How Equipment Maintenance Can Affect Food Safety in Your Commercial Kitchen

August 03, 2018

While you may think that food safety all depends on how an employee handles the food, there's more to it than that. Your restaurant equipment can play a role in maintaining food safety standards. Without properly working equipment, you could have food that's stored or cooked at improper temperatures, which can lead to foodborne illness. Keep reading to learn more about how equipment maintenance can affect food safety from your favorite Missouri restaurant equipment service company.

Proper Food Storage

One of the most important food safety rules is to ensure foods are kept at the proper temperature during storage. In order to do so, you need to have properly working refrigeration units. From walk-in coolers to deep freezers, you want to make sure that your equipment is maintaining the proper temperature. You can do so by checking the temperature regularly with an appliance thermometer. Refrigerators should be at 40°F or below and freezers should be at 0°F or below.

Safe Cooking Temperatures

Meats, such as beef, pork, lamb, chicken, etc. need to be heated to a certain minimum internal temperature. If your range, grill, fryer, etc. is not working properly, it could heating to the wrong temperature. Therefore, your food could take more time or less time to come to the proper temperature. If your equipment is too hot, you can easily sear the outside of your meat, while the inside is still cold. Properly working commercial cooking equipment is key to producing quality food in your restaurant.

Clean Cooking Equipment

Likely the most important restaurant equipment maintenance step is keeping the equipment clean. Not only does this help your equipment work better, longer, it also prevents the food you're preparing/cooking from becoming contaminated. Anything that comes into contact with food, from countertops to cooking equipment and storage equipment, needs to be regularly cleaned and sanitized. Put a cleaning plan together and make sure employees understand what is expected of them when it comes to cleanliness in the kitchen.

Food service safety standards would be impossible to meet with faulty restaurant equipment. Ensure everything in your commercial kitchen is in proper working condition by trusting the technicians at Fast Fix LLC. Refrigerators, freezers, ranges, grills and fryers are our specialty! We are here for all your Missouri and Western Illinois restaurant equipment maintenance and repair needs.