subject: How Kitchens are Deep-Cleaned [print this page] For a commercial catering provider, kitchen cleanliness is critical for meeting food hygiene standards. Many organisations now make it an employee's responsibility to thoroughly clean thier cooking station at the end of the day's work, and this day-to-day cleaning goes a long way to keeping up hygiene standards. Nevertheless, contaminants such as dirt, grease and bacteria will inevitably accumulate over time in hard to reach places such as behind or between work units, or on the walls and ceilings. The best way to address this inevitable build-up is to schedule regular deep-cleans by professionals who have the knowledge, experience and tools to efficiently clean those parts that cannot be readily cleaned on a day-to-day basis. A professional kitchen deep-cleaning contractor will go about the cleaning process in a logical and systematic way. By way of an example, the contractor might follow a process along the following lines; Firstly, the various kitchen appliances need to be dismantled so that their components can be assembled for immersion in a "diptank". A diptank is a vessel which is filled with hot water mixed with a suitable degreaser. Components that can be removed for dipping include; grease filters, oven trays, range tops and rings, fryer pans, grill trays, dismantled fan units as well as other heavily soiled items. The components that can be dismantled are immersed in the diptank, for a period of time according to the manufacturers' guidelines. Next, in order to prepare for cleaning of the walls and surrounds where the kitchen will be exposed to water, all electrical items need to be isolated and all exposed switches covered with a waterproof tape of polythene cover. To reduce the mess and disruption resulting in cleaning grease from appliances with a pressure steam cleaner, some kitchen items are often cleaned out of doors. The items to be cleaned outside would be assembled together in one area and then taken to the chosen area for cleaning. Where possible, equipment is pulled out away from the nearest wall to ensure that thorough cleaning can be achieved both beneath and behind the equipment. The inside areas to be cleaned are now scraped of all excess grease using wire brushes or scrapers, prior to applying an appropriate cleaning solution to the surfaces. Once cleaned, all excess dirt and cleaning chemicals are cleaned off all surfaces. Walls and ceilings are normally thoroughly steam cleaned with a steam vacuum appliance. Once this is completed, then the equipment can be returned into position. Cooking and preparation areas are sanitised. A steam cleaner and wet vacuum equipment are generally used to clean the floor areas. Finally, the premises are tidied up - all the debris and rubbish is taken away, and the outside areas tidied up. The client will then be invited to inspect the work and once satisfied sign a customer acceptance form. Often deep-cleaning is conducted during the night in order to avoid scheduled kitchen operations. If so, then the cleaners may be responsible for locking up. In this case they will then make sure the site is secure, and keys returned to the designated place. Professional kitchen deep-cleaning contractors are used to scheduling the deep-cleaning task, which may take several hours, at a time that avoids disrupting the kitchen's standard operational hours, and very often that means working over-night.
