CRC Has A Cleaning Schedule for Your Restaurant Kitchen or Commercial Kitchen Tucson, Arizona
Food hygiene is mandatory. The higher the hygiene ratings you get from health department, the more successful your restaurant will be. Remember Health Inspections are typically posted on the TV Station’s Websites. A “Fail” Rating will hurt your business, both short and long term
Be ready for the next unexpected health inspection. If you following a regular cleaning schedule you will have no worries and be proud to walk the Health Inspector through the Inspection
What is a cleaning schedule?
Cleaning is a pre-requisite to an HACCP plan, organizing a daily, weekly and monthly cleaning routine.
It is vital to prevent potential health hazards. Your restaurant will be the focus of anyone suspecting they had food poisoning. Keeping accurate records of your cleaning schedules for your kitchen this can prove to be very important.
They are many Regulations and Guidelines that reference staff hygiene and commercial kitchen hygiene
The Do’s and Don'ts Of Restaurant Cleaning by CRC
A simple list of Do’s and Don’ts aim to prevent cross contamination and other health hazards.
The basics teach us that cleaning saves us from bacteria on hands, and surfaces like table tops and counter tops and kitchenware which reduces the chances of pathogens spreading all around the kitchen.
If we take a glance at what the FSA recommends, then here it is
Do’s
1) Train your staff; express the importance of self-hygiene and kitchen cleanliness. Your staff should simply know about all the critical points and hazards that can be caused if safety standards are neglected.
2) Sanitize storage places that include your fridges, cold storage, glass shelves and more. Kitchenware should be disinfected especially after contact with raw meat.
3) Use cleaning and disinfection products.
It is recommended that you study the instructions of the products and use them according to the job and safety material data sheets.
All disinfection products should meet the standard. Check labels for either BS EN 1276 or BS EN 13697 codes.
Don’ts
1) Do not let waste accumulate or stack up
2) Do not ignore pest infestation. Spilt food or stains should not be cleaned and sanitized.
3) Do not leave dirty water in buckets. These attract insects which might transfer disease causing pathogens.
4) Do not use water that is not sanitized.
5) Do not use the same cloth for multiple tasks. Each cloth should be color coded and used for one specific task only. This prevents cross contamination.
6) Do not mop the floor
Mopping the floor will cause pathogens to spread. It is better to clean the floor with a cleaner that might effectively get rid of MRSA, E.coli and Listeria and other potential hazardous pathogens.
Always use a cleaning agent recommended for floors; floors should be cleaned with a good degreaser and is EN1276 and EN1650 conformant.
The debris should be picked up and removed. The floor beneath the debris should be carefully cleansed with hot soapy water.
Schedules should include:
- Item to be cleaned – Make a list of all the areas and pieces of equipment that need to be cleaned. This basically means everything inside and outside your work area. Clean in areas not going all over the entire kitchen one piece of equipment at a time
- Product name – Next to each item listed to be cleaned, identify the exact cleaning product to be used. For some items several products may be required e.g. cleaners and sanitizes. All products must be listed & it helps to keep them in the order they will be used.
- Cleaning method – Describe how the product is to be used e.g. straight or diluted, and how the person carrying out the task must use it e.g. wipe with cloth, spray & leave, scrub then sanitize. Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as needed.
- Cleaning frequency – State how often cleaning must be carried out e.g. daily, after each use, between raw & cooked foods, monthly or as required.
- Person responsible – State the name of the crew member assigned to carry out this task. In some cases the title of the job holder can be used instead.
- Completed – Leave a field free for the responsible person to sign off as & when they complete the actual task. This is not required on master copies but is essential for working documents.
Degreasers
Degreasing should be on top of the list. Instead of mopping (as explained above) it is vital to remove any build-up of grease which can be both a fire hazard and health hazard grease caused falls.
Oven and Grill Cleaning
We all know how important this is. Can’t let food or liquid stains stay on our ovens while cooking, can we? So here’s what we can do. Even though this is one of the most dreaded tasks, this should be second on your cleaning schedules. Good products make the job easier.
Wiping
This is where color coding comes in handy. By wiping, we mean that one cloth should be used for one task only. A milk spill should not be cleaned with the same cloth you clean raw meat blood stains. This can cause cross contamination.
Fridges and glass surfaces should be sparkly clean as well.
How should a Cleaning Schedule be used?
Well this will be part of your daily routine you must assign each cleaning task to someone. Small scale food operators might be a bit too relaxed to follow it out of fear of expenses. This is where Health departments should provide financial assistance and proper guidance on how to follow these schedules.
What does the law about this?
There are several state and local agencies that can provide you with a bundle of information. There are safety guidelines and the consequences that might happen if these are neglected. The Fire and Health Departments can and will shut you down and close your doors if they feel your operation is a risk. Cleaning Resource Center can provide the ultimate cleaning schedule for your kitchen