Pathogens can easily be spread in a restaurant from food or unwashed hands to prep areas, equipment, utensils, or other food. Despite continued hygiene education, hospitals still continue to admit patients with foodborne diseases. Where might the problem be? Is it negligence by food handlers? And do pests contribute to these problems? What is a restaurant owner supposed to do?

 

 

Here are the five practical cleanliness and hygiene tips to keep in mind if you’re in the restaurant business:

 

Utilize Integrated Pest Management

Pests are a serious threat to your restaurant business. Cockroaches, rodents, bedbugs, flies, and ants should be unheard of. One such pest can create a huge hygiene issue. So The best practice is, of course, to have regularly scheduled pest control professionals to come in and treat not just existing problems but lay down preventative measures so you don’t have to compromise sanitation and quality, bring regulatory fines, hurt your restaurant’s reputation and scare away customers.

 

 

Ensure Correct Washing Of Hands

Regular hand washing should be a habit in your restaurant. How do you achieve this? Make it 100% sure that your employees understand the importance of keeping their hands clean and sanitized at all times. Shed more light on proper handwashing techniques to your employees and educate them on the dangers of spreading germs from restrooms to food.  Also, put up hygiene reminder posters in the kitchen when they need to have clean hands.

 

 

Here are free, print-ready handwashing posters that you can post in your kitchen and in your washrooms.

Have A Regular Cleaning Schedule

After use, every single utensil used and every surface in the kitchen should be thoroughly cleaned by encouraging each employee to never leave their assigned station in the kitchen dirty. Use hot, soapy water and disposable paper towels to clean up spills.

Grime and bacteria mostly build up on kitchen floors if not cleaned regularly. Grease that builds up on your fryers and grills can become a fire hazard. That’s why you should make sure all kitchen floors, cleaning utensils, washrooms, staff uniforms, wheelie bins, and cookers are cleaned on a schedule.

For best results, you might want to consider hiring Imagine Care’s cleaning service to chip in and offer unrivaled cleaning every single day. We understand cleaning and will get the job done right.

 

 

Ensure Food Is Cooked Thoroughly

The caveat here is that some people like their steaks, and other meats, cooked rare. If you want to keep that customer coming back, you will do as they say but assure them that there is the chance that undercooked meats can present a health hazard. If food is undercooked, especially meat and poultry, then there is an increased risk of harmful bacteria being ingested which can cause food poisoning. Boiling temperatures should be reached by curries, stews, and soups before serving. Even when reheating, proper temperatures need to be achieved.

 

 

 Select And Handle Food Cautiously

Where you buy your food shouldn’t matter, but sadly, it does. Always purchase restaurant foods from reputable, reliable vendors. Spoiled or pest-infested foods delivered to your store can contaminate the rest of your food supply and equipment. Additionally, always check expiration dates as well as a doing a physical inspection of foods for damage, bloating, broken seals, etc. Store and cover all of your food in properly sealed containers and when handling any kind of food, avoid cross-contamination at all costs.

 

You can make lots of good hygiene rules and regulations as they apply to your food handlers, servers, etc. What you cannot do is watch 100% of the time to make sure they adhered to them. This is why it’s important to follow as many of the tips listed above as possible and always be on the lookout for signs of pests. Prevention is, of course, the best ammunition against pest infestations and the spread of disease. Don’t wait until the health department shuts you down! Imagine Care Pest Control and Fumigation experts understand on-demand, effective, and discreet pest control customized to take care of your restaurant pest problems. Contact +254737898884, +254759292158, +254789231328, +254742448334, or drop an email to