disinfectants that are approved for use on food surfaces, and rigorously tested and proven to be effective against common food-borne pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli. Our disinfectants are shown to be up to 99.9999% effective versus bacteria, moulds and viruses and are applied using modern techniques and application equipment by expert technicians in industry grade PPE. *Steri-7
ATEX / dust-hazard zone cleaning (where relevant): Where dry ingredients or flammable liquids are present, such as in silos or within designated explosive (Ex) areas on site, our trained ATEX technicians can clean safely using specialist equipment and tools.
Standards, Certifications & Compliance
Food safety is hugely important; that's why our teams are trained to RSPH (Royal Society for Public Health) standards, including COSHH and HACCP awareness and have experience in major auditing standards. Our scheduled food production cleaning service helps ensure compliance with audit standards such as BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standard) or specific audit standards such as Marks and Spencers and Tesco supplier standards.
Our training also ensures our colleagues are versed in how our deep cleaning can help our customers GMP and HACCP processes on site and we can advise on how, where and when to clean via regular customer review meetings to ensure all areas are maintained clean, hygienic and pest-free.
Why Choose Rentokil for Food Production Cleaning?
- Full national coverage with dedicated local cleaning teams
- 24/7 service, we can work around factory shutdowns whenever they occur
- Specialist equipment and safe cleaning chemicals, including high reach and ATEX needs
- Decades of experience working with food production sites and auditing standards
- Full integration with pest control including stored product insect control
- Comprehensive reporting to support traceability
- Proven results — we work with some of the UKs largest food manufacturers
How to Book a Food Production Cleaning Service
When we say we are the experts we mean it. All of our Rentokil Specialist Hygiene technicians are trained with industry-leading RSPH qualifications, making them specialists in all types of hygiene cleaning and disinfection. We are always on hand to provide expert advice and recommendations on a range of cleaning and disinfection services. Alternatively, you can book a FREE survey with your local Rentokil Specialist Hygiene consultant with our online Book a Survey form.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is food production cleaning, and how does it differ from regular cleaning?
Food production cleaning is the removal of food and other waste produced by the manufacturing process. This covers a wide range of food products and stages of the process, meaning comprehensive food production cleans need to include several different methods and techniques to be effective.
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Why is it important to hire dedicated food factory cleaning companies?
Time is money, and shutdowns are a necessary yet costly part of running a factory. A professional food factory clean ensures no time is wasted through inefficiencies, as experienced technicians know exactly what, when and how to clean in the valuable time they are given.
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How often should food factory cleaning be done?
Daily cleans occur at every food factory, but depending on the area or nature of the food being produced, deep cleans are carried out periodically. In dusty environments, high level girders may need a monthly clean, whereas others only require cleaning on an annual basis. Our experts will design a deep clean schedule with you to suit your operational needs.
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Can you handle machinery and foodâcontact surfaces?
Yes we can! Our food cleaning teams are experienced in working around food manufacturing machinery, but we will always check with you beforehand for specific requirements. Our modern, powerful disinfectants are suitable for use on food contact surfaces as well.
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Do you offer food factory cleaning services across the UK?
Our expert teams are based across the UK via our branch network, meaning we can provide full UK coverage no matter where you are.
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How do your cleaning services help us stay compliant with food safety standards?
Cleaning forms a critical part of many audit and operational standards, including BRCGS. Professional factory cleans can significantly increase the chances of an audit pass by removing sources of contamination and pest infestation.
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Will food production cleaning disrupt our operations?
This depends on the area and how it needs to be cleaned. Some areas can be cleaned whilst in operation, however any work over food production lines for instance can only be carried out safely during an operation shut down.
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What are Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)?
GMPs are the prerequisite programs (PRPs) for food safety. They set the minimum sanitary and operational requirements that a facility must meet to produce safe food. In the context of cleaning, GMP covers the necessary tools, environment, and procedures.
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What are HACCP principles?
HACCP is the risk-management system that focuses on preventing, eliminating, or reducing hazards. It builds upon the foundation of GMP. While not every cleaning step is a HACCP control, the effectiveness of the cleaning process is often a Critical Control Point (CCP) or is integral to controlling a hazard.
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