New container cleaning system for sauces - Elite Neede (NLD)

New container cleaning system for sauces

Snack, sauce and salad producer Elite B.V. from Neede, is well known for the typical Dutch ‘Joppie sauces’. In 2021 the company opened a new production location in Holten.

Elite uses 1,000-liter stainless steel sauce containers. These containers are used in the food processing industry and are returned empty but rather contaminated. Previously these containers were cleaned manually. Elite wanted to modernize and automate this process. Gröninger was awarded the project of designing and building a new container cleaning system.

The heart of the system is a so-called Cleanpack which holds a high-pressure pump, two dosing pumps, a water buffer tank and a control cabinet. The Cleanpack is nicely finished with stainless steel plating. The system feeds a high pressure spray gun used for cleaning the exterior of the container. A rotor jet takes care of the interior of the tank. The system is equipped with different washing programs in order to clean the containers with various types of sauces efficiently and in accordance with food safety standards. For example, different washing programs are applied for red sauces (e.g. ketchup or curry) and for yellow sauces (e.g. mayonnaise).

The system is equipped with data logging; a system that records several cleaning parameters. This creates a cleaning history per container and adds a significant contribution to quality control within the company.