The impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic has been unprecedented and countries are still struggling to get back to their old normal. People have stayed indoors for months in a row. Even developed nations are reeling under the pressure of a weak economy. It is tough to say how long the coronavirus will continue to play havoc. Now, many nations have started to relax the stay-at-home restrictions and allowed some selective categories of businesses to open in a phased manner. As people, food premises, and workplaces are trying to resume their businesses, it is crucial to follow the precautionary measures for protection against Covid-19.
Whether you run a commercial kitchen or have a workplace, you should keep all the cleaning of Your Workplaces and surfaces clean. There are disinfectants and sanitizers that you can use to enhance protection against Covid-19.
Cleaning Food Premises
Covid-19 has created a risky situation for every restaurant, food premise or food store. As food establishments start to reopen, owners should pay serious attention to the cleanliness and hygiene for the safety of the staff and guests. If guests and workers don’t feel safe under the current pandemic, they won’t come and your restaurant business will suffer as a result. Local authorities too will require you to follow some safety guidelines as long as Covid-19 risk looms.
The United States Food & Drug Administration has shared guidelines in this regard for food stores and food establishments to follow. From the kitchen hood system, cooking utensils, food prep surfaces and ovens to refrigerators and the walls and floors, the food establishment owners are responsible for managing the cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting of the entire restaurant to ensure better safety and health of the employees and the guests. Each area of a commercial kitchen requires a different approach for cleaning and sanitization. If you lack expert knowledge about kitchen cleaning, you should hire a professional company.
It’s not that cleaning and disinfecting are new practices. Food premises and commercial kitchens have long been abiding by the cleanliness and good hygiene for the health and safety of workers and customers. But the current pandemic has put cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting under great focus. All restaurants, that are now reopening, are required to strictly take cleanliness measures.
Restaurants and food premises need to focus on the following:
Practice Hand Hygiene:
If you run a food store, hand hygiene is the first important thing to follow. Whether it is your employees or the customers that visit your establishment, you should make sure they wash their hands frequently to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection. If soap and water are not available, provide them with alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Kitchen workers, who have greasy or dirty hands, should first remember to clean their hands and then use hand sanitizers. Otherwise, using hand sanitizers will not be useful.
Clean Surfaces and Equipment:
Keep a close watch on the surfaces and don’t let dust gather anywhere. Dirty surfaces make it easy for harmful bacteria and germs to grow. By cleaning the surfaces on a regular basis, you can immediately reduce the chances of breeding of pathogens. Whether it’s cooking surfaces, cooking utensils, commercial kitchen walls, grills, kitchen hoods, sinks or the oven, you should make sure that all the surfaces and equipment are cleaned frequently. In any case, don’t forget to clean the glasswasher and the dishwasher.
Sanitize Surfaces:
Sanitization is a process through which you can eradicate the pathogens or bring the number of harmful germs down to a level that is considered to be safe. There is a large variety of chemicals and products that you can use to sanitize the food contact surfaces. It is important to use sanitizers on all kitchen hoods, sinks, faucets, coffee machines etc. The cooking utensils and kitchen walls, as well as kitchen floors, should be sanitized as well. Always remember to use a strong sanitizer and leave it for enough time for proper sanitization.
Disinfect High Touch Surfaces:
Disinfectants are used to kill pathogens. You should apply disinfectant to frequently touched surfaces in your food premise. This should be done in addition to cleaning of surfaces. In this way, you can bring down the risk of spreading the infection to a great extent.
Cleaning and sanitizing have been in practice by foodservice operations. Covid-19 has taken this one step ahead to disinfecting. Now, all food stores and food premises need to pay more attention to disinfecting, which means killing harmful germs, bacteria, and pathogens on surfaces. So, while you should regularly clean the food contact surfaces and sanitize surfaces, you should never forget to use disinfectants to further enhance the safety of your kitchen staff and guests.
There is plenty to sanitize and disinfect inside a commercial restaurant. Whether it is the restaurant tables, food preparation surfaces or the kitchen equipment, you’ll need to keep all these free from pathogens. There are special sanitizers for each of these items and surfaces. For example, sanitizing rinses are available for dishes and cooking utensils in a kitchen. Likewise, there are sanitizers for the sanitization of cooking surfaces inside a commercial kitchen.
A commercial kitchen is a pretty big place with lots of areas, surfaces and items that need cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting. It is a good idea to create a checklist of all the items and decide a specific frequency for cleaning them. For example, items such as the grill, range, griddle, flattops, coffee makers, prep area surfaces, beverage dispenser heads need more frequent cleaning and disinfecting. Waste disposal areas and trash cans also need disinfecting on a daily basis. There are other items or areas that can be cleaned and disinfected on a weekly or monthly basis. These include deep fryers, walk-in refrigerator, ice machine, vent hoods, etc.
