Why do we need to sanitize tools and equipment

Dishes and Cooking Utensils

Wash and sanitize any dishes, pots, pans, and cooking utensils that were in contact with floodwater. Water for washing and sanitizing must be certified safe to use.

To wash and sanitize:

1. Remove detachable parts, such as blades, plastic or wooden handles, and screens.
2. Wash dishes, pots, pans, and utensils and detached parts in hot, soapy water. Use a brush, if necessary.
3. Rinse in clear water after washing.
4. Place items in a wire basket or other container and immerse them in a sanitizing solution. Sanitizing solution can be prepared by mixing 1 tablespoon unscented chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of warm (not hot) water. Hot water causes the bleach to dissipate, weakening the solution.
5. Air-dry dishes in a clean and sanitized dish rack. Using a dishtowel could recontaminate the dishes.

Wash cupboards and other surfaces that came in contact with floodwater with soapy water. Then rinse and wipe surfaces with a disinfecting solution. Remember, cupboards and other surfaces must be cleaned and disinfected before you can store foods, dishes, or cooking utensils in them.

Household Metals

Rust causes the most damage to flooded household metals, especially iron. Use the following treatments to remove rust.

Iron Pots, Pans, and Utensils

1. Wash with soap and water, using a stiff brush, scouring powder, or steel wool.
2. If rust remains, wipe items with an oil-saturated cloth or a commercial rust remover. If using a commercial rust remover, be sure to follow the label instructions.
3. Wash again in hot, soapy water, rinse, and dry thoroughly.

Season iron pans and utensils with a generous amount of unsalted cooking oil. Heat in a 250°F oven for 2 or 3 hours. This will permit oil to soak into the pores of the metal. During the heating process, apply more oil as needed. When seasoning is completed, wipe off the excess oil.

Stainless Steel, Nickel-Copper Alloy, Nickel, or Chrome-Plated Metals

Wash thoroughly and polish with a fine-powdered cleanser. If hardware is broken so that base metal is exposed and rusted, wipe with kerosene. Then wash and dry the surface. Wax after each use to prevent further rusting.

Copper and Brass

• Polish with a copper or brass polish or rub with a cloth saturated with vinegar or rub with a piece of salted lemon.
• Always wash copper thoroughly with soapy water after using acids or commercial polishes or they will retarnish rapidly.
• Wash lacquered ornamental copper in warm soapy water. Rinse with warm water and wipe dry. Do not polish. Do not soak.

NOTE: Do not use copper and brass items for food preparation or service.

Locks and Hinges

Locks and hinges, especially those made of iron, should be taken apart, wiped with kerosene, and oiled. Follow the same procedure as for iron hardware.

If it isn’t possible to remove locks or hinges, squirt a little machine oil into the bolt opening or keyhole. Work the knobs to distribute the oil. This will help prevent rusting of the springs and metal casing. (Do not use too much oil as it may drip on the wood-work, making painting difficult.)

NOTE: Only use petroleum jelly, machine oil, kerosene, or stove polish on metal surfaces that will not come in contact with food.

Publication date: July 1, 2014

N.C. Cooperative Extension prohibits discrimination and harassment regardless of age, color, disability, family and marital status, gender identity, national origin, political beliefs, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation and veteran status.

This publication printed on: Nov. 10, 2022

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If you run a restaurant or simply have a home kitchen which supports your catering business, you understand the value of serving hygienic food to your customers. Cleaning your kitchen premises and equipment ensures that clean food preparation is carried out in order to improve kitchen efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.  Here at LJ Stuart, we cannot emphasise enough how critical it is to regularly clean your kitchen premise and equipment, as it not only influences the income from your food business, but it also ensures that you are following the criteria set out by local authorities in maintaining food hygiene standards. 

Depending on where you live, the local authorities would usually have a set of guidelines and protocols that you would have to implement in order to meet a certain required standard for food hygiene. A part of this includes how clean the working condition of a kitchen is as well as its cleaning equipment. In order to comply with this, there are usually certificates food preparation practitioners would have to have as well. Here in Australia, the health, well-being and safety of people are taken very seriously. As such, good food hygiene is a must in every food business. This ensures the health, well-being and safety of consumers. 

