Perfect Ice Hygiene in Four Easy Steps From Hubbard Ice
Following the breakout of the dreaded Norovirus stomach bug this winter, The NHS has set out some simple guidelines for preventing its spread, such as washing your hands regularly and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze. The tips are easy to follow and are the basic hygiene rules that Hubbard Ice Systems, the sole UK distributor of the world brand leading Scotsman ice machines, says can also help prevent high levels of bacteria from contaminating the ice used in our drinks.
We all know to be wary of the ice served in drinks when we are abroad. However in a survey of ice used in drinks in the UK, up to 50% of samples were found to contain high levels of bacteria, some of which were food poisoning bacteria. Some types of the bacteria found could only have come from people handling the ice who had not washed their hands after using the toilet!
A common cause of contamination results from staff handling cash and then failing to wash their hands before retrieving ice and, at the other end of the spectrum, there are even cases where food stuffs are stored in the ice machine.
For a bar or restaurant proprietor this amount of bacteria in ice can only lead to ill effects for your customers, and if even a minority of customers catch food poisoning the detrimental effect for your business increases ten or twenty fold when they tell all their friends.
The Food Safety Act 1990 defined ice as a food. The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 made it a requirement for ice to be made, stored and handled without contamination. Contamination can be caused by anything which touches the ice such as people, raw food or contaminated ice scoops. It can also be caused by dust and dirt entering the ice bucket or storage area and misusing cleaning chemicals.
Hubbard Ice Systems publishes four guidelines for hygienic ice handling. They are easy to remember and easy to follow:
- Only ever use a scoop
- Keep nothing but ice in the machine - never place food or drink in the storage bin
- Keep the lid closed
- Never allow customers to help themselves.
Provided these guidelines are followed and machines and utensils are cleaned regularly, your ice will be everything that it looks - clean, clear and healthy.
According to the food safety requirements set down by local authorities machines, including the ice bucket and scoop, should be cleaned weekly and serviced at least twice a year. This will keep them running at their optimum level and, as well as ensuring the ice remains hygienic, will also mean they are running as efficiently as possible, which is important for you bank balance and the environment.
Any ice remaining at the end of a service period should be thrown away and ice should never be refrozen.
The Scotsman ice machines supplied by Hubbard Ice Systems are built to make compliance easy. Scotsman is an ISO 9002 accredited company whose machines are compliant with the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS) and carry the CE mark as well as many international standards. After each cycle the machine flushes out any potentially contaminating impurities in the system, so that every cycle uses only clean water.
Customers are offered training in looking after and maintaining their machine and Hubbard Ice also provides an ice hygiene poster for display to remind staff of the guidelines. A wipe clean laminated sheet is provided which can be fixed near the machine with cleaning instructions specific to that model and Hubbard offer a de-scaler and anti-algae solution for use with the auto-clean function, ensuring that all parts of the machine are thoroughly cleaned.
Hubbard Ice Systems provides a comprehensive after-sales support package for any hygiene queries.
For more details on how to keep you ice machine clean see www.perfectice.co.uk