Cleaning and disinfecting the kitchen floor is an important task. Though it sounds like a simple task, it is actually a complex one. The floor gathers plenty of grease over time, which is a safety hazard. A traditional bucket and mop will not remove this grease buildup from the floor.
Cleaning a greasy floor requires the use of the right type of chemicals and the right approach and technique. Give HoodBuilder a quick call to schedule a consultation for proper cleaning of your kitchen floor.
Cleaning Your Workplace
Offices, government buildings, and reception areas need proper and thorough cleaning on a regular basis to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Even if you have an office or workplace in an area where there is no community spread of Covid-19, you should take all the precautionary measures.
General Cleaning:
Just because you have sanitizers and disinfectants, it doesn’t mean cleaning is not important. In fact, cleaning is essential as it eliminates dust and dirt from surfaces. If dirt and organic matter stay on surfaces, they can make it easy for harmful bacteria and germs to breed. Even when you want to disinfect a surface, you should first clean that surface.
Disinfection:
After a surface has been cleaned, it may still have pathogens. Cleaning only reduces pathogens, it doesn’t kill them. On the other hand, disinfectants kill germs and pathogens that remain after cleaning. Therefore, using disinfectant is a surefire way of reducing the risks of infection.
Routine Cleaning:
A workplace can be big or small. It can be used by a number of people or a few people. Depending on the amount of traffic in the workplace, you should decide the frequency of cleaning. Those areas that are frequently accessed by the public should be cleaned more frequently. You should keep an eye out for dust or dirt anywhere in the workplace and make sure that you get it cleaned as soon as you spot it. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it is crucial to be extremely careful in regard to the cleaning of all areas in the workplace.
Workplaces tend to get cluttered very often. To keep the entire workplace in good order and create a healthy environment, you should declutter in an effective manner. This is also important because a decluttered workplace is easier to clean. Whether it is the desks, keyboards or telephones, each essential item in the workplace needs cleaning on a regular basis. In a workplace, all the frequently touched areas need cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting on a regular basis.
In the workplace, you need to create awareness around Covid-19 and how everyone can help prevent the spread of coronavirus. You should place sanitizing hand rub dispensers throughout the workplace so that employees and visitors can easily access them to sanitize their hands. Hand washing should be promoted through banners and posters. At the same time, make hand washing easy for employees and visitors. Using soap and water is best for washing hands. Washing hands frequently prevents the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
How to Clean and Disinfect
For Covid-19 related cleaning and disinfecting, there are some guidelines that should be followed. Cleaners should wear gloves before getting started with the process. There are reusable gloves that can be used for this purpose. After the task is complete, the gloves can be removed, cleaned, and dried.
The process begins with cleaning. Use a detergent solution to properly clean all the areas and surfaces in the food premise, kitchen, or workplace. After the surfaces have been cleaned, it is time for the application of disinfectants. Use a paper towel or a disposable cloth to apply the chemical to surfaces. Always ensure you use high-quality products and follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. Pay attention to the ‘contact time’ when you apply disinfectant to a surface. You need to leave the chemical on the surface for some time so as to kill the viruses.
Safety is important even when cleaning the different areas of a workplace or a food establishment. While cleaning is going on, the cleaning people should avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth. For greater protection, surgical masks can also be used. The cleaning staff should also sanitize their hands before wearing and after removing hand gloves.
Choosing the Disinfectant Solution
Whether it is a commercial kitchen or an office, cleaners should always use high-quality disinfectant solutions. There are different types of disinfectants including chlorine dioxide, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, quaternary ammonia, Audobon disinfectant etc. Chlorine-based disinfectants or those with 70% alcohol have anti-viral properties. So, it is important to find out whether the disinfectant solution you are using is formulated for anti-viral activity.
Using household bleach is another option. This disinfectant solution is available in a variety of strengths. You can read the details about the solution to the product label. Quaternary ammonium compounds are also a good alternative for a disinfectant solution. In fact, these chemicals are known to combine two properties into one – detergent and disinfection property.
Disinfectant solutions contain harmful chemicals. Therefore, it is compulsory to wear gloves when handling solutions. Using protective eyewear is also recommended in the occurrence of a splash.
Looking for a Professional Cleaning Company?
Covid-19 is a global pandemic and it spreads very fast. As the owner of a commercial kitchen, you should make sure your employees as well as your guests are protected against this infection. HoodBuilder is a professional kitchen cleaning company that offers kitchen exhaust cleaning, food prep area cleaning, kitchen surface cleaning, cooking utensils cleaning, coffee maker cleaning, coffeeshop cleaning, food store cleaning, etc. Our well-trained cleaning staff are helping food establishments clean and disinfect in a proper and thorough manner.
From cleaning and sanitizing to disinfecting, we’ll keep your restaurants, kitchens, and workplaces free from dust, dirt, and contamination and create a healthy work environment for all. Our kitchen cleaning services are available throughout Colorado, Lakewood, and Aurora.