Preventive maintenance plays a key role in not only keeping restaurant equipment up and running in peak condition and lowering repair costs, but it also plays a primary role in food safety. Food safety is a main concern of every restaurant operation; it is important to keep products at appropriate temperatures in order to prevent bacteria growth and the spread of food-borne illness.

You might think preventive maintenance includes only checking for wear or leaks and lubricating equipment parts, but preventive maintenance goes further than that.

Is the Warewasher Hot EnoughBack to top

Inspect warewashers to make sure water is hot enough to effectively kill bacteria and thoroughly clean equipment that comes into contact with food. Health regulations require that water temperatures in dish machines reach the appropriate temperature in order to properly sanitize ware. Ensuring that the temperature reaches the appropriate level also requires a properly operating warewashing system.

Hobart’s AM Select door-type and LXi undercounter warewashers use innovative Sense-a-Temp™ booster heaters to ensure rinse temperature is a sanitizing 180 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to ensuring proper water temperature, using only .74 gallons per rack, the LXi and AM Select save money with every wash.

The CLe Warewasher offers even more saving--$9,192 a year. Hobart’s CLe Warewasher uses Opti-Rinse™ technology to get ware even cleaner using 57 percent less water and energy.

Calibrate Cooking and Holding Equipment TemperaturesBack to top

Be sure to properly calibrate equipment such as ovens and hot-food holding cabinets to verify they are cooking and holding at the desired temperatures. Routinely calibrating cooking and holding equipment is important because undercooked product and product stored outside appropriate temperature levels can result in poor food quality as well as food-borne illnesses. Monitor equipment to make certain that proper temperatures are maintained at all times and that no food is ever in the temperature Danger Zone, which is defined by the FDA Food Code as keeping cold food below 41 degrees Fahrenheit and hot food above 135 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent bacteria growth.

One option to better maintain proper holding temperatures is to use equipment that has technology, such as Traulsen’s INTELA-TRAUL® microprocessor, which helps maintain temperatures at the appropriate levels. The control on the company’s hot-food holding cabinets and refrigerators can be set to the desired temperature from 32 degrees Fahrenheit up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The unit has both visual and discretionary audio alarms that alert kitchen staff when the cabinet temperature gets either too high or low, whether there’s a system leak, a loss of power, a clogged condenser or the door is left open.

INTELA-TRAUL is NAFEM Data Protocol compliant, which lets restaurant staff monitor and maintain temperature records and performance data 24 hours a day for HACCP compliance. It helps increase food safety, reduces waste due to spoilage and simplifies a restaurant’s data recording.

Clean Equipment SurfacesBack to top

Some might not consider it preventive maintenance, but cleaning equipment surfaces that come into contact with food is one of the first lines of defense against food-borne illnesses. Thoroughly clean food-preparation stations and equipment to avoid cross-contamination and use food-prep equipment, such as choppers/grinders, slicers and cutter mixers, which are easy to disassemble for cleaning.

Some equipment, such as Hobart’s Combi® Oven, handles the cleaning foryou. Hobart’s Combi Ovens have an auto-clean feature that enables staffto choose from eight different cleaning cycles, depending on the difficulty ofthe cleaning job. All they have to do is press “Start.” A one-piece, built-instainless steel wash arm does the rest. When the “Clean” cycle iscomplete, the oven drains and opens the vents to reduce the risk ofbacteria buildup.

Hobart’s KA7E Self-cleaning Rotisserie also offers a press-and-go capability that combines one-button cooking and one-button cleaning for simplified operation.

Learn about how Hobart Service can help with preventive maintenance.