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March, 26 2026

Ensuring Food Safety at Scale

How a Leading Food Manufacturer Neutralized Spoilage Risks with SteraMist iHP Technology

In the high-stakes environment of food processing, early contamination detection is the only line of defense against outbreaks, financial losses, audits, and more. During routine sanitation checks, the food manufacturer identified an uptick in spoilage organisms within their processing zones. Subsequent ATP testing confirmed the presence of yeast and mold across critical manufacturing equipment and packaging spaces. 

For a facility of this scale, the stakes are critical: the contamination required immediate attention to prevent catastrophic recalls and protect consumer health. The manufacturer needed a disinfection solution that was fast, scalable, and validated for food-contact surfaces. 

Neutralizing Yeast and Mold Contamination

To neutralize the threat at its source, the manufacturer integrated SteraMist iHP SteraPaks into their facility-wide sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOP). The portability of the SteraPaks allowed sanitation teams to reach deep into complex manufacturing machinery that traditional cleaning methods often miss. 

Initially, personnel would treat key spaces twice a month to eliminate existing microbial threats and mitigate the risk of growing colonies. After consistent bi-monthly application over a couple of months, the facility saw astounding reductions in their routine sanitation validations – enough that they introduced SteraMist into a partner facility to successfully eliminate the presence of coliform. SteraMist is also used to address any emerging hotspots, successfully replacing labor-intensive chemical rotations with a single, highly effective disinfectant.

This proactive approach, powered by SteraMist’s ionized Hydrogen Peroxide (iHP) technology, allowed the facility to maintain a sterile environment without sacrificing production downtime. 

Savings with Superior Sanitation

The application of SteraMist exceeded expectations far beyond reductions. Spoilable organisms are detected so rarely that the sampling frequency was reduced to only once a quarter. As a result, the facility observed cost savings on both external lab testing costs and materials, from approximately $100,000 annually to only $5,000 – a 95% overall decrease.

We recommend SteraMist to all of our co-manufacturers. Because our clean-label products are limited on the ingredient-based preservatives we can utilize, starting with a clean environment is essential and we rely on SteraMist to give that to us.

Quality Manager