Infographic | Allergen Cleaning Validation and Verification
The validation and verification of cleaning procedures are essential components of any effective allergen control programme. Validation of allergen-cleaning efficacy provides feedback on the effectiveness of the cleaning protocol, and very importantly, pinpoints areas of insufficient cleaning. Confidence in the allergen-cleaning protocol increases when validation studies are repeated several times; this is called verification.
Cleaning validation: refers to the process of assuring that a defined cleaning procedure can effectively and reproducibly remove allergenic foods from a specific food processing line or from equipment. Validation studies ask the question: will this cleaning method remove allergens effectively? Validation is normally carried out before the commercial manufacture of a product, and at any time when changes are made to the manufacturing or cleaning process (e.g. reformulation of products, or modifications to process, equipment, scheduling times or sequences, or cleaning protocols).
Cleaning verification: refers to the ongoing process of demonstrating that the previously validated cleaning protocols have been performed properly and remain effective.
When implementing a robust cleaning programme targeted at removing allergen residues, it is important to be clear on the difference between a cleaning validation study and ongoing verification.
FACTS has created an infographic clarifying the differences between the validation and verification processes for allergen cleaning programmes.
For more information like this, register here for our Online Practical Allergen Management Workshop coming up in October 2020.
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