Clean Works' Michele Visser Details Sanitation Technology Addressing Food Safety and Sustainability Goals; Maxwell Cawley and Jessica Hughes Comment


Thu. July 20th, 2023 - by Melissa De Leon Chavez

ST. CATHARINES, ON - Attempting to limit contact with fresh product while also limiting your carbon footprint can seem a Herculean effort. Too often, I hear of the challenge in balancing sustainability demands and food safety necessities. However, it is on this knife’s edge Clean Works lives with its proprietary waterless tech for sanitation.

Michele Visser, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Clean Works“Ours is the only waterless tech available that can claim to be as effective up to 99.99 percent in food safety,” Michele Visser, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, recently shared with me. “Our technology is often applied as the last step before the in-pack process, so it’s the closest we can possibly get before the product is sealed into its final pack.”

The technology is so successful in meeting food safety goals that Michele reports clients are calling back requesting more information to add into their sales decks for the buy-side—understandably, it’s becoming an increasingly recognizable and compelling point in meeting initiatives for both sides of the supply chain.

Clean Works’ proprietary waterless tech claim to be effective up to 99.99 percent in food safety

“We are proactively educating retailers, so they are up to speed on the technology and its value, to understand what having this is offered and why it is a great step to provide a prospective buyer for food safety and sustainability. Customers on the supply-side are finding this does set you further apart in purchasing, elevating your product and your practices,” Michele pointed out.

Key brands are already applying Clean Works to top value-added categories like potatoes, apples, leafy greens, even HMC’s ready-to-eat grapes!

“Clean Works is the future of food safety—the great thing about it is the future is available today. I know it sounds cliche, but it’s true. I currently have Clean Works systems in my facility, and they are irreplaceable,” Maxwell Cawley, Chief Operating Officer at HMC Farms, shared of using the technology for single-serve grape pouches for schools.

Similarly, EarthFresh Foods utilizes Clean Works’ patented technology in its Fast. Fresh. Gourmet. line, which now ranges from Brussels sprouts to peeled and diced carrots and baby potatoes.

Jessica Hughes, Director of Innovation, EarthFresh Foods“This is a clean, healthy dish ready to serve, and we use Clean Works to ensure that consumers are able to easily use a safe and clean product right out of the package. The peace of mind Clean Works helps us to provide in the ready-to-eat space is invaluable,” Jessica Hughes, Director of Innovation, said.

As its capabilities expand, the technology is going beyond grower facilities, according to Michele, who pointed out retail uses as well.

Key brands are already applying Clean Works to top value-added categories like potatoes, apples, leafy greens, and table grapes

“Some large retailers are in the process of installing Clean Works into each of their commissaries as part of their food safety practice,” Michele shared.

Likewise, on the foodservice side, chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and other companies are becoming increasingly experienced in Clean Works technology, furthering both sides’ knowledge of what its application entails.

You can learn more firsthand from Michele Visser and team in Monterey, California, for IFPA Foodservice at the end of this month, July 27–28, as this is definitely an intriguing solution to have on your schedule of meetings.

Clean Works