In the food and beverage industry, hygiene is at the core of every safe product, every audit, and every successful production cycle. Yet despite strict industry requirements, long-standing myths still shape how many facilities approach cleaning, creating blind spots that lead to contamination, downtime, recalls, and unnecessary risk.
Advanced Cleaning Services (ACS) has spent more than two decades inside South Africa’s largest food manufacturing facilities. We see these myths daily, and we’ve built our systems, training, and service offering to close the gaps they create.
Below are the most common myths in the food and beverage sector and how ACS ensures every facility is compliant, audit-ready, and protected from avoidable hygiene failures.
Myth 1: Cleaning is just about visible cleanliness
A surface can look clean and still carry proteins, allergens, biofilms, mould spores, and microbial hazards.
- Dairy plants: Proteins and milkstone cling to splash zones and equipment exteriors
- Bakeries: Flour dust and moisture become mould hotspots
- Protein facilities: Organic residues trigger rapid bacterial growth
How ACS works differently
ACS deploys site-specific wet and dry plant cleaning programmes:
- Dairy: Targets fats, proteins, milk residues, biofilms and milkstone in pasteurisation rooms, filling lines, drains, cold stores and door seals
- Bakeries: Water-free cleaning removes flour dust, allergens, mould and residue from lines, HVAC and storage
- Protein facilities: Removes organic residues and manages drains and splash zones, and prevents cross-contamination
Every task is barcoded, time-stamped and verified through I-Clean, giving proof of hygiene beyond what the eye can see.
Myth 2: Any cleaning team can work in a food facility
Commercial cleaning experience is not enough for high-risk food environments. These facilities require specialised knowledge of allergens, microbial behaviour, moisture control, chemical handling, documentation and verification.
How ACS works differently
ACS teams are trained specifically for food and beverage environments only, specialising in:
- Wet and dry sanitation
- High-access cleaning
- Confined space cleaning
- Emergency contamination response
- Real-time verification and documentation
Supported by the I-Clean Quality Management System, ACS records every action, corrective measure and compliance indicator, which is why we maintain a 98% retention rate during contract takeovers and consistently pass third-party audits nationwide.
Myth 3: Cleaning only matters during shutdowns
Waiting for scheduled downtime allows bacteria, allergens and residues to build up, especially in high-throughput plants.
How ACS works differently
ACS provides in-process cleaning, including:
- Continuous sanitation
- Line-side cleaning
- Rapid response to spills
- Emergency cleaning that restores safe production quickly
Our teams prevent downtime instead of causing it.
Myth 4: Cleaning doesn’t affect audit outcomes
Cleaning remains one of the leading causes of audit failures due to poor documentation, incorrect chemical handling and residue build-up.
How ACS works differently
ACS is built around audit-ready hygiene:
- Every task scanned and verified
- Live compliance dashboards
- Automatic corrective action logging
- Fully traceable records for retailers, auditors and regulators
From dairies to abattoirs to bakeries, ACS provides a complete audit trail through I-Clean.
Myth 5: Ducts, overheads and warehouses are low-risk
These “out of sight” areas often harbour dust, mould, pests and allergens; all capable of contaminating products.
How ACS works differently
Advanced Cleaning Services offers specialised services, including:
- Commercial duct cleaning for wet and dry plants
- High-access cleaning for beams, trusses and overheads
- Warehouse cleaning for chilled, dry and high-access areas
- Confined space cleaning by trained, compliant teams
All backed by verified, time-stamped reporting.
Myth 6: Emergency cleaning can be handled internally
Serious contamination events require trained response teams. Delayed or incomplete cleaning can cause regulatory intervention, shutdowns and recalls.
How ACS works differently
ACS provides rapid-response emergency cleaning:
- Allergen and residue removal
- Dust, spill and contamination management
- Verification and proof of compliance
- Safe recommissioning of production lines
This keeps production protected and running safely.
Why Food & Beverage Manufacturers Choose ACS
Across dairy, meat, bakery, beverage, warehouse and distribution environments, ACS supports manufacturers with:
✔ Site-specific wet and dry plant cleaning
✔ I-Clean real-time verification and reporting
✔ In-process and emergency cleaning
✔ High-access and confined-space cleaning
✔ Food-industry-trained hygiene operators only
✔ Audit-ready documentation backed by decades of experience
And this year, ACS reached major milestones that reflect our commitment to excellence:
• We added more than 300 new hygiene operators to our national team.
• We achieved another successful ISO 22000 audit.
• We maintained a perfect record of zero failed audits this year.
In an industry where every clean counts, ACS delivers hygiene built on science, precision and accountability.
Protect your Brand & Facility
For safer products, consistent compliance and a hygiene partner with proven food-industry expertise, ACS is ready to support your operation.
Speak to an expert today:
https://advancedcleaning.co.za/
