5. Determine the worst-case scenario for the soiling
There are several reasons to choose a particular food product for the validation such as strongest adhering soil, the highest level of allergens, the hardest allergen to remove sits idle before cleaning.
Determination of the worst-case soiling scenario will ensure a robust validation that stands up to scrutiny apart from an added benefit of increases in efficiency by allowing food manufactures to carry out fewer validation processes. For example, if a food manufacturer has a number of allergens that are checked by the same cleaning and disinfection program, validating the program for the worst-case scenario for a single allergen (highest allergen presence, most difficult to clean soil) theoretically confers validation to cleaning programs for all allergens used.
