The conference had personalities from the industry and Ecolab to share their views on the topic. Rahul Srivastava, managing director, Amul Dairy inaugurated the conference.
The conference was held to create a platform for the industry members and key stakeholders wherein there is a mutual interaction between the industry leaders and subject experts to overcome the pressure of demand and supply and with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) coming into play, the need for high production efficiency, quality and quick turnaround time becomes the key for dairy processing plants to succeed and achieve their production targets.
Among all these pressures and demands few challenges such as high turnaround time, extended CIP hours or frequency, microbial growth control, product waste, rising energy and water costs, pose major obstruction to operational efficiencies and lead the industry to improved and technologically advanced Hygiene solutions, improved operational efficiencies and cost savings.
In the welcome presentation, Ron Pringle, general manager and vice-president, Ecolab India, said, "This conference will create an open platform where dairy industry members can come together and share their views on food safety and hygiene in the dairy industry. We have an exciting day ahead and speakers with good amount of experience in this field."
While giving presentation on 'Food safety and hygiene in dairy industry', Rahul Srivastava said, "Food safety and hygiene is the heart of the dairy industry. Indian dairy is unique in the world. Currently, India produces roughly 121 million metric tonnes of dairy products. There are about 90 million farmers in the dairy business, and 30 million cattle. About 28-29 per cent of milk is processed in India; 50 per cent of it is processed by the co-operative organisations, and the rest by private players."
He also said, "In general, dairy plants in India are not very advanced. There is need for improvement in farm production and we also need to take care of hygiene and safety while milking cattle with machines. There is need of proper sanitation for farmers in dairy business. Hygiene of tankers carrying milk is also big concern. Design of dairy plants as per food safety and hygiene is a challenge. We need to set benchmark world class systems for dairy plants. Quality of layout, fitting, instruments used for machines is very important. Involvement of people in dairy business is very important, people should be trained properly for hygiene. We have to be world-class in hygiene."
Sham Chaudhary, former general manager (quality), Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), spoke about hygiene and food safety concerns in a dairy plant and good manufacturing practices (GMP) in the dairy industry. He also commented on the hygienic conditions of urinals and toilets in the dairy plants, saying that the urinals and toilets are most neglected areas in offices, factories, public places, etc. in India.
"Functioning urinals and toilets should be free from leakages and there should not be rusted plumbing. They should have working high-capacity exhaust fans with covering nets, which should be free from dust and dirt to remove the odour. And there should be a proper dustbin and toilet cabins should not be locked," he said.
He also mentioned that no priority is assigned to sanitation and hygiene. "The work area should be well-lit and ventilated. There should be training for workers in basics of hygiene and sanitation, there should also be departmental meetings to review process and to harvest ideas from the staff to improve the departments service, functional problems should be streamlined after discussion and there should be job rotation amongst employees. Time has come to give priority to microbiological quality and shelf life of milk. In the next two years or so our pasteurised milk should be drinkable right out of the pouch. Good manufacturing practices (GMP), notably housekeeping and hygiene, need urgent updates. Urinals and toilets require special attention in respect of water, soap and plumbing fixtures."
B P Rao, general manager, GEA India, spoke on the significance of cleaning solutions from an equipment perspective. He described the water consumption pattern for a typical milk plant, stating that about 27 per cent of the steam is used in processing, and 73 per cent steam is used in cleaning.
He also said, "Good manufacturing depends on various points like - (a) conventional (viz. man, machine and material); and (b) the need of the day, which includes hygiene efficiency, environment, cleanability, etc."
He also spoke about the changing trends, like capacities are increasing and reaching global size, process technologies are changing, and demand for the equipment is increasing. The right cleaning regime with innovative chemicals can lead to energy conservation, water conservation, better cleanable longer process uptimes, lower capital costs, better environment. There are four cleaning parameters, namely detergent, cleaning time, fluid mechanics, and temperature.
Cleaning detergent demands rapid and complete solubility in water and high soil carrying capacity, and should be easy to flush off with water. Cleaning time demands dissolution of soil, swelling of soil, dispersion, and final rinsing. Fluid mechanic demands requirements of effective disinfection. CIP cleaning devices (spray balls, rotating jet cleaners, and orbit cleaner). Tank cleaning comprises the cleaning of tanks with all elements installed in them, such as measuring instruments, safety equipments, agitators, etc. Storage tanks for detergent concentrates must be type-tested.
Peter Gatchell, technical specialist, dairy, Ecolab New Zealand, spoke about the company's best practices in the dairy industry, and the operational efficiencies and CIP in dairy industry. He commented on the prevalent trends in the dairy industry, and highlighted the need for increased productivity; higher milk volume; longer run time, and reduced CIP cycle time.
He also spoke on sustainability drivers like improved water productions, reduced energy consumption, reduced waste water volumes, and improved waste water quality. Efficient operational higher profitability, CIP golden rules - if the hydrostatics aren't right, nothing else matters. Direct benefits from the use of speciality cleaners - specific attack for specific soils, lower NAOH and HNO3 concentration in CIP solutions, shorter cleaning time equals increased production time. Poor personal hygiene is one of the leading causes of reported food-borne illnesses. There should be training for personal hygiene systems.
Albert Lee, application manager, Ecolab Asia, spoke on improving productivity and operational efficiency with sustainable cleaning and sanitation programs.
A sustainable future
Being sustainable is inevitable, but it is important to minimise energy, water and detergent, and strive to improve productivity. Lee also mentioned reducing the use of energy water and chemicals. Reduce use of energy, water, chemicals.
He also mentioned about burnt on soil on heated surfaces cause problems. In process of long cleaning, results are still not perfect, consequences are loss in productivity, higher costs of production (labour, utilities, chemicals and equipments), and reduced profitability. Cleaning solutions for hard to remove soils. Soil cleaned with increased mechanical energy to reduce energy, reduce caustic.
He also spoke about low temperature cleaning programs for cold milk areas. There is a two-product program for the process, comprising a base cleaner and an activator. Both products charged together into CIP system. Low-temperature acid cleaners product benefits - low temperature program, less energy, and less heating and cooking. Sustainable programs are essential for the profitability of the enterprise.
Sustainable programs saves production time, energy utilities and cleaning chemicals. Difficult to clean soils require high amounts of chemicals, temperature, and time to remove. If cleaning is not successful, change the formulation and or the production process change the cleaning program. Using a specialised additive reduces cleaning time, saves energy, water and chemicals. Low-temperature program (43-50 degrees) to save energy can be successful used to clean low-temperature processing surfaces.
Anil Kumawat, business manager, Ecolab India, made a presentation on making difference with specialty hygiene solutions. He also spoke about being different for better tomorrow. There are various concerns for India: high temperatures are not available, there are water-scarce areas, high-hardness water, and energy issues, and little or no control over process. In easy rinse solutions - three steps of CIP, terminal disinfectants. In high energy consumption, there is effective cleaning and better heat transfer, and in lower energy consumption, there is low temperature cleaning and lower energy consumption. There is little or no control over process.
Vivek Nair, industry technical consultant, NALCO (an Ecolab company), spoke about the water-related challenges in the dairy industry, in which he mentioned about product quality, operational efficiency and sustainability. He also spoke about key water challenges in diary like water scarcity, water quality, discharge restriction, water foot print reduction and water management best practice. He also gave na overview of dairy processing blocks, addressing water challenges in a dairy.
