Register now or log in to join your professional community.
Knowing the difference between cleaning and sanitizing is a must in order to prepare your restaurant for health inspections. The basic idea is this: cleaning removes what you can see, and sanitizing removes what you can't. Cleaning dishes and equipment means washing off food particles, dirt, oils, and other visible materials. Sanitizing requires the use of specialized agents that attack and kill bacteria and germs. While detergents are readily available in any grocery store or drug store, you'll need to purchase sanitizers that are specific to your needs, such as dishwasher sanitizer and glassware sanitizing tablets, at restaurant supply stores.cleaning generally means getting rid of clutters, getting rid of dust, making
Cleaning is the removal of visible impurities and dirt. While sanitizing goes beyond that it reduce or eliminate potenial dangerous microbes (bacteria, fungi ...) that may affect human health.
Cleaning is the process of removing food and other types of soil from a surface, such as a dish, glass, or cutting board. Cleaning is accomplished using a cleaning agent that removes food, soil, rust stains, minerals, or other deposits. The right cleaning agent must be selected because not all can be used on food-contact surfaces. (A food-contact surface is defined as a surface of equipment or utensil with which food normally comes into contact or a surface of equipment or a utensil from which food may drain, drip, or splash into a food or onto a surface normally in contact with food.)
Definitions for Cleaning Terms
Types of Cleaning Agents
Not all cleaning agents can be safely used on food-contact surfaces. Examples of those that should not be used include: glass cleaners, some metal cleaners, tub and tile cleaners. The label should indicate if the product can be used on a food-contact surface.
Secondly, the ideal cleaning agent must be selected to make cleaning easy. Cleaning agents are divided into four categories:
Sanitizing is the process of reducing the number of microorganisms that are on a properly cleaned surface to a safe level. A safe level is defined as a99.999% reduction of the number of disease microorganisms that are of public health importance. Sanitizing is accomplished by using either heat, radiation, or chemicals. Unless the item to be sanitized is effectively cleaned, it is impossible to obtain close contact between the sanitizer and the surface to the sanitized. Also, some chemical sanitizers, such as chlorine and iodine, react with organic matter and so will be less effective when the surface is not properly cleaned.
Definitions for Sanitizing Terms
Sanitizing Methods
Factors that affect the efficacy of the sanitizing agent
Different factors influence the effectiveness of chemical sanitizers. The three factors that must be considered are:
Cleaning of soiled surfaces and utensils against debris of fats and organic residuals.
Sanitation of contaminated surfaces and utensils against microbial hazard.