Cleaning and maintenance materials are defined in the CanadaGAP manual as the following:
Cleaning materials: Products and/or tools used to clean, sanitize or disinfect (e.g., cleaning agents, water treatment chemicals, sanitizers, brushes, scrubbers, brooms, mops, scrub pads, pressure washers, squeegees, cloths/rags, dust pans, pails, shovels, etc.).
Maintenance materials: Products used on, or to repair, equipment and buildings (e.g., light bulbs, lubricants, oils, fuels, paints).
It is important to remember that ALL tools used for these purposes are considered cleaning and maintenance materials and NOT production site or building equipment. The requirements for cleaning and maintenance materials are found in Section 9 of the food safety manual.
CanadaGAP does not use the term ‘food grade’ within the Food Safety Manuals. There are many appropriate materials that are not labelled as ‘food grade’ and the term is not widely recognized in Canada. The requirements for cleaning and maintenance materials are laid out in Section 9 of the CanadaGAP manuals. The requirements state that the materials are “appropriate for their intended use”. Operations are encouraged to talk to their suppliers of cleaning and maintenance materials about whether the materials are appropriate for intended use. Label information may help as well to determine if the material is appropriate for its intended use.
The requirements for the storage of cleaning and maintenance materials depend on if the materials are being stored in a building or not.
It is NOT mandatory for cleaning and maintenance materials to be stored in a building.
According to the CanadaGAP manual, the definition of building is:
Any structure where product or market ready packaging materials are handled and/or stored, and any structure where agricultural chemicals, commercial fertilizers, etc. are stored (e.g., packinghouse, storage areas, hydro-cooling/washing/grading areas, etc.).
Cleaning and maintenance materials are included in this definition (under ‘etc.), since it is impossible to have an exhaustive list of everything found in a building. The building itself could be a variety of structures (e.g., a house, shop, garage, etc.).
If cleaning and maintenance materials are stored in a building:
- The operation must accompany first time visitors and have a Form L (Visitor Sign-In Log) for that area.
- NOTE: In some cases, this might not be an area where visitors would go, so the visitor sign-in log would not actually be actively used. However, the auditor would still expect to see the sign-in log in this case.
- The area where the materials are stored must be controlled-access. A controlled-access area is: An area within a building that only authorized persons are allowed to enter (e.g., packing/repacking area, storage area for market ready packaging materials, product or cleaning and maintenance materials). Access must be controlled to those designated areas (e.g., signs are put up, walls are in place, etc.).
- Pest control may be required for that area/building
- NOTE: Use the important note at the beginning of each section in the manual to do a risk assessment. If there is going to be a food safety impact on the product or potential for cross-contamination, then the pest control requirements must be followed. However, in many cases pest control requirements will not be required (e.g., there would be no risk with a bottle of cleaner, etc.)
- Section 9.3 Cleaning and Maintenance Materials – Storage requirements apply
However, as stated above it is NOT mandatory for operations to store cleaning and maintenance materials in a building. An example of this would be a case where an operation brought a tote/box out into the field with them. In this case, where the cleaning and maintenance materials are not stored in a building, the only requirements that would apply from the list above would be the Section 9.3 Storage requirements.