Yuck, disgusting!

A customer calls about a problem: 'It's possible that a small amount of hydrochloric acid entered our production process during cleaning activities. We cannot be sure. What do we have to do?'.

Certified Institutions (CI) conducting audits at food companies impose many demands. That is a good thing: it keeps us all focused and it safeguards the quality. Unfortunately, they often impose impossible demands as well. Needless to say that cleaning agents should not get into the food products, but it is impossible for a company to show and validate that products do not contain this acid at all. It is simply not detectable in an analysis. I sometimes wonder: does the CI realise what's important, or do they just blindly follow some protocol?

First of all, it seems logical to me that manufacturers only use food grade cleaning and sanitation agents. Secondly, all procedures must be guaranteed. Let's just use our good old common sense.

It is a fact that very low concentrations of hydrochloric acids of cleaning agents cannot be measured. These substances react with other substances very quickly. Besides that, a tiny amount of acid is not so harmful, at least not to our health. We also eat salads with a vinegar dressing or put lemon in our water.

Back to the customer. With respect to the example above, I believe that a test based on deviations in taste or flavour would be much more useful. Even though a fraction of a food grade cleaning agent in the product will not be a problem for the food safety, it can have a devastating effect on the taste.

When the consumer tastes your product and thinks: 'Yuck, disgusting!', it becomes very hard to build up your reputation again.

Pieter Vos

Director Nutrilab