Materials Unit 10 Review 1. The components of a food establishment's facilities, including its floors, ceilings, and walls, are regulated by law and are the first foundations for providing a safe working establishment. 2. Materials for indoor floor, wall, and ceiling surfaces should be smooth, durable, and easily cleanable. Design 1. The design of your facility is also very important because a smart layout will result in a safer and more efficient workplace. 2. Often, the best solution is to place your storage rooms between your receiving areas and your food preparation areas. This layout ensures that food does not come into contact with waste bins or unclean equipment at any time during the storage and preparation processes. 3. You should install your equipment in a way that makes frequent cleaning and maintenance easy. Floors 1. Different flooring materials can be a smart choice for some rooms and a disaster for others. Appearance may be a major concern for public areas like dining rooms and bathrooms, but functionality is critical in food preparation areas. 2. Non-absorbent flooring should be used in any area where food or equipment may be contaminated. Absorbent materials allow bacteria to grow, so they should not be used in your food storage and preparation rooms, bathrooms, or employee dressing rooms. 3. For these rooms, some form of tile or vinyl would be the best bet to prevent the growth of bacteria. 4. However, these materials can become slippery, making them a hazard when wet. For this reason, carpeting can be used in the dining rooms, where it will absorb sound and provide a safer environment for walking customers, but it must be closely woven and easily cleanable, securely attached to the floor, and installed tightly against the wall. 5. Also, you can lay rubber mats down in areas of high walking traffic. Cleaning Floors 1. It is important to plan ahead and think about how you will clean your floors when designing and constructing them.
2. If you plan to use water flushing methods, the floors should be provided with drains and graded to drain, and the floor and wall junctures should be covered and completely sealed. 3. If you don t plan to use water flushing, the floor and wall junctures should still be covered and closed. 4. As for non-absorbent materials, it is important to keep them clean by vacuuming carpets frequently and picking up mats when mopping the floor. Walls and Ceilings 1. Your walls and ceilings should be constructed of a material that protects the interior of your establishment from the weather and other elements. 2. When using concrete, porous blocks, or bricks for indoor wall construction, they should be finished and sealed to provide a smooth, nonabsorbent, easily cleanable surface. 3. Make sure that studs, joists, and rafters are not exposed in moisture-prone areas and that attachments such as light fixtures, ventilation system components, fans, and decorative items are easily cleanable. 4. In order to protect against pest invasions, holes and gaps in walls and ceilings should be filled in and closed, especially in areas where dry food is being stored. 5. Windows should close tightly, and doors must be solid, self-closing, and tight-fitting. 6. Windows and doors that are kept open for ventilation must use screens measured at sixteen mesh to the inch or some other means to keep insects and rodents out. Lighting 1. While you may want to use dimmed lighting to create a mood in your dining room, it is important to provide a brighter environment to your employees in the food preparation areas. 2. The FDA has set some regulations regarding minimum light intensity. To learn the different lighting regulations for each room in your establishment, review the lighting chart in the Attachments section. 3. In all cases, light bulbs should be shielded, coated, or otherwise shatter-resistant. Ventilation 1. You may need to use some form of ventilation to keep rooms free of excessive heat, steam, smoke, or foul odors.
2. Keep exhaust vents away from food, food-contact surfaces, equipment, or utensils and installing filters to prevent vent residue from dripping onto food or food preparation surfaces. 3. Also, make sure that your utility service lines and pipes are not unnecessarily exposed. Exposed sewage lines and pipes can potentially drip into food storage or preparation areas and lead to contamination. 4. If you ever notice condensation on the walls or ceiling, you may have a burst sewage pipe or a poorly functioning ventilation system. In either case, immediate action is needed. Bathrooms 1. You are required to provide at least one bathroom on the premises, completely enclosed with a tight-fitting and self-closing door. 2. You may be required to offer more bathrooms depending on the establishment's capacity. Larger establishments will need more bathrooms. 3. Bathrooms should be conveniently located and accessible to employees during all hours of operation, and, if possible, separate bathrooms should be provided for employees and customers. 4. Urinals can be substituted for toilets if you receive the necessary authorizations and install them properly. 5. A supply of toilet tissue must be made available at each toilet, and a covered waste receptacle must be provided in ladies rooms for the discarding of sanitary napkins. Handwashing Sinks 1. Every sink in the establishment must be used only for its original purpose. 2. Handwashing sinks should be placed for employee use in convenient, accessible locations in kitchens and dishwashing areas. The minimum water temperature must be 100ºF (38ºC). 3. Each bathroom should contain at least one handwashing sink in order to encourage sanitary behavior for both employees and customers, and a sign reminding all employees to wash their hands must be placed near all handwashing sinks. 4. Each handwashing sink (or pair of sinks if they are near one another) must be provided with a supply of hand cleaning liquid, powder, or bar soap, as well as paper towels or a hand dryer device and a waste receptacle. Bathrooms with disposable towels should always have waste bins. 5. If automatic sinks are used, make sure the flow of water from the faucet persists for at least 15 seconds without needing to be reactivated.
