How Data Visibility Is Redefining CIP System Compliance

Data analysis is a step change for the food and beverage industry. Being able to lift the veil on Clean-in-Place (CIP) systems helps processors to ensure stricter hygienic compliance, while revealing hidden opportunities to optimise production and add value.

Maintaining food safety is paramount in the food and beverage industry. CIP system compliance serves as a frontline defence, ensuring processing equipment is clean while driving operational efficiency. As such, compliant and validated CIP processes are fundamental to continued business success.

However, in relying on CIP to achieve the highest levels of hygiene, there’s an inherent contradiction to consider. CIP is a fully automated process, whereby the cleaning procedures take place in a closed system, preventing clarity on what is happening. In addition to critical data being hidden, substantially more than half of CIP systems run without full validation to support CIP system compliance.

Subscribe to PII and receive:

Our long-established bi-monthly digital magazine *Process Industry Informer*, featuring exclusive articles, news and updates across the Process Industries, plus commentary from our three industry experts:

Sean Moran

Gavin Smith

Dave Green

PLUS:

• Process Industry Update — our weekly e-newsletter
• PII Podcast
• Special messages from our advertising partners

Subscribe for free now!

In these cases, only limited fine-tuning or adjustment to ensure optimisation occurs following the initial installation, despite changing production parameters. This is concerning when any failure to clean effectively risks contamination, which in turn can have serious financial and reputational implications for food and beverage processor brands.

Making Hidden CIP Data Visible

Historical metrics define the cleaning sequence of traditional CIP systems. These statistical parameters evolved without automated data gathering to support ongoing CIP system compliance or performance verification. The consequence of this lack of analysis for each element involved is that facilities have often become dependent on long cleaning cycles with exaggerated times and chemical concentrations.

However, developments in new technology are enabling facilities to avoid this inefficient and resource-intensive scenario through use of cloud-based data analytics platforms designed specifically to improve CIP system compliance and process optimisation.

This makes it possible for CIP production data to be securely collated and processed remotely. Such remote monitoring and analysis can provide a quick view of CIP processes for any date range, specific unit, CIP circuit, or recipe, and enable responsive action when compliance with validated parameters has not been met.

“CIP is a fully automated process, whereby the cleaning procedures take place in a closed system, preventing clarity on what is happening.”

The analysis can also provide deeper visibility of information such as temperature-behaviour versus the conductivity profile during the step (the minimum and maximum strength of the chemical solution), and actual effective time (the length of time each step should last in a traditional seven-step CIP process, including the rinse, alkaline wash, rinse, acid wash, rinse, disinfect/sanitise, rinse). This is information which is typically buried within automation systems or manual tracking methods.

Maintaining Hygiene and Regulatory Compliance

By collecting and interrogating data a processor has real-time insight into performance measures and the true effectiveness of each CIP clean, enabling continuous verification of CIP system compliance.

The evolution of continuous process monitoring allows for greater visibility of hygienic compliance and reliable tracking of water, energy, and chemical consumption.

Moreover, processors also have the power to effectively manage KPIs for food safety, efficiency, and quality improvements, ensuring CIP system compliance is maintained without unnecessary over-cleaning. This is crucial in the food and beverage industry, which is typically defined by tight margins and intense competition.

The primary benefit these new levels of insight bring is the ability to identify whether CIP processes are cleaning enough – or even too much, in which case refinements can be made with confidence that food safety will not be impacted.

Identifying Efficiency Gains Through CIP Data Analysis

f data is collected from every production run, opportunities can be identified over time where value can be added and CIP system compliance can be improved through optimisation rather than increased cleaning intensity.

Utilising trend analysis can flag evidence to prove if there is variation in a system. Cloud-platform technology can be used to look at historical data and mark the relevant sections in a multi-run, highlighting issues and predicting potential areas of failure before they occur.

“The primary benefit these new levels of insight bring is the ability to identify whether CIP processes are cleaning enough—or even too much—in which case refinements can be made with confidence that food safety will not be impacted.”

The presentation of this data is key to effective monitoring. Each facility can personalise its requirements, with flexible analytics platforms allowing users to customise their dashboards to highlight the information critical to them.

The level of control over the data enables core information to be visible – while still allowing further interrogation of historical cleaning data to pinpoint specific insights.

Applying the Benefits of Statistical Analysis to CIP Process Optimisation

Average improvement figures from using data applications are often hard to summarise, since each facility is different in terms of the number of products, lines, and recipe changes to be considered. However, statistical analysis reveals comparisons for continuous improvement and enables KPI adjustments.

Using a platform designed to challenge the existing system, analysing data from the entire CIP process, from start to finish, multiple times, will bring new eyes to the process. Crucially, any improvements from this fresh scientific and statistical methodology can optimise and significantly shorten CIP processes without compromising food safety.

Staying Compliant and In Control of CIP Systems

Compliance-driven process control has existed only in limited scope previously due to the vast quantity of data produced and the lack of tools to interrogate the data efficiently. Employing new technology solutions enables facilities to overlay all the different runs on top of each other to give a clear picture. This allows processors to confidently understand the anomalies that may occur within the process.

“Balance is crucial, and these advancements in data collection and rapid analysis represent a significant opportunity for the food and beverage industry.”

Hygiene is a critical element of food and beverage production, and CIP system compliance cannot be compromised in the constant stream of operational challenges processors face. However, in the pursuit of compliance, over-cleaning is a reality that does occur, resulting in lost production time and avoidable energy, water and effluent costs.

Balance is crucial, and these advancements in data collection and rapid analysis represent a significant opportunity for the food and beverage industry to maintain robust CIP system compliance while reducing energy water and chemical usage.

Processors can work with such new technology to maintain hygiene standards, enabling the optimisation of resources, and in effectively uncovering opportunities for efficiency and value creation.

FAQs

What is CIP system compliance?

CIP system compliance refers to verifying that Clean-in-Place processes consistently meet validated hygiene and food safety requirements.

Why is CIP data visibility important?

Data visibility ensures cleaning parameters such as time temperature and chemical concentration are achieved and maintained during every CIP cycle.

How can data analytics improve CIP compliance?

Data analytics allows processors to monitor trends identify deviations and confirm compliance across multiple CIP runs.

Can CIP optimisation reduce costs without risking food safety?

Yes optimised CIP processes can reduce water energy and chemical use while maintaining full hygiene compliance.

Are unvalidated CIP systems a risk?

Yes unvalidated CIP systems increase the risk of contamination inefficiencies and regulatory non-compliance.