How to Clean Food Service Equipment

Cleaning food service equipment is critical to preventing food-borne illness. Contaminated equipment parts can lead to an outbreak of dangerous illness that damage the reputation of a business. All food service workers are responsible for maintaining a clean, sanitary and food-safe environment. Food service equipment can have moving or multiple parts, but the cleaning process is the same. Everyone involved with the cleaning process should be fully trained, knowledgeable and motivated to follow through on each step.

Things You'll Need

• Food scrapers
• Waste can
• 3-compartment sink
• Detergent
• Medium-stiff brush
• Quaternary ammonium
• Chlorine sanitizer
• Test kit or test strip

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Instructions

• 1

  Determine how frequently the equipment must be cleaned---daily, after each use, or as necessary. Even certain pieces of equipment that are not used may require regular cleaning.

• 2

  Disassemble equipment with multiple parts.

• 3

  Scrape food particles and soil from all equipment parts into a waste can.

• 4

  Place the equipment parts in warm, soapy water in the first compartment of the sink. Soak and wash the parts, using a medium-stiff brush and detergent. Follow label directions.

• 5

  Remove detergent by submerging the equipment parts in clean, warm water or by flushing with an overhead spray rinse nozzle.

• 6

  Submerge equipment parts in an approved sanitizing solution for at least 1 minute. The water temperature must be at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Sanitizer strengths in water must be 50 to 100 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine or 200 (ppm) of quaternary ammonium, available from janitorial chemical supply companies.

• 7

  Test the strength of the sanitizer solution with a test kit or test strip, available from janitorial chemical supply companies. Test the strength before sanitizing the parts and every 20 minutes during use. The strength of the sanitizer will degrade with time and use. Too much of either sanitizer can make the solution ineffective or even dangerous.

• 8

  Place all parts on a sanitary drain board, with all surfaces exposed to the air. Do not towel-dry parts. The sanitizer solution requires the drying time to kill the bacteria on the parts.

• 9

  Train all personnel responsible for cleaning equipment. Provide the necessary utensils, equipment and cleaning agents. Supervise the project and follow up to be certain that the job is completed correctly.

• 10

  Clean the housing of the equipment by using the same process of scraping, rinsing, washing and sanitizing. Reassemble the equipment.