Using paper towels for various cleaning jobs is a typical response in many homes and businesses, but Kayem Foods of Chelsea, Mass., has been using a more reliable solution. It started a couple of years ago when company officials spotted a captivating alternative touring another processing plant. Employees, who were using Sani-Sense® sanitary wipes, manufactured by Medtrol Inc., to clean their machinery, recommended the product. The wipes soon became a part of Kayem’s sanitation process.

Kayem Foods started as a handmade sausage business in 1909. The product line now includes hot dogs, traditional Italian sausages, deli meats and fresh gourmet chicken sausage. The company’s Chelsea plant employs more than 500 people and has continually expanded to more than 200,000 square feet with the latest addition. It operates under strict ISO 9000 quality standards, which emphasizes quality control and continual process improvement. In such an environment, proper sanitation becomes vitally important.

Kayem’s employees have found the Sani-Sense wipes to be a convenient and useful solution. “We’re using them in our fully cooked packaging areas,” explains Jon Trelfa, Kayem’s quality assurance manager. “We’re using them on our contact surfaces and non-contact surfaces intermittently throughout production to keep them clean.”

Previously, employees had been spraying alcohol onto paper towels to clean surfaces. Medtrol’s wipes, which already come pre-saturated, proved to be a much more efficient method of cleanup. “You just open up a package at the beginning of production, grab a towel and go to town,” says Trefla. “You don’t have to unravel a bunch of paper towels, squirt it down and do all the prep work.”

Another improvement is that the wipes can last longer outside of the dispenser than an alcohol-soaked paper towel. If the towel is left out, the alcohol will quickly dissipate, making it ineffective for sanitation. A Sani-Sense wipe that’s been left out for a few minutes will still have sanitizer on it and can still be used to properly clean a surface.

Since the processor has started using the wipes, Kayem has also seen improvements in its bacterial counts throughout the production day, particularly in areas such as the sides of machines. “We are definitely seeing some cleaner surfaces there,” Trefla notes.

Medtrol states that Sani-Sense is designed for safe use on food surfaces and is manufactured on food-grade automated machinery in an FDA Department of Health and Human Services Certified facility. The Sani-Sense sanitary cleaner chemical agent is a cationic solution (Quaternary ammonium chloride) with 10-percent IPA  added for quick evaporation. The chemical agent in Sani-Sense Sanitary Cleaner conforms with recognized chemical solutions that may safely be used on food processing equipment. The Sani-Sense Sanitary Cleaner chemical solution requires no rinsing, and deemed safe in the presence of food products. NP

For more information, phone (800) 647-7180, e-mail sales@medtrol.com, or visit www.medtrol.com.