How To: Clean Oral Rinse Residues

Q: We need to do a better job of cleaning our manufacturing equipment for oral rinse.  We are cleaning via CIP.  Can you assist?

A: Oral rinses are designed to leave lingering scents.  These aromatic residues like eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil, and other ingredients found in an oral rinses can therefore be tough to clean off manufacturing equipment between batches.  When employing CIP cleaning – and therefore losing the benefit of high foaming emulsification – alkalinity and oxidation mechanisms are the path forward.  As discussed here: Cleaning for Cosmetics Manufacturing: No Interference in Flavors and Fragrance to get rid of aromatic and scented oily residues with an automatic spray system we have both a powdered and liquid option.  They are Alcojet® Low-Foaming Powdered Detergent and Detojet® Low-Foaming Liquid Detergent respectively.  

For manual, out of place cleaning (scrubbing, soaking, ultrasonic) traditional foaming detergents can be considered, including Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner and Liquinox® Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent. However, if the scented residues of the oral rinse are persistent, the above low foaming detergents with oxidation cleaning additives can certainly be used.