Electrocleaning was used in the cleaning of food soils (starch and heat-denatured whey protein) adhered to stainless steel. The influence of anionic (linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, two polyoxyethylene lauryl ether carboxylic acids) and nonionic (fatty ethoxylated alcohol, alkylpolyglucoside, two polyoxyethylene glycerin esters) surfactants on detersive efficacy has been assessed. High levels of detergency (88.9%) were obtained when starchy dirt was used, doubling in some cases the washing efficiency achieved by cleaning-in-place methods. All the surfactants studied improved the detergency results with respect to that obtained with pH 13 solutions. However, when a denatured and dried whey protein was used, the electrocleaning method did not substantially improve detergency results, obtaining the highest detergency with 1g/L alkylpolyglucoside at 60 degrees C (19.3%). [GRAPHICS] .