Food safety is a major liability risk facing food processing facilities throughout the United States. In addition to the risk of liability, any form of outbreak or infestation could lead to a PR nightmare for food and beverage companies. Dry ice cleaning, approved by the USDA, FDA, and EPA, is a safe and eco-friendly way to maintain the cleanliness, efficiency, and safety of food and beverage operations. 

Each year, the FDA releases its Inspection Observation Data report, citing the most prominent violations plaguing the food and beverage industry. In this year’s annual inspection, the FDA found these to be the top five culprits of citation violations: 

• FSVP Development (A requirement that ensures food suppliers remain FDA compliant) 
• Hazard Analysis (Though the hazards vary from operation to operation, facilities are expected to identify the potential biological, physical, or chemical hazards that may occur and create preventative control measures)
• Pest Control (Any potential pest infestation may cause potential food contamination)
• Manufacturing Controls (In 2020, 95 facilities were cited for manufacturing controls violations, indicating that the facility did not minimize the chances for potential allergen cross-contamination, microorganism growth, or the contamination and deterioration of food)
• Sanitations Citations (When combined, individual sanitation citations created a large portion of the 2020 FDA F&B violations, ranging from the improper monitoring of safe water coming into contact with food and food surfaces, to improperly cleaned food prep surfaces). 

Avoid FDA Violations with Emory’s Dry Ice Cleaning

In the highly regulated food and beverage industry, keeping your food processing facility clean and sanitized is an absolute necessity. Violations can put food and beverage companies at grave risk, and must be taken seriously. Dry ice cleaning is one of the most efficient, safe, and eco-friendly methods to ensuring your F&B operation is up to code, and free of FDA violations. Dry ice cleaning proactively prevents: 

• Rodent/pest infestations
• Food contamination
• Airborne pathogens
• Dirts, oils, or grime in a food processing facility 

Though dry ice cleaning has been around for over 20 years, only recently has it experienced a wide adoption among food processing facilities. Dry ice cleaning (also known as dry ice blasting) is now the “gold standard” cleaning medium for food and beverage companies looking for a highly effective cleaning solution, yet at the same time, is considered safe and “food grade quality.” 

What’s the Emory Difference? 

• Safely clean the entire area without hazardous chemicals and long drying times
• Eliminate costly fines with a cleaning method approved by the FDA, USDA, and EPA
• Keep your equipment and appliances in peak condition
• Reduce replacement and disposal costs, potential fines, and additional labor required for traditional cleaning methods

Why is dry ice cleaning better than other methods? 

It’s Clean 

• Non-abrasive: dry ice can clean sensitive equipment without damage
• Non-conductive, non-corrosive, non-flammable 

It’s Lean

• Cleans online: dry ice can clean during production, with no disassembly required
• Improves useful life of equipment

It’s Green 

• FDA, EPA, USDA approved: protects food production quality
• No chemicals
• No water or moisture: helps you avoid rust damage
• No secondary waste: no dirty cleanup 
• Made from recycled CO2

How does Dry Ice Cleaning work?

Emory’s goal is to help you reduce distractions, reduce downtime, and reduce health and safety risks, so you can focus on running your business, not managing your vendors. Dry ice cleaning is the ideal option for indoor cleaning, since it leaves no messy runoff or secondary waste. It sublimates upon impact with the contaminant, which helps save time and money dealing with cleanup. Customers such as Kellogg’s, Hershey’s, PepsiCo, Bimbo Bakeries, West Liberty Foods, ADP, Kerry, and many more all trust Emory Industrial Services for dry ice cleaning services. 

Don’t become a statistic! Most of the above-mentioned risks and violations found annually by the FDA are entirely preventable. Instead, it’s a matter of allocating the proper budget to proactively clean your production equipment, ducts, food ingredient lines, and other areas of your facility with the world’s safest and most effective cleaning application available: dry ice blasting.