Food Safety & Hood Cleaning: Why Commercial Food Service Operators Need Both

By Author: cleaning enthusiastic
Total Articles: 8
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Food safety has become a raging issue in all countries, with many believing that we have to eat healthy to stay healthy. But are we overlooking other factors like regular cleaning and maintenance of the kitchen? To learn more about the reasons why cleaning a kitchen is also important, keep reading.

Over the last few years we, as a human race, have become increasingly conscientious about our health and hygiene. Food safety has long been an issue of debate among individuals and cultures. Food safety generally lists out multiple steps on how food should be treated right from storage temperature to how long it should be cooked before being served to customers to the cleanliness level that needs to be maintained in the kitchen. Almost every government maintains a recorded history of death and hospitalization due to food poisoning, resulting with strict actions being taken against the food service operator. On January 4th 2011, a new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act was motioned into a law by the President of the United States, Barrack Obama. This new law is considered to be one of the most compelling reformations of U.S ...
... food safety laws over the past 70 years.

People are not only becoming increasingly picky about what they eat but also about the cleanliness of the place where their food is being prepared. Though it is easy to keep the kitchen presentable at home, it can be a difficult task at a working restaurant kitchen. With many people being served throughout the day, most of the employees simply have time to clean the superficial layers of kitchen. While your kitchen may look neat and tidy on the outside, in real it could be as unhygienic as ever. There are spots hidden from plain eyed view or places beyond your reach that require attention, things like kitchen exhausts, hood cleaning and so on.

Though hood cleaning may be overlooked by many, it is one of the most important things in the kitchen and it requires a routine checkup from authorized personnel. Sure, you could run your restaurant for a long time without actually having to touch the exhaust system, but you should be aware that each passing day will only increase the chances of a disaster occurring. Hood cleaning is a process that removes that grease that has accumulated inside the ducts or hoods of commercial kitchens. The removal of grease can be done by using food safe caustic chemicals and hot-water pressure washing systems. If the kitchen is left unclean and grease is not removed routinely, the kitchen and the appliances become extremely prone to fires. Cleaning of ducts also ensures that the smoke generated while cooking is ventilated out of the building correctly.

It is important while opting for hood cleaning to make sure that the service provider is nationally or internationally accredited. Due to sensitive nature of food safety issues, it is a complete must that the hood cleaning agency not only uses food safe chemical for cleaning but also adheres to international cleaning standard and does a complete follow-through to make sure the job is completed. Food service operators are encouraged to change replaceable parts like hood filters regularly.

The author of this article is professionally associated with Nelbud Services Group, Inc., an ISO 9001:2008 certified company that provides professionally trained restaurant hood cleaners for Maintenance Inspections, Grease Exhaust System Cleaning and Pollution Control System Services among others.