CIP (Clean In Plant) in Food Industry

What is CIP?

The definition of CIP is given in the 1990 edition of the Society of Dairy Technology manual “CIP: Cleaning in Place” as:
“The cleaning of complete items of plant or pipeline circuits without dismantling or opening of the equipment, and with little or no manual involvement on the part of the operator. The process involves the jetting or spraying of surfaces or circulation of cleaning solutions through the plant under conditions of increased turbulence and flow velocity.”
CIP is not simply the provision of a CIP bulk unit but the integrated process and hygienic design of the complete process.

Why do we need CIP?

• To ensure health and safety of consumers – All-too-frequent incidences of food safety disasters around the globe are often caused by simple mistakes or faulty processes in a food or beverage processing plant which lead to sickness, injury, and even death for those who consume contaminated products.
• To maintain brand loyalty among consumers – In addition to the human tragedy, these contamination incidents lead to the expense of product recalls, loss of confidence in a company’s brand, and ultimately loss of revenue. Improved food safety and increased production will benefit both peace of mind and profit margins.
• To reduce water, energy, and waste – A high level of efficiency can be achieved by addressing CIP design, energy efficiency improvements, and advanced process automation. Such an initiative will result in a positive impact on waste, energy costs, and environmental resource issues.

When implementing a CIP system in plant, a food business operator must ensure the following points:

• Equipment must be connected in the cleaning circuit and must be easy to clean.
• All surfaces which are washed must be accessible to detergent.
• The equipment and pipelines should not have blind ends to which detergents cannot access or through which they cannot run.
• Machines and pipes must be placed so that they can easily drain.
• Materials in the process, like stainless steel, plastics or elastomers, must be of such quality that they leave no trace, smell or taste to the product.