Packaged solutions and innovations help operators sanitize

Nation's Restaurant News, August 31, 1998 by Ed Rubinstein

Most restaurants use various sanitation supplies, from squeegee mops to scouring pads to cleaning solvents, to help keep their front- and back-of-the-houses sparkling. Thousands of multipurpose products for removing restaurant grit and grime are available. But when it comes to sanitizing and reducing the spread of microorganisms in the kitchen, operators rely on packaged systems and are testing new products.

Brick-oven pizza chain Bertucci's Inc. uses various cleaning products to wipe down tables, sanitize cook stations and even to avoid bacteria buildup in its dishwashers, according to Arte Morris, director of purchasing for the Wakefield, Mass.-based operator. He added that operators "must clean before they sanitize, and that it relies on the sanitizing products and other cleaners from Ecolab Inc. of St. Paul, Minn. Bertucci's employees also administer pH tests through the use of convenient strips, which instantly measure the concentration of those water-based solutions. Morris explained that the kits "help make sure that the solutions are not overconcentrated or underconcentrated. And health departments like to see such kits." Restaurants, in cleaning their back-of-the-houses, tend to rely on rental towels and sponges, but bacteria -- including E. coli and salmonella -- can spread from one wiping surface to another if such cleaning staples are used without sanitizers. Innovative cleaning products are addressing the fight against microbial contamination in foodservice environments. One such product, called the Kerri Klean Microbe Guard from Atlantic Mills Inc. of Lakewood, N.J., is touted as the first antimicrobial-treated wiping towel. Atlantic Mills president Peter Donnelly said such products, which cost about $600 for the average restaurant, are more cost-effective than traditional rental towels. He noted that the costs to supply such linens to a restaurant is about $2,000 a year. Bertucci's Morris said that his company has looked at such products, but there were some questions with respect to the bacteria-killing lives of the non-woven cloths. "We didn't know when the cloth loses its potency. That was a big variable." he stated. But because there is no one product designed for all restaurant cleaning applications, foodservice operators are strong proponents of multiuse cleaning systems, as they tend to ensure that the right products are being delivered to the right surfaces. Given the diversity of its foodservice accounts, onsite feeder Sodexho Marriott Services uses a sanitizer called Mikroklene to clean a broad range of surfaces, according to Marie Louis Baehr, manager of food safety information services for the Bethesda, Md.-based company. The operator uses the iodine-based product to sanitize bar glass washers, three-compartment sinks and food-preparation equipment. Ecolab's Mikroklene even has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for use in federally inspected meat and poultry plants. Elsewhere, chains also are adopting the use of portion-controlled products that make sanitizing products easier to administer. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based A&W Restaurants Inc. currently is rolling out several products that are being supplied by distributor Sysco Corp. and manufactured by SMS Technology of Chicago. Operating more than 700 units in the United States, the chain moved to quaternary-based sanitizers in part because of revisions last November to the the Food and Drug Administration's Uniform Food Code, according to training manager Larry Gelfand. He also noted that such products tend to be more effective and safer than chlorine-based solvents and easier to use for the chain's employees. "The packets are a lot more employee-friendly than bleach. And If it's easy to use, employees are more likely to use it correctly," Gelfand added. And the right sanitizing kills most known food-borne pathogens, such as E. coli, and clostridium perfrigen, which is the most common form of food contamination from humans to food. Elsewhere, developers of water-electrolyzing products maintain that their products can kill germs and bacteria on hard surfaces without the use of chemicals. For example, Hoshizaki America Inc. recently has been demonstrating its ROX Water Electrolyzer. The environmentally friendly system uses a sodium chloride solution to produce two types of electrolyzed water: an alkaline version for washing and acidic water, which the company says kills bacteria. Hoshizaki reports that when properly used, the "Rox" system kills many forms of bacteria, including the potentially lethal E. coli strain of 0157:H7. The Japanese company's American subsidiary, based in Peachtree City, Ga., intends to market the system in the United States once it receives USDA approval, according to assistant marketing manager Charlotte Wagner. In another show of innovation, a development company called Tru-Pure Ozone of Yreka, Calif., has developed an ozone-based sanitizing system. Ozone is produced when an electrical charge, such as lightning, changes oxygen into ozone. Similarly, Tru-Pure uses electricity to split oxygen molecules and restructure them into condensed forms of oxygen. The ozone is then injected into water, which can eradicate bacteria, viruses and other microbes on surfaces, equipment and food. Though the FDA does not recognize such a system, the ozone process has been independently researched by Joseph Montecalvo, who is a USDA advisory panel member. "Use of the Tru-Pure Ozone System will reduce the first signs of food-borne illnesses when combined with proper handling and adherence to safe food-handing practices," he said. Ron Long, Tru-Pure's executive vice president, said the system, which also comes in a version that is mounted under restaurant sinks, now is being tested by "one of the country's largest processors of pork and other meats," and the firm is "talking to several restaurant companies."