REGULAR
EXPERT ADVICE
May The Force Be With You
If you prepare food in your business (or even just eat out occasionally) you may have been disturbed by recent media reports about patchy and declining enforcement of food safety standards across Britain.
Research by Which? magazine revealed that in some areas of the country more than one in three high- and medium-risk food businesses are not complying with food hygiene rules. Meanwhile, interventions by enforcement officers and microbiological tests to detect possible food poisoning have fallen.
Worrying though these findings are, they serve only to reinforce our commitment to campaign for a science- based approach to cleaning. Choosing the most effective cleaning method based on real rather than perceived cleanliness is the best way to promote hygiene throughout a building – let alone where food is prepared. But the case for hygienic cleaning in the kitchen, canteen and eating areas is as pointed as a chef’s knife.
Responsible food processors control cooking and storage temperatures, guard against cross-contamination between what’s raw and cooked, and take a raft of other professional food hygiene measures.
But that professionalism does not always extend to the cleaning regime. This should include testing for microbes too – not just on surfaces where food is prepared, but around the whole kitchen environment, including floors and walls.
It’s a no-brainer that prevention is better than a prosecution for breaching food safety rules. So
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cleaning methods and equipment should be chosen on the basis of evidence of what works – not ‘the way it’s always been done’. Yet still, the mop is dragged on from the age of the larder and horse and cart.
Kitchen floors present one of the most difficult cleaning challenges. Grease, food deposits, bacteria, moisture, warmth, foot traffic – it’s an unappetising recipe.
US studies indicate that the food safety risk from floors may be greater than previously thought. They can become reservoirs of health- threatening pathogens transferred through the many daily direct and indirect contacts even with hygiene- conscious staff.
For instance, bending down to tie shoelaces that have trailed on the ground, retrieving an electrical cord or dropped utensil, picking up a food carton stored on the floor – each could transmit harmful microbes to otherwise clean hands.
If that’s not so widely appreciated, the fact that mopping tends to spread rather than remove soils and bacteria will be more familiar and obvious. Microfibre mops, the right concentration of chemicals, frequent recharging with clean water and sterilising mop-heads make for a better result.
But mopping is still at best second- rate compared with modern alternatives. These include a no-touch cleaning system that combines precise chemical application, pressure washing, and wet vacuuming. Scientific testing in the US proved this approach was
Kitchen managers and cleaning staff should be the enforcers of food hygiene, says James White, Managing Director of Denis Rawlins Limited, who makes the case for scientific testing and advanced cleaning technology.
between 30 and 60 times more effective at eliminating bacterial contamination than microfibre and traditional mopping, respectively.
But you don’t have to ask the scientists. Kitchen managers can now easily test the results for themselves using ATP meters that measure the universal (adenosine triphosphate) marker for animal, bacterial and mould cells.
We all know mopping is also laborious. So it should be no surprise that advanced cleaning techniques are far more efficient. And the same system can be used for other surfaces including walls, ceilings and worktops.
While food safety is paramount, staff safety is also important in an intensively used space that can become treacherous underfoot when the floor is greasy or wet. Effective cleaning followed by vacuuming of the rinsing solution obviates this danger by leaving surfaces virtually dry.
Unlike mopping, this deep cleaning technology can remove the stubborn build-up of grease and toxins in grout lines, crevices and corners.
With scientific testing and advanced cleaning technology, your staff can be the food safety enforcers.
www.rawlins.co.uk/tcexpert
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
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