Hygiene in Fabrication and Manipulation

All glass bottles, whether new or used, need to be washed before being used. A good product that is stored in a dirty bottle will quickly deteriorate which is why all bottles, whether new or used, need to be cleaned before being used. In the case of the new bottles all they need is a visual inspection and to be washed with clean fresh water. When using second hand bottles however you will need to be much more careful. In these cases the following is recommended:

Inspection
This stage applies both for new second hand bottles as well as new ones. Any bottle that is broken, cracked, has dirt in it etc, must be thrown away. The risk is more serious when using second hand bottles, since these are sometimes used to store toxic substances such as insecticides, kerosene etc. Because of this, there will need to be someone in charge of smelling all the containers to make sure they weren’t used to hold any toxic substance or that it will stain the product when it is being put into the glass.

Washing
It is preferable to use detergent and bleach for this process. Another way of washing consists in using a caustic soda solution of 1 to 2%. However, keep in mind that caustic soda can hurt your hands, which means that the workers will need to use additional equipment, however for people working in larger production scales there are mechanic washers.

Rinsing
After the washing has been done, the bottles need to be rinsed to eliminate all the detergent. Since this process can be time consuming, you might want to choose using a semi automatic rinser, which consists on connecting a long tube to a current of water through a hose. This hose has little holes on it and in which little tubes are connected to, as many as you need for the amount of bottles you intend to rinse. This same system can be used to dry the bottles. The difference consists in connecting the tube to a current of air.

Sterilizing
It is very recommendable to sterilize the glass jars before using them to store the product in. This not only allows you to eliminate the microorganisms within them, but it also helps to prevent the bottles from breaking when they are filled with the hot product.

Sterilization can be done with boiling water or with vapor. To sterilize with boiling water, the bottles are placed standing over a cloth placed on the base of a pot, which is partially filled with water that covers up to half of the glass jars, and they are kept there for ten minutes once the water starts boiling. Sterilization with vapor can be done by holding the open peak of a bottle over the peak of a boiling water kettle. Do this far away from the product just in case a bottle breaks. It is important to know that the vertical tube is vital since it serves as a security valve. Vapor sterilization must be done in a safe place preventing the bottles from breaking or breaking into the jam and ruining it.