So how cleanable is your food equipment?

So there is yet another word being thrown around ending in “..ability’ – what now?

Cleanability means how easily a piece of equipment can be cleaned.

Cleaning is a key part of food safety, many food poisonings have occurred (and will continue to do so) because cleaning was not done properly.

Remembering that to ensure food safety, a piece of equipment has to be both cleaned and sanitised. Cleaning removes all visible material and is therefore essential to remove bacteria and as a key allergen control. Sanitation is then done to kill any remaining bacteria. No cleaning is complete or done properly if both steps are not done effectively.

So what can make it difficult to clean properly? Not having the right chemicals or tools can certainly prevent good cleaning from happening, as can staff not knowing what they are doing.

A major factor contributing to the difficulty in cleaning a piece of equipment is the equipment itself.

A factor that many business therefore do not consider when buying a piece of equipment is it’s cleanability. In other words, how easy is it to clean the equipment properly.

What we are talking about is a thing called hygienic design. This means that when the equipment is designed, how it is cleaned easily is a key factor in that design. Safety is essential in the design of equipment, but the ease of cleaning must also be included.

Before buying a piece of equipment, food businesses have to consider a variety of factors, including the price obviously, but how easy the design makes it to clean is not always high on the list.

All food businesses should have some sort of Equipment Checklist which should be filled in to show that issues such as safety, cleanability, staff training, required tools etc are checked and recorded. A checklist such as this, would form part of the risk assessment for a piece of potentially new equipment.

Written by Rachelle Williams, The Green Food Safety Coach.