Service Sinks 1. Food preparation sinks, handwashing sinks, and dishwashing equipment should never be used to clean maintenance tools or dispose of dirty mop water and similar liquid wastes. 2. You must provide at least one service or utility sink or other cleaning facility with a floor drain to accommodate cleaning tools and the disposal of liquid waste. Dressing Rooms and Lockers 1. Dressing rooms and lockers should be provided for employees to store their clothing and possessions if they routinely change their clothes in the establishment. 2. These areas, as well as any other areas where employees eat, drink, or use tobacco, must be separated from food storage and preparation areas so that food and equipment are protected from contamination. Outdoor Areas 1. Outdoor walking and driving areas should be surfaced with concrete, asphalt, gravel or other materials that are graded to drain and have been treated to minimize dust, provide easy maintenance, and prevent muddy conditions. 2. Outdoor waste bins and dumpsters should be made of nonabsorbent material such as concrete or asphalt and should be smooth, durable, and sloped to drain in order to collect and dispose of any liquid waste that leaks from your garbage. 3. All outdoor enclosures should also be constructed with durable and cleanable materials. Water 1. The manager of a food establishment must be able to identify and evaluate the source of the establishment s water as well as its quality, quantity, pressure, and distribution. 2. If your establishment loses its water supply, you should have an emergency plan in place that lets your employees know how to respond. 3. You must obtain your drinking water from a government-regulated public water system or from a regulated non-public water system. 4. The establishment's drinking water system should be flushed and disinfected after its initial construction and after additional repairs or modifications. 5. After any emergency situation, such as flooding, fire, or a natural disaster, the system should be flushed and disinfected prior to further use to eliminate any contaminants in the line.
Alternative Water Sources 1. Non-public water systems must meet the quality standards of your state. 2. Drinking water from a non-public water system should be tested as often as is required by state regulations to ensure safety and quality. 3. The most recent water-quality report should be retained on premises at the food establishment. 4. If you operate a temporary food establishment without a water supply or experience a temporary interruption of your normal water supply, water may be delivered to your facility in containers of commercially bottled drinking water, closed portable water containers, or by piping, tubing, or hoses connected to a nearby approved water source. 5. All water supplied for consumption or use with food must be approved by federal or state regulators. Plumbing 1. In order to prevent clean water from being contaminated by non-potable water or toxic metals, the Food Code includes regulations for the design and operation of plumbing systems. 2. The manager of the food establishment is ultimately responsible for knowing the regulations for an approved plumbing system as well as the location and operation of the specific establishment's system. 3. Your plumbing system must be designed, constructed, and installed with safe materials approved by local, state, and federal law. 4. The plumbing system, including all pipes, hoses, filters, fixtures, and any other components of the system which come in contact with the water, must be accessible and easily cleanable. Avoiding Plumbing Contamination 1. Good plumbing plays a key role in maintaining water safety by preventing backflow, the reverse flow of contaminated liquid into a clean water supply. 2. Backflow can be avoided by providing air gaps in all fixtures, which should be at least twice the diameter of the water supply inlet. You should consider leaving an air gap underneath the faucet and above the flood rim in sinks and another beneath the drain pipe and the corresponding floor drain.
