Bed and Breakfast Food Safety Course: Sanitation and Cleaning

The Basics

Sanitation is an important factor in your Bed and Breakfast. Sanitation will help reduce bacterial growth and therefore limit cross contamination and health hazards in your kitchen and serving areas. Sanitation involves thorough cleaning of food contact and non-food contact surfaces with appropriate disinfecting cleaners.

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Areas and Items Requiring Sanitation

Food Contact Surfaces:

• Counter tops
• Cutting boards
• Food shelves
• Dining surfaces (tables, serving trays, etc.)
• Cooking equipment (pots, pans, skillets, etc.)
• Prep utensils (knives, can opener, whisks, spatulas, etc.)
• Dining utensils (forks, knives, plates, cups, etc.)

Food contact surfaces should be cleaned before and after they are used, when they are visibly soiled, and/or at least every four hours when handling hazardous foods. These surfaces are very important to clean in order to reduce the number of bacteria present, and therefore reduce the number of illnesses that could arise from cross contaminated foods.

It is important that food contact surfaces be made up of durable material that is easily sanitized (ex. hard plastic). If a food contact surface, such as a cutting board, becomes damaged and scratched up it is necessary to repair or replace it. Bacteria can grow anywhere and can easily get into cracks and slices and multiply to high numbers. Any food contacting this surface is at a risk of becoming contaminated.

Non-Food Contact Surfaces:

• Washroom
• Kitchen walls
• Floors
• Cupboard and fridge handles

Non-food contact surfaces should be cleaned on a regular basis (ie. floors - once a day, walls - once a week) and when they are visibly soiled. These surfaces can be a source of cross contamination if a food handler touches these surfaces and then handles food products.

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What are some disinfecting processes?

Cleaning Solution:

Most commonly household bleach solutions are used to effectively sanitize food and non-food contact surfaces.

• Chlorine (bleach) solutions should be made to a concentration 100ppm with warm-hot water and should contact surfaces for at least 30 seconds. Using water that is too hot will reduce chlorines ability to sanitize surfaces because the chlorine will dissipate from the water.

• Chlorine concentration can be checked with chlorine test paper.

• Allow the surfaces to air dry, do not wipe down with a dry cloth.

• Chlorine solution is most effectively stored in a labelled spray bottle.

To make a 100ppm chlorine sanitizing solution follow add 1.5oz (full shot glass) of household bleach to 3 gallons of hot water (standard wash pail).

• Iodine (12.5-25ppm) and quaternary ammonium (200ppm) can also be used as effective sanitizers. Directions provided on the bottles should be followed if these chemicals are beings used.

• Always be sure to label any solutions stored in unmarked bottles and never mix different disinfectants together. This may not only reduce efficacy of the sanitizers, but may also pose a risk of a hazardous chemical reaction.

• Household cleaners available at the retail level should only be used on food-contact surfaces if they state “Food Grade”. Non-food grade chemicals may leave a residual on surfaces and this could be picked up by foods prepared there.

• Using household cleaners in washrooms is sufficient to sanitize.

Cleaning Rag:

• Rags used to clean surfaces should be kept in a pail with sanitizing solution made with hot water (45°C) - Leaving the rag out resting near the sink or on the counter may permit microbial growth on the rag and this could cause the spread of bacteria to other surfaces.

• The sanitizing solution should be changed when it becomes visibly dirty. Once dirty, the organic material (fats, proteins, vegetable materials, etc.) will reduce the sanitizer’s ability to kill bacteria.

• The sanitizing solution should also be changed when the temperature gets too low. Hot water helps remove grease and grime from surfaces, cold water will be ineffective.

• After cleaning a surface the rag should be rinsed out before you return it to the bucket of sanitizing solution, this will minimize the organics present in the solution.

• The rag should be exchanged for a clean one once it becomes visibly soiled.

• It is not sufficient to use the solution in the pail as the sanitizer for surfaces; you should still use a 100ppm chlorine solution from a spray bottle.

Laundering:

• Washing towels, rags/cloths, table linens, and other kitchen laundry in a standard household laundry machine is sufficient to clean and sanitize them.

Sanitation Plan:

• Written procedures and cleaning schedules should be developed in order to guarantee all food and non-food contact surfaces are cleaned on a regular basis.

• Checklists are an effective tool to outline all cleaning requirements including surfaces, equipment, and utensils.

• Sanitation schedules can be divided into hourly, daily, and weekly cleaning requirements. (Click here to download a printable sanitation plan)

• Maintaining a consistent cleaning regime will keep your clients safe from harmful bacteria.

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Dishwashing Procedure

It is important to thoroughly clean and sanitize all dishes used to prep, cook, and serve food. Dishes should be cleared of all food debris prior to beginning the washing procedure.

Manual Washing:

The most effective hand dishwashing procedure requires 3 steps: wash, rinse, sanitize. If your kitchen is equipped with a three compartment sink you can use a sink for each component of the dishwashing procedure. If your kitchen is only equipped with a two compartment sink, you can use a large tub for the sanitize step or you can empty the wash sink after everything is washed and use it as a sanitize sink.

Wash Step

• Required: Detergent and hot water (45°C – approximately the temperature of the water that comes out of your hot water tank)

• This step should remove all debris from the dishes (utensils should be pre-soaked in a bin with water and detergent)

• Scrubbing and other mechanical washing methods are most important in reducing the amount of bacteria.

Rinse Step

• Required: Hot water (45°C)

• This step should remove all the detergent and any residual debris from the dishes

Sanitize Step

By heat:

• Required: Water at 77°C for 2 minutes to sanitize dishes

• Reaching this temperature requires a heat booster as your hot water tank will not produce temperatures this high.

• Water at this temperature is dangerous to work with and could result in painful burns. It is recommended that heat proof gloves be worn or chemical sanitation is used in place of heat.

By chemicals:

• Required: Water at 45°C

• Chlorine solution can be used at a concentration of 100-200ppm

• Soak for a minimum of two minutes

Allow the dishes to air dry, never dry them with a towel as this could lead to cross contamination. Once the dishes are dry, wash your hands and put them away in their appropriate places. Avoid touching the inside of glasses, cups, and bowls, the surfaces of plates, and the food contact end of cutlery.

Dishwasher Washing:

We recommend an NSF approved dishwasher. However, if your kitchen is equipped with a household dishwasher it would be most effective to use a sanitation step following the completion of the dishwasher cycle. Household dishwashers are unable to reach temperatures high enough to sanitize and do not have chemical sanitation abilities. Again allow the dishes to air dry and put them away using a sanitary procedure.

How This Applies to You and Your Bed and Breakfast