With the wide range of warewashing chemicals available, you might not know which products work for your kitchen. Whether you wash dishes manually or with a dish machine, each method has detergents and sanitizers for cleaning and sanitizing that are important to meet regulations. By choosing the right warewashing chemicals within your budget, your dishes will be spotlessly clean to impress your customers and your health inspector.
Many dishes are washed by hand due to their delicate nature or unique usage. Therefore, understanding manual warewashing chemicals and procedures helps maintain your establishment's reputation with customers. Proper chemical usage and dishwashing standards keep customers safe and happy as they dine.
A crucial piece of equipment for manual dishwashing is a three compartment sink. The separate compartments allow you to wash, rinse, and sanitize dishes by hand according to food safety regulations. There are many types of compartment sinks, but most three-compartment sinks are stainless steel with different grades used depending on the environment. Additionally, consider using chemical dispensers to ensure the proper concentration of chemicals in every compartment.
First Sink: Wash
Second Sink: Fresh Water Rinse
Third Sink: Sanitizer
When washing dishes by hand, you need a variety of chemicals to ensure proper sanitation of dinnerware and glassware. Furthermore, it's crucial to use the correct chemicals during the right stage of the cleaning and sanitizing process. For example, using sanitizer before detergents eliminates the positive elements sanitizer provides. Below is a list of the types of chemicals used in manual warewashing.
While manual warewashing allows employees to wash delicate dishes and glasses without damaging them, using a dish machine saves time and energy by washing many things at once. Machine warewashing using an industrial dishwasher requires specific chemicals and practices to maximize productivity. Use different sanitization methods depending on your specific machine, so pay attention to the manufacturer's guidelines and follow them to get the best results.
High-temperature dish machines sanitize dishes using extremely hot water during their rinse cycle to remove pathogens. Typically, they’re more expensive upfront but help lower expenses long-term due to not needing chemical sanitizers. Additionally, high-temperature dish machines remove grease, smudges, and other debris better than low-temperature machines.
Low-temperature dish machines rely on chemical sanitizers to remove pathogens, not hot water. With more versatility than their counterpart, they require less electricity and have a lower upfront cost. However, you should not use a low-temperature dish machine for glassware as it can leave water spots on the surfaces.
One aspect of machine dishwashing is having the proper chemicals on hand, especially for low-temperature dish machines. Both high-temperature and low-temperature dish machines require detergent and rinse aid, but low-temperature washers also require chemical sanitizers. To understand the difference between these chemicals, check out our list below.
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