The Role of Industrial Sanitation in the Food Industry

Maintaining a clean work environment is important for preventing foodborne illnesses. With bacteria being able to grow on unsanitary surfaces and then end up contaminating food. Even if a work surface or area looks clean, it does not necessarily mean that it is sanitary. You need to always ensure that you clean and sanitize any work area before you start to prepare any food.

Cleaning Procedures

When you are cleaning with soap and many other detergents, it's important to realize that this is just one step of the cleaning process. You also need to sanitize. When you clean, you will remove any dirt or grease, but you won’t always kill any of the bacteria or other pathogens. Only a sanitizer will ensure that you kill the bacteria and that the area is safe for any food preparation. The best sanitizers that are used in the food industry tend to be chlorine solutions, quaternary solutions, and iodine. A sanitation plan is important for any food service preparation area. It makes sure that all surfaces are cleaned on a regular basis and helps reduce the risk of transferring bacteria or other pathogens from a dirty surface to clean equipment.

A sanitation plan has two important steps.

1. A list of sanitizing and cleaning agents with instructions on their safe use and storage
2. A cleaning schedule, which outlines how each item needs and will be cleaned, who is responsible, and how often it happens.

When it comes to equipment, most kitchen equipment is intended to be disassembled for cleaning. All equipment should be checked and cleaned routinely. Sometimes older equipment may have spots where dirt and bacteria can live and hide, which can make it hard to clean effectively. Make sure that cleaning procedures are in place and followed all the time to ensure that the procedures are working and doing their job. If you notice any safety issues with the equipment, make sure you let someone know right away so that it does not become a safety issue in the workplace.

Hygiene

It is incredibly important, when it comes to safe food handling, that all workers are familiar with standard sanitation and hygiene practices. A big example of this is handwashing. Proper handwashing is a crucial part of any food safety system. You need to wash your hands after using the bathroom, sneezing and coughing, handling raw foods, and so much more. You also want to prevent outbreaks; any one person can carry deadly pathogens. A big step you can take is to properly equip staff with easy and effective hygiene processes and equipment. Try implementing fully automated hand washing and footwear sanitizing systems in order to help provide a standardized and easily documented process.

At EIDS Cleaning & Consulting, we understand that in order for a restaurant to be successful, every component of the restaurant has to work together. We want to make sure that maintaining health and safety protocols throughout the restaurant is important. To learn more about how you can optimize the overall wellness of your restaurant, give us a call or send us an email today!

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