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Centralised Cleaning Systems

Dairy Floor Cleaning

Cleaning dairy floors is important in maintaining the correct level of cleanliness and this part of the process requires a specialist approach. The Dairy industry as we know it has evolved over millennia since man first domesticated cattle. The benefits of drinking milk, particularly for the young, are well known although not in the first Elizabethan age when milk became too expensive for the poor to buy. The consequence was the development of rickets due to a calcium deficiency in the young, not helped by the notion that milk would be harmful to people with that condition

Milk has always had the possibility of being adulterated or watered down and this was addressed by a report in the Lancet in the early 1850’s which investigated the composition of some staple foods and found amongst others that milk had been diluted and tea had up to half its weight made up of iron filings. This resulted in the Food Adulteration Acts of the 1870’s. The urbanization of the country following the industrial revolution meant that often dairies were situated in towns and cities and they were often unsanitary and a health risk. The development of the railways and improved roads meant that the dairy could be situated at or near the farm which was the start of the modern dairy.

Dairy Floor Cleaning - Why do it?

The potential for contamination of milk is well known and often learned form bitter past experience. The cleanliness of the dairy is paramount and dairy floor cleaning forms part of the regime to ensure the hygiene standard is adequate. Cleaning up at each milking takes between 30 and 60 minutes and as cows are milked twice or possibly three times a day it is a significant proportion of the working day. Cleaning the milking machinery is a largely automated process either by reverse flushing the system or a jetter system where a separate line is installed to introduce water and cleaning agents into the system. The dairy floor cleaning part of the process is less automated but there are machines to assist.

Dairy Floor Cleaning - Types of machine.

A dairy floor should be well drained and be impervious to water to enable it to be easily washed with water. The floor will, after milking, have a large amount of faecal matter on it and its removal is the first step in effective cleaning. The use of a high pressure washer in this situation is obviously not ideal so a machine has been developed that uses a high volume of water at a low pressure. BG have designed a dairy floor cleaning machine uses 50 litres of water at a pressure of 9 bar to wash away the unwanted residue. Once this has been done then a high pressure washer with a chemical sanitising agent can be used to deep clean the area.

If you would like to know more about floor cleaning machines for the dairy please contact the experts at  B&G Cleaning Systems who would be pleased to help.