Clean In Place (CIP)

Clean in place (CIP) is an automated way to clean the insides of pipes, tanks and other closed equipment by pumping detergent, rinse water and sanitizer through them without taking the equipment apart.

  • Food safety
  • Cleaning & sanitation

Also called: CIP

The FDA Food Code defines CIP as cleaning done by mechanically circulating or flowing detergent solution, water rinse and sanitizing solution through a piping system and over the surfaces that need cleaning. Machines like slicers or mixers that are scrubbed by hand where they sit don't count. A sample CIP cycle runs a pre-rinse, a caustic wash, a rinse, an acid rinse, a sanitizing step and a post-rinse. Results hinge on temperature, chemical concentration, cycle time, and the force of the flow or spray. CIP started in dairies, where the first automated system went into a family dairy in 1953, and now serves tanks, pipelines and heat exchangers.

The inside of a closed line is hard to see, so a plant has to control and document the cleaning process itself. If flow, heat, chemical strength or time falls short, cleaning may be incomplete. Separation matters too: 3-A practice calls for keeping cleaning circuits apart from product circuits, either physically or with two automatic, position-detectable valves vented to the air between them. FDA's draft Listeria guidance recommends monitoring CIP chemical concentrations and verifying flow rate, cycle length and temperature.

Key facts

Minimum flow in CIP pipelines
5 ft/s (1.5 m/s)
First automated CIP system
1953, in a family dairy
Shared raw/RTE CIP system
Alkaline solution at or above 160°F (71°C)
3-A temperature control
Automatic, within ±5°F, recorded on the return line

In a bakery or commercial kitchen

  • Use CIP for closed systems, such as tanks and pipelines for liquid ingredients; open mixers and benches still need manual cleaning
  • Record flow, pressure, temperature and time for every CIP cycle, and review those records regularly
  • Keep cleaning solution moving at least 5 feet per second (1.5 m/s) through pipelines, the minimum in 3-A dairy practice
  • Run a riboflavin dye and black-light test to confirm spray-device coverage after installation or any system change
  • Avoid sharing one CIP system between raw and ready-to-eat equipment; if unavoidable, keep the alkaline wash at 160°F (71°C) or hotter

For home and cottage bakers

  • Purely industrial: CIP is one way dairies and other liquid-food processors clean the sealed tanks and lines your milk or cream passed through

Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 17, 2026.

  1. FDA Food Code 2026, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  2. What is Clean in Place (CIP)? (FAPC-251), Oklahoma State University Extension
  3. 3-A Accepted Practices for Permanently Installed Product and Solution Pipelines and Cleaning Systems, Number 605-04, 3-A Sanitary Standards (copy hosted by Virginia Regulatory Information System)
  4. Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-To-Eat Foods: Guidance for Industry (Draft, January 2017), U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  5. About 3-A, 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc.