3663 Catering Equipment Encourage Documented Cleaning Schedules

Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom (12 November, 2010) – 3663 Catering Equipment, the UK’s leading foodservice company, encourage food companies to implement a documented cleaning schedule in their business.

Even famous chefs have areas for improvement within their businesses. In the last year, 68% of food businesses had failed to implement a cleaning schedule, with 74% failing to have a deep cleaning schedule. A documented cleaning schedule will ensure regular and thorough cleaning which will help to reduce pest infestation in a food company. This will also help the success of a company as one of the first things a customer notices is the cleanliness of a restaurant.

A cleaning schedule is a mandatory requirement as part of the Food Safety Management System. It is important a food company knows what to clean, when to clean, how to clean and the cleaner they employ. However many things can go wrong in the kitchen; therefore, it is important these problems are highlighted to ensure they do not happen again.

3 Reasons Why Cleaning Schedules Fail

1. Many businesses don’t have one. Most cleaning involves effort and physical labour and in a busy restaurant it may be the last priority at the end of the day. The majority of food businesses do not have a documented cleaning schedule that passes the test. (ie up-to-date, staff aware of it and actually following the schedule in full).

2. They involve people. The second reason for failure of a cleaning schedule is that it relies on people to implement it. Unless it is policed, standards can fail. An example of this is contact time for cleaners and disinfectants. How long should it be left? A food company must always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on contact time.

3. Complacency. The third reason for failure of a cleaning schedule, and perhaps the biggest threat to food safety, is a dash of complacency with paperwork.

Add one or all of these failure points together and there is the potential for disaster. Whether that disaster is a food poisoning outbreak that kills someone or puts a company’s public reputation in jeopardy, it could depend on good luck rather than good management.

The latest celebrity chef to attract unwanted media attention is…

The latest in a line of celebrity chefs to gain unwanted national media attention was Antony Worrall Thompson. Antony scored only 1 out of 5 Stars in his first assessment for the Scores on the Doors Scheme. This is the national scheme rating every food business for food safety, confidence in management and premises.

“After receiving a 1 Star, Scores on the Doors rating at his Greyhound pub, chef Antony Worrall Thompson vows to keep up with the paperwork in future”. The full article is available to read from the following website http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2010/07/30/334508/Morale-takes-a-hit-in-our-X-Factor-world.htm

The moral of the story…

Giving Mr. Worrall Thompson the benefit of the doubt, he probably has a very clean kitchen, foodservice equipment and really cares about his customers. However this story does highlight an important point – relying on visual checks will not stop bacterial growth or cross contamination and the point of a documented cleaning schedule is to show due diligence. In other words, if a food company does have a food poisoning outbreak, they can prove they have taken every reasonable precaution to protect consumer health. At the heart of every food business serving fantastic, safe food is a robust and documented Food Safety Management System. After all, it’s the law.

It is the responsibility of the owner or the manager of a business to ensure a documented cleaning schedule is in place and that it is being used, monitored and verified. An owner or manager should regularly test their employees’ knowledge of where the documented cleaning schedule is and ask them when they last looked at it.

For more information on 3663 Catering Equipment, visit their website at http://www.3663cateringequipment.co.uk/ or further advice regarding documented cleaning schedules telephone 0370 3663 960.

About 3663:

With over 1.84 million square feet of high quality storage in 31 depots across the country, 3663 deliver to over 50,000 clients including pubs, cafes, restaurants, clubs, schools, hospitals and government departments. With current active involvement with business excellence organisations Quality Scotland and the British Quality Foundation, and a certified Environment Management System in the Transport, Storage and Communication areas across the whole company, 3663 are the UK’s leading foodservice company.

Contact:
Barrie Wood
3663 Catering Equipment
Unit 6,
Whitby Road,
Brislington,
Bristol,
BS4 3QF
Tel: 0370 3663 960
Email: cateringequipmentsales@3663.co.uk