Abstract: The low foam cleaning agent for in situ cleaning of dairy equipment was formulated with alkyl polyglycoside (C_08-10APG),sodium polyethoxy fatty alcohol sulfate (AES),sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃),sodium silicate (Na₂SiO₃),sodium citrate (Na₃C₆H₅O₇) and glutaraldehyde as main constituents.The composition and dosage of the surfactants were screened and determined in accordance with the standard of low foam volume requirement through the Shaking-flask method.The formulation of additives was decided by using orthogonal experimental design results.The laboratory test results show that with the mass ratio of C_08~10APG to AES as 3∶1 and the total surfactant content as 4%,foaming power of the detergent product achieves rather lower level with a mass fraction of 0.4% dimethicone as the defoaming agent.With the mass ratio of Na₂CO₃/Na₂SiO₃/Na₃C₆H₅O₇ as 6∶5∶9 as well as the total additives mass fraction of 20%,the detergent product offers a high cleaning rate of 95.3% with high stability.The antibacterial test results show that the sterilization rate for Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus aureus of the sample with 0.001% glutaraldehyde achieves 92.33% and 93.14% respectively,as well as 91.08% and 92.93% respectively after 7 d.

Key words: low foam cleaning agent, dairy equipment, glutaraldehyde