6.6 Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sanitising of Food and Food Processing Facilities

6.6.1 Operators shall take all necessary precautions to protect organic food against contamination by substances prohibited in organic farming and handling, pests, disease-causing organisms, and foreign substances.

6.6.2 Only water and substances that appear in Tables 3 &4, as processing aids may be used after harvest as cleaners or disinfectants in direct contact with organic food.  Substances other than those appearing in Tables 3 & 4 are only allowed if they are legally required.

6.6.3 Operations that use cleaners, sanitisers, and disinfectants on food contact surfaces shall use them in a way that maintains the food’s organic integrity.

6.6.4 The operator shall perform an intervening event between the use of any cleaner, sanitiser, or disinfectant and the contact of organic food with that surface sufficient to prevent residual contamination of that organic food.  Acceptable intervening events include a hot water rinse, a sufficient flush of organic product that is not sold as organic, or adequate time for the substance to volatise.

6.6.5 Substances included in Table 6 shall be evaluated by the criteria for processing and handling substances that appear in Section 10.

6.6.6. Operators should design facilities, plant layout, install equipment, and devise a cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing system that prevents the contamination of food and food contact surfaces by prohibited substances, non-organic ingredients, pests, disease-causing organisms, and foreign material.

6.6.7. Handlers and processors should use physical and mechanical means such as dry heat, moist heat, exclusion, and other non-chemical methods to prevent microbiological contamination.

6.6.8. Operators should not use persistent cleansers and/or sanitizers that are not easily removed by an intervening event (e.g. quaternary ammonia) or have an adverse impact on the environment (e.g. halogenated compounds).

6.6.9. Steam traps and filters should be used to remove non-volatile boiler water additives.