3. Cross connections between drinking water systems and unapproved, non-drinking water systems are prohibited. If the pressure in a clean water supply drops below the pressure in cross-connected supplies, contamination can occur through backflow. 4. Non-drinking water piping should always be identified with labels to help employees distinguish between clean and unclean systems. Sewage 1. Sewage is defined by the Food Code as "liquid waste containing animal or vegetable matter in suspension or solution and may include liquids containing chemicals in solution." 2. You must provide a safe and operational sewage drainage system that is capable of carrying all liquid wastes safely from the premises to a sewage facility without contaminating clean areas. 3. Your sewage drainage system must be an approved sanitary system, and all pipes, hoses, connections, holding tanks, and transport vehicles used to carry sewage must meet the necessary regulations. Avoiding Sewage Contamination 1. To prevent contamination by backflow, direct connections must not be made between the sewage system and any drains that could expose food or equipment to contaminants. 2. Sewage should be directed to an approved disposal facility, such as a public sewage treatment plant. 3. If raw sewage begins to back up, the area should be closed until the problem is corrected and the area is cleaned. 4. Your facility and your employees should be prepared to handle any potential flooding situation due to wastewater backup. Mobile Water Tanks 1. Mobile water tanks used for temporary food establishments or temporarily for permanent food establishments should be constructed of safe, durable, and corrosion-resistant materials. 2. The surfaces of water tanks should be smooth, non-absorbent, and easily cleanable. 3. Make sure that mobile water tanks are fully enclosed and slope downward toward the discharge outlet to allow for complete drainage. 4. A tank's inlet and outlet should be sloped to drain, and the inlet must be protected from dust, waste discharge, and any other contaminants. 5. Inlets, outlets, and hoses attached to water tanks must be adequately covered.
Sewage Holding Tanks 1. For mobile food establishments, a sewage holding tank must be at least 15% larger than the water supply tank on premises. 2. The sewage tank should be sloped to a drain at least one inch in diameter and must be equipped with a shut-off valve. 3. Removal of sewage waste from a mobile establishment should be undertaken only at approved waste servicing areas or by approved sewage transport vehicles. Otherwise, you may be responsible for public nuisance or creating public health hazards. Waste 1. There is no more obvious source of potential contamination than garbage. Maintaining food safety requires the use of a proper waste disposal system. 2. Waste facilities and receptacles should provide a constant and convenient means of waste disposal to both employees and consumers and should also be capable of holding all waste without causing a contamination hazard. 3. Always keep your waste reasonably separated from food and equipment. 4. Waste storage areas are often located both indoors and outdoors. The surfaces of indoor storage areas should be smooth, non-absorbent, and easily cleanable, and the area should be protected against pest invasions. 5. Indoor bins should remain covered with a tightly-fitting lid, and plastic or paper bags may be used as linings. Make sure you have enough bins to provide a convenient means of waste disposal to consumers and employees. Outdoor Waste Storage and Removal 1. Outdoor enclosures should be constructed of smooth, durable, and easily cleanable materials. 2. Outdoor waste storage surfaces, such as concrete or asphalt, should be non-absorbent and sloped to drain. 3. Bins and dumpsters should be leak-proof, equipped with tight-fitting doors or covers to prevent pest entry, and kept far away from doors and other entrances where employees or food deliveries may enter the establishment. 4. Any boxes, bags or other food containers with food residue on them must be stored in these dumpsters. Your storage facilities must large enough to safely store all waste until it is removed by an approved method of waste transportation.
