FOOD HYGIENE
Looks Good On Paper
Hospitality businesses such as hotels, restaurants and cafes all have a tough job trying to balance sustainability, hygiene and cost considerations when equipping their premises with essential paper products. Rebecca Blake, from Tork manufacturer SCA, looks at the optimum disposable choices that tick all the right boxes.
The use of disposable products in the hospitality sector has been growing rapidly over recent years. There has been an increasing understanding that single-use products such as paper wipers, disposable napkins and kitchen towels offer more hygiene benefits than textile alternatives. Dish cloths, sponges and tea towels tend to be used for longer in the kitchen where they may potentially become contaminated by substances such as raw meat juices.
Recent research into kitchen wiping has underlined these issues and increased awareness of the need for hygiene. A recent study commissioned by the Global Hygiene Council reported that dishcloths harbour six times as much bacteria as the average toilet flush handle. However, none of us wants to create any more waste than necessary in these sustainability-conscious times. And we're all aware of the need to limit consumption wherever we can in order to reduce both waste and costs.
So how can hospitality businesses equip their premises with the paper products they need without increasing their costs unacceptably – and blowing their reputation for sustainability into the bargain?
Fortunately, a number of food and catering products on the market have been expressly designed to naturally reduce consumption. This is achieved by means of dispensing systems that give out only one wiper, hand towel or napkin at a time.
Such simple measures can have an enormous effect on waste and
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costs, thereby offering sustainability benefits as well. One of our own napkin products, for example the Tork Xpressnap napkin dispenser, cuts consumption by at least 25% since the dispenser enables the diner to take out only the napkin they need, rather than the clump of the napkins they will later discard. Many napkin dispensers on the market make it almost impossible to avoid taking out a clump of napkins at a time, and the unwanted and unused napkins represent a massive and unnecessary cost for catering outlets.
Controlling consumption means that product costs are reduced while the fact that fewer napkins are wasted is a huge sustainability benefit. And one- at-a-time dispensing is also hygienic since the diner touches only the napkin that he or she uses, reducing the risk of cross-contamination.
Vast amounts of paper wiping products are required in catering kitchens for cleaning down surfaces, wiping the hands and for mopping up spills. In many catering outlets, loose blue rolls are supplied so that staff can tear off a length of wiping paper whenever they need it.
However, a loose wiper roll will potentially compromise hygiene and sustainability while also pushing up costs. This is because staff will be tempted to take more paper than they need and the excess will go straight in the waste bin. Loose wipers are often left lying around on kitchen surfaces, too, where they could potentially soak up spills or become contaminated by meat juices or other products.
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
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