The Graeter’s bakery facility in Cincinnati, Ohio is no stranger to recipes. Each fresh ingredient of the uniquely sweet and flavorful types of cookie, cake, Danish and doughnut has been carefully calibrated for taste and quality without sacrificing production.

It’s no different for the sanitation team at Graeter’s: each process has been verified and validated, and just like the bakery production plant, each cleaning recipe uses only the finest ingredients: Madison Chemical cleaning compounds.

The “baker” behind it all is Amanda Kehres, Graeter’s director of quality assurance. Kehres and her team oversee the sanitation process at Graeter’s bakery and ice cream facilities, and leans on Madison Chemical’s cleaning products, technical support, and customer service to keep the baked goods safe and sweet.

Meet the ingredients

Graeter’s has a wide variety of equipment in a wide variety of materials. Madison Chemical was able to provide agents that would suit their needs, often providing cross-functional solutions which help save Graeter’s time and money.

Baking is a messy, sticky, delicious process, and it takes a mean team of degreasers and sanitizers to keep the facility running. To tackle the shortening, fat and butter pileups, Kehres uses AQUABLUE MF, a moderately alkaline degreaser, on various metal and plastic surfaces in the facility.

AQUABLUE MF is a water-based degreaser, with superior penetrating and wetting properties that result in quick and complete oil and grease removal. She switched to AQUABLUE to streamline the cleaning process, to replace several specialty cleaning agents with one product that would work every time.

AQUABLUE MF is ideal for Graeter’s small wares like utensils, mixers and smaller delicate pieces that can’t go through the dishwashers. The degreaser is even mild enough for walls and product contact surfaces like bowls and tables. AQUABLUE MF is applied with a bucket and brush or a mobile foaming unit. It’s also used in the 3-basin sink in the wash section of a wash, rinse and sanitize cycle at 2-5 percent. The chemical is dispensed through pre-mixed metered tips, which allow the pre-diluted chemical solution to be dispensed. The tips provide Kehres with the confidence that the proper concentration of chemical is being used every time, ensuring that the safest processes are being used for the employees and equipment. 

“It’s really helpful to have one cleaning detergent that handles it all,” she said.

For drains, floors, shelves, walls and any other area of the production unit, Kehres uses ProClean FOAM, a chlorinated, moderately alkaline detergent. ProClean is safe for use on ferrous, stainless and most copper alloys as a general-purpose cleaner. ProClean is applied with a mobile foaming unit or simply a bucket and brush.

In order to prevent employee and mobile items, such as carts and forklifts, from introducing bacteria into the facility, Entryway Sanitizing Stations are used. These stationary foaming units introduce a blanket of MADISAN FOAM over the entire floor area near doors and pass throughs. A continuous wet blanket of sanitizer solution is delivered to the floor in the entryways covering the path of the doorway. 

The spoonful of sugar

In addition to having excellent cleaning products, working with Madison Chemical feels like working with a small company: Kehres has Scott Penley, her Madison Chemical representative’s cell phone number, and knows she can call anytime with questions, no matter how small.

In addition to Penley’s expertise, Kehres has access to microbiologists, chemists and equipment specialists to help solve her cleaning conundrums. Madison Chemical also has relationships with other companies that provide cleaning agents, such as Realzyme, an enzymatic cleaner that Kehres purchases from Madison Chemical to use in several applications.

“It feels like they value Graeter’s reputation more than seeing us as a dollar sign, they’re not pushing products,” she said. “They realize we have a budget and they’re trying to get us efficient and cost-effective products.”

Penley conducts a monthly sanitation audit of the facility to observe sanitation and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement, providing valuable insight to the chemistry. For Kehres, it’s not only excellent customer service; the visits represent an independent third-party perspective and ensure her systems are as efficient as possible.

Good to the last swipe

From the all-around applicability of AQUABLUE MF to the sanitizing effectiveness of MADISAN 75, Madison Chemical agents clean everything in the Graeter’s facility. The chemicals are easy to use and designed for food-processing plants just like Graeter’s.

Graeter’s has been using Madison Chemical cleaning agents long before Kehres came on board to oversee the Food Safety, Quality Assurance and sanitation processes. Thanks to their excellent customer service and effective products, the sanitation storage closet at Graeter’s will be stocked with Madison Chemical products for the foreseeable future, helping to keep those baked goods as safe and sweet as ever.

“Sanitation and food safety are very important to us as a company and I feel as though it is important to Madison Chemical as well,” Kehres added, “it’s one if the reasons I believe Madison Chemical is a good fit for us.

About Madison Chemical:

Madison Chemical is a chemical formulator which provides cleaning, sanitation, and maintenance products for the food and beverage processing industries as well as craft brewing, surface preparation, metalworking, industrial maintenance, transportation, wastewater treatment, winery, pulp & paper, and other industries. Since 1947 they have served customers from their Madison, IN headquarters and through a nationwide network of direct technical sales representatives. For additional information visit www.MadChem.com, write to them at Madison Chemical, 3141 Clifty Drive, Madison, IN, 47250, or call (812) 273-6000 or email ken.dreyer@madchem.com.