Cluster cleaning is a cleaning method which balances food safety with economy. Equipment is cleaned when it is needed, not according to a predefined timetable.

The staff involved in cluster cleaning have clearly defined roles, each waiting for the right time to complete their part of the process quickly and efficiently, and without impeding any other cleaner. As a result of the effective staff training required to run clusters proficiently, operatives become expert in that area and so a process that may look slightly disordered at first glance delivers consistent, on time standards of cleaning.

With cluster cleaning, each area of production is cleaned as soon as it falls idle, minimising the window of opportunity for contamination, and also making each individual clean quicker as part of a free-flowing work programme. The end result is that as soon as the production process is completed, only the surfaces in the final stage (usually wrap) require cleaning, thus reducing plant downtime and increasing profitable production time.

Some cleaning can also be scheduled around planned down-times, such as for engineering or maintenance, reducing the cost impact of cleaning even further. Scheduling and planning cluster cleaning is not easy and requires close integration with the production staff but delivers many benefits.

Cluster cleaning can be built in to replace some elements of existing sequential cleaning programmes, delivering cost savings, better standards and decreased downtime, while using the most efficient method for each area of production. An effective assessment and feasibility study is advised before implementing cluster cleaning practices. Labour savings attributed to this method have been reported at between 10 % and 15 %.