Following correct hygiene rules in the mushroom farm is an essential part of the production process.
In fact, the humidity of the environment allows parasites, molds, and spores to spread with irrepressible speed between the mushroom growing rooms, risking compromising the yield and quality of production.
With this article, we want to share the essential hygiene rules that should be followed during the cultivation process in mushroom farms.
–
Hygiene in the mushroom farm: is it better to prevent or to cure?
–
In recent years, the norms for the use of chemical pesticides and insecticides have become increasingly stringent. The mushroom growers just have to act promptly to prevent fungal infections rather than try to cure them.
In particular, it is vital for a company to adopt an adequate cleaning routine and some precautions to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Let’s not forget that the cleaning of machinery and mushroom farms is not only used to eliminate dirt residues; it is essential to prevent or break down contamination!
–
Hygiene rules during the filling of the cultivation room
–
Before loading the rooms, it is essential to make sure that the growing room is clean and that the machinery used has been thoroughly washed.
It is also important to wet the loading space and ensure that the operators remain in the clean area for the entire length of this operation, or that they disinfect their footwear before accessing it.
Another hygiene rule to follow is to keep the corridor door closed and avoid any kind of passage between the loaded room and other areas of the mushroom farm.
Loading the room must be a quick and clean operation without interruptions or pauses. As soon as loading is finished, close the door immediately.
–
Hygiene rules during cultivation and harvesting
–
During the mushroom growth period, it is important that the operators engaged in the harvesting do not approach the rooms that have just been loaded to avoid any contamination; the rooms at the end of the production cycle are more prone to diseases.
The operators involved in harvesting operations are potentially the main vectors for contamination.
To maintain optimal conditions during the cultivation of mushrooms, the hygiene rules to be followed are:
- use clean clothing every day
- sanitization of the shoes
- change gloves before moving from one cultivation room to another.
During harvesting, it is also important not to place crates or other tools on the growing beds.
–
Hygiene rules when unloading the growing shelves and cleaning the rooms
–
Once the harvest and cultivation cycle is complete, it would be optimal to cook out the room before the exhausted bed is unloaded; by introducing steam for several hours, any pathogens in organic materials are destroyed, both on the shelves and in the most difficult to reach areas of the room.
Not all mushroom farms are equipped with systems that allow this type of operation, and energy costs are very high, so the cooking out of the rooms is not always carried out. In this case, the cleaning of the room must be even more thorough.
Optimal hygiene rules in mushroom farms require that any organic residue be removed from all surfaces, including growing shelves.
The washing of the growing racks can be done manually with a pressure washer, but the manual operations—in addition to being tiring and, in some cases, complex for the operators—cannot always guarantee thorough and uniform cleaning, especially for the higher shelves. Alternatively, you can introduce into your mushroom farm our E-wash, the first shelf washing machine in the world, which allows for an accurate and precise washing of all the shelves.
If you want to know in detail the ALPIE solutions for cleaning and proper hygiene, read this article.
