One of the pastry chef’s responsibilities is to ensure that not only is the food safe for the consumer, but also that all the tools, equipment, and machinery used to prepare food are clean and sanitary. If you have ever experienced any kind of food poisoning, you know how unpleasant it can be.
The following information, if used properly, will prevent any kind of food poisoning from occurring:
- Clean food-contact surfaces. This applies to tools, equipment, work surfaces, and machinery (see for cleaning batch freezers):
- Rinse and remove excessive soil from the surface with hot water.
- Wash and scrub the surface with a scrub brush, using detergent (or soap) with hot water (at 43.3°C / 110°F or higher). The ratio of detergent or soap to water depends on the manufacturer. Follow instructions carefully.
- Rinse the surface with clean hot water (at 43.3 C°/110°F or hotter).
- Sanitize the surface. Flood the surface with a sanitizer solution that is 23.9°C / 75°F to 37.8°C / 100°F.
- Sanitizer solutions should be made fresh daily, otherwise their sanitizing effect will weaken with time.
- Sanitized items should be left to air-dry.
- Tools, Pacojet components, and batch freezer removable parts can be submerged in the sanitizer solution and then left to air-dry.
- Detergents should never be combined with sanitizers, because sanitizers will decrease the cleaning effects of detergents and on some occasions can produce toxic gases.