Learn if Your Commercial Kitchen is Designed for Food Safety
Learn how to set up a commercial kitchen to create a well-designed kitchen that puts food safety first. A well-managed kitchen environment — commercial or domestic — makes food prep, cooking, serving, and cleanup easier for staff, while also ensuring that commercial kitchen food safety is being maintained at all times.
It could be that your bistro, cafeteria, or restaurant already runs a smooth-operating work area with a safe kitchen design. Nonetheless, here are a few things to keep an eye out for to ensure that your kitchen is designed for optimal hygiene and food safety.
Kitchen Floor Plans and Cross-Contamination
In a commercial kitchen environment, apply the forward concept to how food is stored and handled. This type of kitchen management design means food always moves “forward” from less clean areas to cleaner kitchen areas without ever moving backward, or backtracking.
In other words, move food from the receiving (or delivery) area to storage, then to food prep stations, and then finally to the areas where food is cooked before being served. To reduce the cross-contamination of food items, food should be received and stored in the back and moved towards the front for prep and serving.
Always Keep Raw and Cooked Foods Sperate
Keep raw and cooked food separate when storing them (separate refrigerators). Also, use different utensils for handling raw and cooked items, and make sure cooking tools like mixers are cleaned often between uses.
Kitchen Tools, Kitchen Materials and Cleaning Products
Speaking of cleaning, ensure that blenders, freezers, fryers, ovens, and all of your kitchen tools and appliances are kept clean, degreased , disinfected, and wiped down . This also means keeping floors swept and mopped , ensuring that they are clean, as food on the ground attracts pests.
Keep your blenders and slicers easy to access (for staff) to prevent accidents and spills. Wipe down stainless steel products, which you'll find all over commercial kitchens, often with a cloth and mild detergent — or a degreaser when necessary — to keep your stainless steel tools, countertops, and backsplashes as clean as possible.
Sinks and Drains
Make sure you have enough sinks and handwashing stations installed for your kitchen staff to use. Keep some distance between sinks where food handlers clean their hands and sinks for dirty dishes and cooking gear to prevent splash over from dirtier water.
Additionally, wherever feasible, install a large drain in the kitchen floor for runoff and thorough cleaning at the end of the workday or in between work shifts.
Install Proper Kitchen Lighting
A dimly lit kitchen helps no one. Proper LED kitchen lighting lets staff see what they’re doing, preventing accidents or slips with a knife. Good lighting also makes clean-up more efficient as janitorial staff can see any trouble spots that might need a bit of extra scrubbing, wiping down, or mopping attention.
The knowledgeable staff at BuyDirect from Mission knows how important it is to make sure you have a well-designed kitchen, prepped for food safety. We carry all manner of cleaning and kitchen products to help you build and maintain a safe kitchen environment. And the good news is that we will deliver these products right to your business door — with no extra charge to you, our valued customers.