Method and system for cleaning a machine for making liquid and/or semi-liquid food products for the ice cream, pastry or catering trade

1. A method for cleaning a machine for making a liquid and/or semi-liquid food product for an ice cream, pastry or catering trade, comprising:

providing a machine including:

a product processing container that is cylindrical and between 50 and 100 mm in diameter;

a stirrer positioned in the product processing container;

a receiving device for receiving a single portion capsule, a type of the single portion capsule being:

a basic preparation capsule containing a single portion of a basic preparation for making the liquid and/or semi-liquid food product; or

a cleaning capsule containing a single portion of a cleaning preparation for cleaning the machine, wherein the cleaning preparation comprises quaternary salts;

a transfer device for transferring the basic preparation from the basic preparation capsule into the product processing container;

an injection device connected to a water source and configured to inject diluting water at the transfer device for diluting the cleaning preparation extracted from the cleaning capsule and also configured to inject a milk or milk-based mixture into the basic preparation capsule at the transfer device for diluting the basic preparation in the basic preparation capsule, wherein the injection device includes a tank containing the diluting water and a controllable valve;

switching the machine to a production mode;

feeding the receiving device with the basic preparation capsule into the machine;

injecting the milk or the milk based mixture from the injection device to dilute the basic preparation in the capsule;

transferring the diluted basic preparation to the product processing container to produce the liquid and/or semi-liquid food product;

feeding the receiving device with a single portion capsule into the machine, wherein the single portion capsule includes an identification element;

identifying, via the machine, the type of capsule fed into the machine via the identification element;

upon identification that the single portion capsule is the cleaning capsule, automatically switching the machine from the production mode to a cleaning operating mode;

alerting a machine user with a warning light or display upon switching to the cleaning operating mode;

extracting the cleaning preparation from the cleaning capsule;

performing an automatic cleaning cycle by a control unit, comprising the steps of:

a. rotating the stirrer;

b. delivering water from the water source to the controllable valve of the injection device, wherein the water is heated with a heat exchanger;

c. opening the controllable valve of the injection device during the cleaning cycle, wherein the controllable valve is switchable between

injecting water directly to the product processing container and injecting water into the cleaning preparation at the transfer device;

d. performing an initial step of prewashing the product processing container by injecting water from the tank of the injection device into the product processing container;

e. injecting water from the injection device to the transfer device to dilute the cleaning preparation extracted from the cleaning capsule prior to entry into the product processing container;

f. causing the cleaning preparation extracted from the cleaning capsule to pass at least through the transfer device and the product processing container to clean the machine; and

g. performing a final step of rinsing the product processing container by injecting water from the injection device into the product processing container.