While it is common understanding to ensure a high standard of hygiene where food is being prepared, we often still see media reports on rat infestations at so and so catering business or restaurant, and there are television shows such as Kitchen Nightmares by Gordon Ramsay which showcase that the cleanliness standards for many food businesses being low. This can impact the reputation of these food businesses, ever more emphasizing the importance of maintaining good kitchen premise and equipment hygiene standards. So let us explore this further take a look at the main factors which contribute to the importance of cleaning kitchen premises and equipment.

Health and Safety

This is the single most important factor as to why it is important to clean your kitchen premise and equipment. Ensuring that the kitchen areas are clean promotes the following: clean food preparation, safety of kitchen staff and prevention of infestation or (cross-) contamination. By ensuring the highest standards for your kitchen area cleanliness, you are also not getting into trouble with the law, as you would be complying with local food authority kitchen cleanliness standards. 

For example, if a kitchen benchtop has not been cleaned, it can contaminate food with bacteria such as Salmonella, which can then cause food poisoning. If there was an oil spill on the kitchen floor, it can then cause kitchen staff to slip and be injured. If some food scrap rubbish was not taken out properly, it would have caused rodents such as rats to find their way into the kitchen, thereby potentially spreading diseases. 

Moreover, health and safety inspectors also do surprise inspections to understand the true cleanliness of a kitchen. If found below standards, consequences can include fines and penalties. Therefore, ensure health and safety standard are met with, it is important to take the time and effort out daily to clean your kitchen premise and equipment thoroughly. I understand that this can be a hassle, and sometimes even costly to ensure staff stay back a bit longer to clean up thoroughly, but the positives outweigh the negatives. It is also important for food business owners or kitchen managers to monitor this process and perform a check daily to ensure that standards are being met.

Maintenance and Cost

While daily cleaning might seem to consume a lot of time and effort, this prevents a build-up of dirt and grime on kitchen premise and equipment. Dirt, grime and many food stains are tough to remove already, even if they have been there for thirty minutes. Compound that into days, weeks or months, the removal of such things can be super difficult and cost a lot more!

Moreover, a build-up of dirt, grime and stains can reduce the efficiency of your kitchen output. Residue like grime can cause the hinges of kitchen equipment such as ovens or refrigerators to slow down from opening and closing repeatedly, thereby causing the kitchen workflow to become less efficient. Another example is the accumulation of dirt in cupboards which store food items or the kitchen floor. When this happens, it makes these items stink and become less easy to use, thereby causing more frequent changes of these items prematurely, which translates to a larger cost to the business. 

Reputation and Revenue

I leave the best for last, because as a food business, these two factors drives the entire business. This ties in with the health and safety, whereby customers will only go to a catering business or restaurant which serves them clean food (from a clean kitchen) and not leave them vomiting with diarrhoea. 

Ensuring a kitchen is clean and the equipment are clean also prevents the kitchen from reeking any sorts of nasty smell that may seep out into the restaurant, or that may be found on the utensils or cutlery that is being presented to or used by customers. If customers detect dirt on your catering equipment, or some sort of funky fish smell on your serving spoon, it impacts the way they view your business and leaves them questioning whether they should order from you again. 

Therefore, this impacts the reputation of the food business, which then translates to how many customers you may get, which impacts the overall revenue. With the large number of satelliting food bloggers who like to visit kitchens to understand the journey of delicious food to a larger demand of consumers nowadays wanting transparency of food preparation, it if now more important than ever to ensure that your kitchen premise and equipment are kept clean, as it is more easy to risk the reputation of your food business. Plus, with social media and its inherent ability to store data and accumulate reviews, one quick review from a consumer about a dirty kitchen can taint the reputation of a food business. 

With these reasons in mind, it is important to understand that the time and effort put into maintaining the cleanliness of your kitchen premise and equipment should be seen as an investment into your food business.