The clean machine
Next month is the first anniversary of the revised Food Safety Regulations, yet another piece of Brussels-driven legislation the catering industry has had to adjust to.
One aim of the new rules was to reduce the rising tide of reported cases of food poisoning which, if successful, could only be good news for the industry.
But the latest available figures show a worrying rise in the number of food-poisoning cases in England and Wales. Between 1984 and 1994 (the latest figures) officially notified food-poisoning cases quadrupled, from just over 20,000 to more than 82,000.
It is debatable whether these increases were driven by more cases of infection or by increased public awareness and a willingness to report them. Whatever the causes, no one doubted that some action had to be taken.
Despite the cynicism that greets most directives coming from Brussels, since 1995 UK caterers have worked hard to implement better hygiene practice.
This practice has had a powerful impact on training and information packs, particularly HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) in which specific food-poisoning risks are identified and then controlled by carefully documented procedures.
When equipping their premises, catering businesses can apply certain practices that will help them deal with hygiene problems, notably wall and floor surfaces, hand-washing facilities and more systematic methods of using cleaning products.
Cafe Flo
Over the past two years the Café Flo group has developed a co-ordinated approach to hygiene at its eight London outlets. Units, ranging from 45 to 100 seats, are designed as Parisian-style café-restaurants. Customers can drop in for a drink or coffee, or they can have a three- course meal. Average spend per head is £21-22.
For Bertrand Pierson, the chain's operations director, one priority has been to simplify the use of cleaning chemicals. "If you use one product from one source and others from someone else, you tend to find that some are redundant, or worse, incompatible," he points out. "This can lead to risks if they get mixed."
Pierson opted for a one-source system. About 10-12 different cleaning products are now used in the front and back of house areas, all sourced as part of a tailored package developed by SC Johnson Professional under its Hygenius programme.
The Hygenius programme gives back-up information on product use and possible hazards. This is provided as wall-charts and other material at each restaurant, plus staff-training seminars held in conjunction with Food Check, the independent environmental health consultancy. All Café Flo staff, from managers to kitchen porters, are expected to attend. Procedures are also in place to govern the method of applying products throughout the chain.
Paper wipes from a hand-dispenser are considered the most hygienic option in areas where food is prepared. Rather than using cloths, thus risking the spread of contamination to adjoining sections, paper wipes can be easily and quickly disposed of close to the point of use.
"We are gradually trying to introduce the same high standards of working conditions, cleanliness and hygiene that we have in France," says Pierson. With this in mind, the company is redesigning all its kitchens, and hygiene was a strong factor in the decision to order dimensionally co-ordinated equipment.
"If you buy one fridge then add another two years later, they are often not designed to go together," says Pierson. Modular equipment that can be assembled in one piece, with appropriate watertight jointing between appliances, is receiving priority at Café Flo.
As an extra hygiene aid it is intended to seal the equipment on to plinths and against walls, ensuring there is no possibility of moisture penetrating.
This is contrary to general practice at the company's establishments in France, where the equipment can be easily pulled out for cleaning. "Here it is a matter of adapting to a mixture of different units, some of which have awkward shapes," says Pierson.
Clean hands
Hygiene has been high on the agenda for Robin Marter, a South African who owns Café Protea in Victoria, London. When taking over the business two years ago, he opted for an open plan design, with the food preparation area visible to customers across the counter and through the front window.
In scrapping the previous laminate-topped wooden countering, Marter decided on a matched run of modular stainless steel equipment from the CF series by Sissons. This includes sinks, cupboards, drawers and a 2.1m long four-door counter fridge.
This counter fridge plays an important role in reducing the potential for bacterial contamination in food ingredients, by storing them at chill temperature as close as possible to the point of use.
A conveniently sited stainless steel hand-wash basin and good hand-drying facilities was a critical consideration in the front of house area. "One problem you have in a small place like ours is that you handle the money and you handle food," he observes. "We cannot afford to have someone just standing and taking the money and nothing else."
He is sceptical about food handlers in this situation having to wear gloves. "You wear the gloves once and they are contaminated with whatever you are touching," Marter points out.
"It makes more sense to give people the means to wash their hands as frequently as possible, and make sure they do so. You have got to live in the real world," he comments.
Another change introduced by Marter was to refurbish the walls from top to bottom with ceramic wall tiles. He considered using proprietary wall cladding using synthetic sheet materials, but felt tiles were the best option in view of the fact that repairs can be made by replacing a few tiles.
As the existing floor tiles had become chipped and dirty he replaced them with heavy duty ceramic tiles with a non-slip finish. He was advised against a softer linoleum-type flooring by his local environmental health officer.
Wall sheeting
Serena Edwards, catering manager at the offices of Group 4, just outside Broadway in Worcestershire, is not so sure about ceramic wall tiles. The kitchen, set in an old country house, feeds about 100 staff and 70 delegates who attend the regular courses at the 60-bedroom conference and training centre.
The kitchen's long-established ceramic wall tiles have been damaged over the years and have, she says, "become a nightmare. It is fine if tiles are replaced as soon as they are knocked or chipped but that does not always happen."
"People tend to put things like soap holders up on the walls, and you are left with lots of small holes in the tiles. All in all, they can be dreadful to clean."
This year, Group 4 decided to install a new kitchen, and is taking the opportunity to install sheets of a synthetic material called LascoBoard as its wall surfacing. Made of GRP (glass fibre-reinforced polyester) the main benefit of the material is that there is no need for the grouting used to fix tiles.
It is also reputed to be tougher than other synthetic sheet material such as pressed or rolled PVC, and does not split or shatter, which can occur with PVC in very cold conditions such as inside coldrooms.
GRP sheet costs about £34 per sq m including all adhesive and trimming, whereas it costs £26 per sq m for white 6x6in ceramic tiles including adhesive, labour and grouting.
Stainless walls
Stainless steel sheeting costs about £40 per sq m. Provided the holes drilled in it for fixing to walls are not allowed to deteriorate and let moisture in, it is generally considered to be the ultimate solution in terms of cleaning and appearance.
London-based sandwich bar operator Pràt à Manger uses stainless steel for wall cladding. All the chain's outlets employ a standard specification of heavy grade (304) 16-gauge stainless steel with a bright annealed finish. The sheets are mounted on plywood boards that are fixed on the walls with stainless steel linking strips.
"It gives us a hard-wearing, easy-to-clean smooth finish, which is why we use it," says managing director Sinclair Beecham. He also believes that its use has a significant effect on the customer's image of the chain and, subliminally, on staff standards. "It encourages cleanliness," he observes. "If you don't keep the place clean, you should not be in the food business."
Paint it on
A less costly and more flexible wall cladding option is acrylic polymer, which is applied like paint to sound surfaces such as tiling, metal, wood, plaster and blockwork.
Flexiwall, supplied to many kitchens and bakeries by Altro Whiterock, costs £64 for a 5-litre tub which should be sufficient to cover a plaster wall at the rate of 8-10 sq m per litre.
Other options are PVC, which tends to be more brittle than GRP, and polypropylene. It meets all the environmental health and hygiene requirements, but is not classified fireproof.
