Classeq offers some basic hygiene advice for serving ice
Hygiene standards are rigorously adhered to where food service is concerned. However, when it comes to the dispensing of ice a poor awareness of cleanliness is often displayed. Food safety regulations require that ice must be made, handled and stored under conditions which protect it from contamination.
To comply with this, businesses frequently invest in an ice machine equipped with the latest sanitising methods. But without paying attention to basic serving practices their hygiene standards will be below par says Classeq, who supply Ice-O-Matic ice machines.
All Ice-O-Matic ice machines are designed to be hygienic and easy to keep clean. Key parts are removeable and any surfaces that come into contact with water or ice use an Agion antibacterial compound in their composition, which reduces the growth and build-up of harmful bacteria.
Classeq also supply an ice machine sanitising spray. This should be used a least once a week on the inside of the ice machine to kill any bacteria.
To further raise ice hygiene standards Classeq has put together the following serving guidelines.
- The most common form of contamination is from the human hand. All staff who dispense ice should be trained in the correct procedures and wash their hands frequently.
- At no time should staff handle ice with unprotected hands. A scoop should always be used, preferably by staff using gloves.
- The scoop should be stored above the level of the ice so that the handle does not come into contact with the fresh ice. For extra safety scoops can be stored in tubs of sanitiser to keep them hygienically clean at all times. This prevents transference of bacteria from the handle into the ice machine.
- If bar-top ice buckets are used to speed up serving, customers should not be encouraged to help themselves.
- At no time should staff scoop up ice with the glass in which the drink is to be served. This is an extremely high risk practice. Not only is contamination of the ice inevitable but also there is the added danger of breakage and small chips of glass becoming mixed in with the ice.
- The door of the ice storage bin on the ice machine itself should be kept closed (this is also more energy efficient) and bar-top buckets must be kept covered.
- Ice remaining in bar-top buckets should be thrown away at the end of the day and not returned to the bin.
- Remember to follow the manufacturer’s cleaning and maintenance instructions and have the machine regularly serviced.
Ice-O-Matic ice machines are distributed in the UK by Classeq, part of the Winterhalter UK group. The Ice-O-Matic range includes the ICE Series cube ice machines, which make premium quality cube and half cube ice; flake ice machines, producing high quality flake ice suitable for medical use or for presentation and preservation of fresh meat, poultry and fish, and, pearl ice machines, producing soft, chewable ice crystals. Ice-O-Matic machines are available as modular machines with separate storage bins or as self-contained machines with inbuilt storage.