Food & Sanitary Cleaning Brushes

Where should you start in this range?

With the kind of plant. Food processing brushes cover the general work of a food factory: conveyors and belts, produce washing lines, tables, trays, hoppers, drums, tubes and stainless surfaces. Bakery, brewery and beverage brushes cover the special jobs: oven bands, baking trays and molds, flour dust, piping tips, fermenters, kegs, cheese and chocolate molds and filling lines.

A "food-grade brush" is not one product. The fill, the block, the color and the shape all follow the machine part, the soil, the washdown and the plant's hygiene zones.

What decides a food plant brush?

Why is PBT the usual food plant fill?

Because it does the most jobs well. PBT stays stiff in hot water, does not soak it up, recovers its shape after use and takes the common detergents and sanitizers. It is also the fill used on fermenter brushes, where it meets hot caustic and acid cycles. PP costs less and suits cooler water and strong acid or alkaline cleaners, but softens sooner in heat. Nylon is springy and tough for dry work, but takes up water and softens when wet. Horsehair is kept for soft flour dusting.

What makes a brush hygienic?

A brush is cleaned and stored like any other tool on the line, so it must be easy to clean and quick to dry. Solid, open blocks with no wooden backs or cavities. Tufts set firmly so they do not pull out. Stainless staples, so nothing rusts. One-piece handles with hang holes, so brushes dry off the floor. Zone colors throughout the set. And replacement when the fill splays or the block cracks, because a worn brush sheds and holds soil.

Should a plant buy brushes as a set?

It helps. A plant that buys brush by brush ends up with mixed colors, mixed fills and gaps where a job has no proper tool, so staff borrow the wrong one. A set planned zone by zone gives each area its hand brushes, long-handled brushes, tube brushes and floor brushes in one color, with the same fill and block construction throughout. Hang holes let each set be stored on its own rack in its zone. Tell us the zones, the equipment in each and the color scheme, and a set is put together across both groups in this range.

What about food-contact standards?

Send the standard you buy to, such as FDA 21 CFR or EU 10/2011, with the enquiry. The fill, block and handle are chosen to it, and the evidence is agreed before sampling. Food-contact testing is arranged per order, at the customer's cost.

How do orders work?

Most of what we make is OEM: brushes sold under our customers' own brands, usually ordered through trading companies, for Amazon sellers and large home-appliance companies. Food plant brushes can be made the same way, under your own brand or part number. If the brush can be made on our existing tooling, we make the sample directly. If it needs new tooling, we quote a sample fee and a tooling fee, and the sample fee is credited against the bulk order.

Rollers, tank and keg brushes, and brushes built to your sizes start at 100 pieces per design. Fixed-size hand, tube, pastry and silicone brushes start at 500. Our production facility is ISO 9001:2015 certified. Certificate available on request.

What should you send for a quote?

• The equipment or part, and the soil to remove.
• Wash temperature and the cleaners and sanitizers used.
• Zone colors, and whether detectable fill is needed.
• The food-contact standard you buy to.
• A drawing or sample for rollers and machine brushes.
• Quantity per design.