How to obtain higher standard of kitchen hygiene
Article By Mandy Wolf Detwiler Published September 26, 2022
Article Source: How to obtain higher standard of kitchen hygieneQSR Web
September is National Food Education Month. Proper cleaning, storage and prep can avoid foodborne illnesses and bacteria growth on foods.
September is National Food Safety Education Month. According to the CDC, an estimated one in six Americans get foodborne illness in the form of food poisoning every year. Other germs like campylobacter, salmonella, clostridium perfringens and E. coli can be spread by raw meat, poultry and eggs. Avoiding cross-contamination and making sure staff is cleaning properly — and cleaning the right areas as well — can keep customers from getting sick.
"If you look at what our specialists find when they're doing their food safety assessments, a lot of the top issues that continue to come up frequently are pieces of equipment that may not be clean, and you have two different kinds of equipment: food contact surfaces or equipment that's used with food contact, and there's other equipment that would be considered non-food contact surfaces such as the outside surfaces of things like refrigerators and fryers and coolers," Paula Herald, a technical consultant with Steritech, told QSRweb in a phone interview.
Food contact surfaces include anything that chops, dices or slices, and may have intricate parts and blades that are difficult to keep clean. Health inspectors often cite for dried debris that get stuck in the parts.
"Anything that has residual food on it is a place where bacteria can grow," Herald said.
Non-food contact surfaces should be cleaned nightly if possible, especially any spills that happen throughout the day. Anything with baked-on or long-standing debris should be cleaned well and then kept clean.
"That's where restaurants need to have a focus day or a cleaning night or shift to try to deep clean some of that type of equipment and outside surfaces of equipment," Herald said. She added that some of those areas that are overlooked are surfaces of non-food contact surfaces that are frequently touched by staff, like handles and knobs. Those are important to sanitize on a daily basis.
"Cleaning focuses on removing organic matter from food contact surfaces so that sanitization can occur and removing soil from non-food contact surfaces so that pathogenic microorganisms will not be allowed to accumulate," Francine Shaw, CEO of Savvy Food Safety and TracSavvy, a food safety risk and training company, said in an email interview. "There is no food for the insects and rodents, so they will not be attracted.
"The backs of door handles get disgusting; it's one of those areas that are out of sight, out of mind. They get touched hundreds of times daily by dirty hands — reach-in coolers/freezers, walk-in coolers/freezers — but rarely does anyone clean these high touch points."
Another area that gets overlooked are personal items and proper storage. Bacteria can be carried in on coats, backpacks, in lunches, on phones; any items that aren't needed to do employees' jobs.
Those items should be separated from food preparation and food storage areas. Restaurants should have a designated space — preferably locker storage.
"Many times the footprints of quick-service restaurants are very small, but they need to provide a designated location so that those items can be stored safely," Herald said, adding that employees need to be trained to put their personal items in a safe place away from food prep areas. If employees wear uniforms, a place to change into those is needed.
"The 2017 FDA Food Code suggests street clothing and personal belongings can contaminate food, food equipment and food-contact surfaces. Proper storage facilities are required for articles such as purses, coats, shoes and personal medications. This means operators should provide lockers or some type of storage area for employees' personal effects," Shaw said. "When conducting an inspection years ago, I found a can of hairspray in a kitchen and frequently found hand lotion. Both of these items created violations and were cause for concern."
Ice machines are also problematic and are among the most common health code violations. "This violation could potentially lead to fines, violation points or worse — illness," Shaw said. "The most significant reason ice gets contaminated is improper employee handling or improperly maintained ice machines — human error. Cold temperatures don't kill bacteria and viruses; they slow growth. Ice could smell and taste fine but still harbor dangerous bacteria."
Walk-in refrigerators are often a problem for bacteria growth and spreading, especially condensation issues. Condensation water tends to be contaminated with bacteria that can cause either food spoilage or food-borne illnesses.
"The best thing to do is to make sure that the cooler is serviced frequently or if you have excessive condensation that is not handled by the equipment methods that are already there in place, like an overflow tray or condensation is dripping from a pipe, there may be something wrong with how the equipment is operating or how the condenser is operating," Herald said.
Best practices include keeping foods covered and avoid storing foods in areas where there's known condensation.
Soda dispenser nozzles can get funky quickly and are often overlooked. "Because the syrup is essentially a sugar solution, it is an excellent source for the growth of all sorts of unwanted bacteria that love to feed on the sugary solution, Shaw cautioned. "Clean these daily; otherwise, you may find cockroaches feasting on the residue left behind."
According to Shaw, the most common health code violations are:
Cross-contamination.
Food temperature.
Poor personal hygiene — lack of or improper hand washing.
Improper storage of food.
Chemical use and storage.
Improper storage of utensils and dishes.
Inadequate kitchen sanitation.
Preparing a master cleaning schedule can help a restaurant weather even the sharpest of inspectors' eyes.
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.