How to Prevent Your Commercial Kitchen from Infestation
One of the main pillars that the reputation of your restaurant in Melbourne is based on is the cleanliness of the same.
It is essential for your commercial kitchen to be pest free if you intend to climb up the ladder of success in the food industry in Melbourne.
It is clear enough that no customer wants to be eating food that has been cooked in a kitchen with rodents or any other type of crawling insect, in fact to ensure your restaurant is based on adherence to the laws of hygiene and sanitation requirements even the slightest whiff of creepy crawlies in your kitchen or restaurant is forbidden.
Pest infestation is the very definition of bacteria filled food that can have serious adverse effects of customers leaving your business in a hole of destruction.
A professional pest control service can help you in the removal of the tiniest signs of pest infestations; however there are a few precautionary measures you can take to avoid any type of pest infestation in your commercial kitchen.
Here are a few key points to help you understand and prevent pest infestations.
Temptations that draw pests to your commercial kitchen or restaurant:
In order to prevent the infestation of pests it is good to know what draws them to your commercial kitchen or restaurant in the first place. Below are a few pest magnets that can help you understand further.
1- Cockroaches: These pests love cannot say no to a warm environment making the kitchen their piece of heaven.
Their favourite hide outs include cracks and crevices near cookers.
2- Ants: Always known to be tempted by everything sweet, ants delight in sugary and sticky substances and can go miles before they give up on their hunt for the same.
Finding a marching line of ants in your kitchen that leave pheromones as a trail can help come to the conclusion that you have an ant infestation.
3- Mice: Any place that is filled with a warm atmosphere and a provision of food is the preference of a home for mice. They are known to squeeze through the tiniest openings and can hide in holes that sometimes appear even smaller than themselves.
4- Rats: Rats are more adaptable than mice and can hide almost anywhere. They need a constant water and food source and are known to burrow or even burrow to reach various parts of your kitchen or restaurant.
The Pest prevention guide:
- A clean kitchen is a pest free kitchen:
The first step to pest infestation prevention is to maintain a clean kitchen. The crumbs and spills around your kitchen should be cleaned immediately using thorough cleaning methods. Food left on counters can lure various pests; make sure to store food contents accurately in well sealed containers.
- Block potentials entrances for pests:
Windows and doors are best when shut and in a case where they need to be kept open a good screen can help keep pests at bay. Sealing up any cracks or crevices in the kitchen is a good way to ensure that there is no existing hideout for pests.
You can always obtain professional advice to know any potential points of entry and weak points that can infiltrate your restaurant.
- Reduce the attractions caused by lighting:
Many pests are lured towards the warm atmosphere created by the lighting of your kitchen or restaurant. Certain glue traps and bug zappers use the temptation of an ultraviolet light as an advantage to help lure and kill flying pests for the removal or control of pests.
This is a great example to help understand the potential threat cause to your kitchen or restaurant by having too much lighting in the wrong places.
A thumb rule is to have the light installed in a way that directs the light towards the doorways and exits instead of towards the building.
- Dumpster cleanliness is important:
The dumpster of your commercial kitchen or restaurant is the biggest attraction to pests. It is good to make sure that the dumpster is of the appropriate size as per your requirements to prevent an over flooding dumpster.
Regular disposal of the accumulated waste in the dumpster and keeping it covered with a tightly shutting lid is a good method for the prevention of pests.
It is also important to remember to flush the dumpster frequently with a hose for adequate cleaning while also making sure that any water from the same is lead directly into a drain and not creating a puddle of waste water.
Dumpster deodorizers are a good option unless they are released in the environment. Keeping the dumpster away from the main building can help in much more ways than one can imagine.
- Tips for the dining and food prep counters:
In particular spaces like drive thru windows, receiving areas and primary entrances it is impossible to maintain the doors and windows being closed. For such spaces as these an air curtain can be pretty helpful to keep flying insects away.
A good prevention method for certain doors is to invest in a door sweep that blocks the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor which amplifies the protection against pests and also helps reduce moisture.
Even though they might seem quite harmless those tiny cracks and crevices can really cause some big problems.
A good check on the cracks and crevices and sealing up the same can help you avoid pests from creeping inside. Wiping down the seats and tables along with cleaning the area beneath and around the table as soon as your customer leaves, is a good way to maintain the cleanliness.
Those tiny crumbs and drips or splashes around your food prepping area or tables can seem quite ok until you see a pest feeding off it.
Frequent cleaning of these areas and the waitress station can help keep pests away from the dining and food prep area.
- The right way to store food:
Any container with food substances that is not shut tightly can be a pest magnet which is why it is essential to make sure dry food products are store in a air tight container that is sealed well.
It is also good to ensure that food or food containers are store at a height that is at least 6” off the ground and 12” away from any kind of surrounding wall. This makes the storage are easy to clean and be frequently checked.
The storage stock must be stored and used keeping in the simple rule of the product that is in first must be used and finished first. Also products that are rarely used should be frequently checked as they are more likely to contain pests.
- Cleanliness of trash cans and bins
There are various types of trash cans for the use of commercial kitchens or restaurants in Melbourne.
Some of these include the step on trash can and the swinging top lid. Having a liner used in trash cans and bins is a must for any trash can or bin that is used inside you restaurant.
It is also very important to keep the trash can or bin clean of any spoilage or garbage build up build up that may slip through any tiny holes in the liner.
- Maintaining clean floor drains:
An unclean floor drain in the janitor’s closet or the place of ware washing is a home for flies and promotes the breeding of various pests.
Frequent inspections of the drain gate to avoid the build up of sewage and check for loose debris can help prevent the breeding of pests.
Using enzyme based cleaners like Noble chemical EDM+ to clean the drain often can be very helpful.
- Examine the contents of all deliveries.
Shipments or deliveries of food supplies and other food related products, is a very common at any commercial kitchen or restaurant. It is possible for some of these deliveries to have pantry moths roaches and other insects in them that can infiltrate your clean kitchen.
It is wise to examine these deliveries as soon as they come in to make sure they are not a potential threat for pest infestation.
Any potential threat of pests should be refused or disposed off, since it is a matter of hygiene of food substances
Author bio:
Muzi Tsolakis has helped Protech pest control to provide best pest control in Melbourne. Protech pest control is known to provide 100 % customer satisfaction in the control and removal of pest infestations in your commercial kitchen or restaurant.