5. Waste should be removed from the premises frequently enough to prevent an overaccumulation of waste, which leads to odors and other conditions that attract pests. If the dumpsters or receptacles are full and a the scheduled trash service is not coming that day, you should schedule a trash pickup as soon as possible. 6. When lawful, you can dispose of solid waste through the sewage system with garbage disposals. Otherwise, refuse must be delivered to approved waste management facilities, including landfills, incinerators, and recycling facilities. Installing Equipment 1. Equipment should be installed securely and in appropriate locations to ensure food safety and the safety of your employees. 2. Equipment should not be installed in bathrooms, waste storage areas, or mechanical rooms, and you should never place equipment under unprotected sewer lines, leaky water lines, or any other source of potential contamination. Installing Fixed Equipment 1. Make sure there is enough space between fixed equipment and other equipment or walls to allow cleaning along the sides and behind the equipment. 2. If equipment is next to the wall, ceiling, or other equipment, the space between the surfaces should be less than one millimeter in width or attached with sealant. 3. Fixed equipment mounted on counters or floors should be sealed to the surface or elevated on legs at least four inches from the surface of a counter or six inches from the surface of a floor. 4. Remember, FOUR inches from the counter and SIX inches from the floor. Food Contact Surfaces 1. When choosing equipment, it is important to look closely at the food contact surfaces on the equipment in question. Harmful materials used in these surfaces could potentially contaminate the food or alter the food's color, odor, or taste. 2. Materials that promote the growth of germs, such as sponge or wood, are unsafe as well. 3. Make sure you choose equipment with surfaces that are safe, durable, smooth and easily cleanable, non-absorbent, and corrosion-resistant. Dishwashing 1. If you choose to wash dishes manually, you will need a dishwashing sink with at least three separate compartments for washing, rinsing, and sanitizing kitchenware.
2. Each compartment should be large enough to contain the largest washable utensil or piece of equipment, and the cleaning solution used to wash dishes manually must be maintained at a temperature at or above 110 F (43 C). 3. Sinks should be cleaned before use, throughout the day as necessary to prevent possible recontamination, and at least once every 24 hours if used within that day. 4. Automatic dishwashing machines should be affixed with a manufacturer's plate indicating the machine s specifications, such as the temperature and pressure required for washing and the conveyor speed or cycle time. Proper Dishwashing Methods 1. The wash compartment of a dishwashing machine or sink must contain a manufacturerrecommended amount of soap, detergent, or other appropriate cleaning solution, and the solutions must be kept clean and free of dirt or soil. 2. Dishwashing machine wash and rinse tanks should contain some form of protection against the cross-contamination of solutions. 3. Machines should be elevated at least six inches off of the floor to allow employees to clean under the device. 4. If your establishment does not possess approved dishwashing machines or sinks, you can only provide single-use articles for use by food employees and consumers. 5. These single-use articles must be discarded after use and may not be reused. Clean-in-Place 1. Clean-in-Place, or CIP, equipment should be designed so that the circulating cleaning or sanitizing solution contacts all interior food-contact surfaces. 2. The CIP equipment should be capable of self-draining or being otherwise completely drained of cleaning solution. 3. If the CIP equipment can t be taken apart, it must include access points for inspection to ensure effective cleaning. Cold Storage 1. All refrigerators and freezers should be constructed with stainless steel to withstand wear and tear over a long period of time, and drains should be included for easy removal of leaks from condensation or defrost. 2. All units should be sealed to the floor to keep pests out.
3. Small units should be elevated six inches above the floor to allow easy cleaning. Remember, all units, from reach-in to walk-in refrigerators, should be thoroughly cleaned as often as necessary to maintain food safety. 4. Be sure to place temperature-measuring devices in the warmest area of the unit and make them easily readable for employees. Cutting Boards 1. Cutting boards are available in both wooden and synthetic varieties. Keep in mind that synthetic boards can be cleaned more easily in your dishwasher. 2. If you decide to go with wooden cutting boards, make sure they are made from a nonabsorbent wood and kept relatively smooth. 3. If a cutting board surface becomes so scratched that it can t be effectively cleaned and sanitized, it should be discarded and replaced. 4. Remember to use a different board for each food that you prepare and to clean all boards after each use. 5. Many establishments use labels or different colors to let employees know which cutting boards should be used for certain foods. Food Preparation 1. Equipment for cooling and heating food must be capable of maintaining all foods at appropriate temperatures and must be maintained well enough to reduce the potential for contamination. 2. You must provide employees with the necessary temperature measuring tools to ensure the temperature-control safety of all foods at any given time. Maintenance 1. Keeping your equipment in good repair is critical to food safety, and it s your responsibility. If you discover a piece of equipment that no longer meets the necessary requirements for use, it must either be repaired or discarded. Cleaning 1. Keeping your equipment clean is just as important as keeping your food clean. 2. Food-contact surfaces should be cleaned between changes from one type of food to another, after use with raw fruits or vegetables, or after any other occasion during which contamination of the equipment or utensil may have occurred. 3. If not cleaned otherwise, surfaces that come into contact with potentially hazardous foods should be cleaned every four hours.
