Laminar flow cleaning of gelatinised, partially hydrolysed starch

Summary The cleanability of food contact materials is, among others, determined by the physico‐chemical properties of the soiling material. In the current study, starch of different origin was gelatinised and partially hydrolysed with diastase. The degree of hydrolysis was determined as the reducing capacity in terms of dextrose equivalents, and by the changes in apparent viscosity and surface tension. After spreading the starch paste on electropolished stainless steel coupons and subsequent drying, the removal was studied with a laboratory flow cell. These cleaning tests revealed a higher cleaning effectivity for smaller dextrins, which can be attributed to corresponding changes in solubility. Furthermore, the addition of commercially available diastase to demineralised water increased the cleaning effectivity of starch and dextrin soils at 25 °C. The results indicate that smaller starch breakdown products require reduced energy for removal so that cleaning processes can be adequately adjusted. The study shows that hydrolysis of already gelatinised starch significantly affect the effort that is necessary for cleaning it from stainless steel as the most prominent food contact material.