CLEANING
GETTING TO GRIPS WITH KITCHEN GRIME
Simon Gasson, Joint MD of So Clean Cleaning and
Support Services Ltd, offers a high level guide to the Do’s and Don’ts of commercial kitchen cleaning.
INTRODUCTION The cleaning of commercial kitchens is a critical aspect
of many a client’s facilities portfolio. Thousands of hotels, restaurants, pubs and cafes depend directly on the kitchen for their livelihood, while across Britain educational institutions prepare food on a daily basis for several million students. Hospitals, care homes, leisure centres and many corporate offices have integral catering operations with full kitchens in daily use. Thorough cleaning not only reduces the risk of food poisoning and fire, but helps boost staff morale.
COMPLYING WITH THE LAW Kitchen hygiene standards are enforceable by law. A poor
inspection result, either from the local Environmental Health Officer or Food Standards Association, will at best require remedial action to permit continued trading, or at worst lead to a closure notice resulting in loss of revenue, reputation and the possibility of prosecution if standards do not improve.
When it comes to duct cleaning and maintenance, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 brought together several pieces of existing fire safety legislation and set out for building owners in this area a new duty of care.
Despite this, organisations that you’d expect to keep high standards don’t always score well when the inspector calls. A UK hotel group responsible for over fifty, three and four star hotels across the country, received two zero star food safety ratings in 2016, resulting in enforcement action. In one case dead rodents were discovered, an outcome that is hard to reconcile with the presence of a professional cleaning operation.
So, what sort of kitchen cleaning regime should you demand if, as a facilities manager, this falls within your remit?
ROUTINE CLEANING VERSUS DEEP CLEANING –
WHAT FREQUENCY IS RIGHT FOR YOU? In an ultra-busy, year-round commercial operation such as a large hotel kitchen, there is virtually no time that can be set aside to perform a full scale deep clean. In this instance the most popular option is to draw up a seven- day cleaning schedule that incorporates both routine cleaning and a rotating cycle of different deep cleaning
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tasks. The latter would typically include steam cleaning and canopy cleaning and would normally take place at night. In addition, a professional deep clean will need to be commissioned for areas that cannot be accessed as part of this cycle, such as ducting.
By comparison, in the education sector it is commonplace to leave the daily cleaning to the catering staff, but on the basis that a deep clean will be undertaken either by a specialist kitchen deep clean company or the cleaning contractor during the student holidays.
EXTRACT CANOPY,
FILTER & DUCT CLEANING The cleaning cycle for a canopy will depend upon the regularity and intensity of cooking. Provided that cleaning intervals are not left too long, washing with soap or mild detergent and warm water, followed by a rinse is usually quite adequate as a routine specification.
However, no filtration system is guaranteed to remove all grease and some will always penetrate the filters and be deposited on the internal surfaces of the filter housings and ductwork. If left unattended, this layer of grease can create both hygiene and fire risks. The Association of British Insurers recommends that, depending on usage, an extract system in a commercial kitchen should be cleaned and certified anything from annually to bi- monthly. Reputable contractors will provide certification and reports to show your insurer.
HIGH LEVEL CLEANING This is a specialist service designed to prevent
contamination or infestation caused by the accumulation of dirt and cooking residues on high level kitchen structures. It should always be undertaken by a professional contractor in view of the specialist health and safety training and equipment required.
CLEANING STAINLESS STEEL
& CATERING EQUIPMENT Stainless steel can be cleaned effectively by washing with a mild detergent and warm water, followed by a clean water rinse. Strong acid solutions should never be used, but resistant stains can be removed using mild cleaning solutions such as abrasive-free stainless steel cleaning creams. Where steel has become very dirty
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