4. Storage containers should be cleaned each time they are emptied, and containers used for customer self-service must be cleaned after use or at least once per day. 5. Dry cleaning may only be used on surfaces soiled with dry, non-potentially hazardous food residues. Specific Cleaning Instructions 1. Beverage pitchers and utensils provided for customer self-service must be cleaned at least once every 24 hours. 2. Condiment dispensers, display containers, and other customer self-service equipment should be cleaned each time they are restocked. 3. Ice and beverage dispensers, cooking oil tanks, coffee bean grinders, and similar pieces of equipment should be cleaned as often as recommended by the manufacturer. 4. If manufacturer's recommendations are not given, equipment should be cleaned often enough to prevent dirt buildup and mold. 5. Cooking and baking equipment should be cleaned at least once every 24 hours. Sanitizing 1. Sanitization is the process of greatly reducing or eliminating harmful bacteria or germs. 2. All food-contact equipment surfaces must be sanitized after cleaning and before use. 3. Equipment food-contact surfaces can be sanitized by hot water immersion in a dishwashing sink or by a hot water sanitizing rinse cycle in a dishwashing machine. 4. Also, these surfaces can be sanitized with chemical treatments. Linens 1. Visibly soiled, wet, or sticky linens should be replaced with clean linens and laundered, while linens used for contact with food should be laundered between every use. 2. Cloths used as wet wiping cloths should be laundered daily, and dry wiping cloths should be laundered as necessary to prevent contamination. 3. Soiled linens should be stored prior to laundering in clean, washable laundry bags or some other non-absorbent laundry container. 4. When employees carry these laundry containers through the establishment, they must make sure not to contaminate the food preparation, food storage, utensil storage, or dishwashing areas with the dirty laundry.
Doing Laundry 1. If the establishment launders work clothes or linens onsite, a mechanical washer and dryer must be provided. 2. These machines should not be installed near food, food equipment, or utensil storage areas in order to maintain food safety. 3. Laundered linens should be air-dried in a location that will not lead to the contamination of the linens or any food, food-contact surface, or equipment. Single-Use Utensils 1. Single-use utensils can be made of any material that is safe for food contact, and they must be clean when you provide them to the customer. 2. These utensils should never decompose or break when used properly, since this would obviously lead to a hazardous situation for the user and the food. Cleaning and Sanitizing Utensils 1. Like your equipment, utensils must be frequently cleaned and sanitized in order to prevent contamination, which can occur in many ways. 2. For example, utensils that touch foods containing allergens can accidentally transfer those allergens to customers who need to avoid them. 3. Utensils that are being used continuously in the kitchen should be cleaned and sanitized every four hours. 4. Before washing the utensils, you should scrape off any loose food particles or put them through a pre-wash cycle in your dishwashing machine. 5. When using a dishwashing machine, make sure that every utensil is exposed without obstruction to the pressure spray. 6. After washing, the utensils should be rinsed to make sure that no cleaning solution is left on the surface. Storing Utensils 1. Utensils should be air-dried and stored in a way that will protect them from contaminants and allow for proper draining. 2. Utensils should never be dried with a cloth.
3. All utensils should be stored in clean, dry locations that are at least six inches above the floor. 4. If the utensils need to continue draining or air-drying, they should be stored at an inverted angle to allow draining to continue. 5. Clean equipment and utensils may not be stored in locker rooms, though laundered linens and packaged single-use utensils may. These single-use utensils should be kept in their original packaging until use. Handling Utensils 1. Even after cleaning and storing your utensils properly, you still risk contaminating them by handling them incorrectly. 2. Clean utensils should be handled and displayed in a way that will not contaminate the surface. 3. Knives, forks, and spoons handled by employees or available for self-service by the customer should be presented so that only the handles of the utensils are touched. 4. Preset tableware should be protected from contamination by being covered, wrapped, or inverted. 5. When you remove dirty tableware from the eating area, make sure to do it in a way that will not lead to the contamination of clean tableware.