How do food factories with many machines, including tracks and chutes and robotic grabbers, keep the machinery sterile and clean for human safety?
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All the machines get washed at a specified frequency. The entire factory room is also a controlled area where people wear anti-contamination clothing, and the factory is inspected to make sure there aren’t problems like roof leaks, holes in the walls for pests, etc…
That said, food isn’t entirely sterile. There are non-zero limits for most food products on various types of contamination. Foods with the potential to rot due to contamination usually go through a sterilizing process as the last step before leaving the factory, such as pasturization.
The machinery is designed to be cleaned and not to have small corners or areas where food or residue can buildup. Stainless steel and plastics are popular since they are easily cleaned compared to other materials. No paint or rust particles to flake off into food.
Meat plants are basically huge refrigerators that keep the food well into the safe handling temperature zones. Workers wash, wear clean clothes (sometimes disposible) and hair nets and walk thru pits filled with sanitizing solution to clean their shoes.
There is a schedule for workers cleaning the machines. Sometimes every day, some times between batches. I believe milk packing plants have automated sanitizing operations between batches of milk.
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