Possibilities and limits of modern rapid procedures for process control of cleaning and disinfection methods

In food production and processing, hygienic measures and their control gain more and more importance. The disadvantage of the commonly used control methods is their time-consuming process providing results after 24 hours at the earliest. From all microbiological rapid methods developed in the past, the bioluminescence method is a suitable hygienic measure for detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In this test, ATP from microorganisms and ATP from somatic cells is detected. Within 2 minutes cleaned and disinfected surfaces can be reliably evaluated. Different equipment was tested in the laboratory and in a meat processing plant. The quality of the hygiene evaluation of the cleaned surfaces is decisively depending on the surface structure of the materials and on the product residues remaining in the peak-to-valley heights. Therefore, limiting values for ATP shall be determined individually for each plant. In this case, the bioluminescence method can be recommended as suitable tool for hygiene monitoring.