Cleaning of food fouling deposits in processing equipment is costly and time consuming. Fouling deposits form as a result of adhesion of species to the surface and cohesion between elements of the material. Proteins constitute the major fraction of many food fouling deposits and are notably difficult to remove. Work has been carried to determine the factors controlling removal of egg albumin deposits. A micromanipulation technique was used to measure the adhesive/cohesive strength of egg albumin deposits on a stainless steel surface. The apparent adhesive strength between the fouling deposits and the substrate was measured as the work required to remove the deposits per unit area from the surface. Measured values were between 0 and 4 J/m(2), these were a function of heating temperature and time, albumin concentration, cleaning agent concentration and exposure time. The cohesive strength was greater than adhesive strength at room temperature. Observation of cleaning showed that micromanipulation measurements would be related directly to the effect of concentration on the cleaning time. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.