In our last two posts we discussed how frequently you should clean your ice machines as well as how to clean them yourself (if you have the time and expertise necessary). But, WHY is it so important to clean and properly maintain your ice machines?
First and foremost, no restaurant wants their customers to end up sick, and secondly, no restaurant wants their name in the news alongside the phrase ‘Slime in the Ice Machine’ (Anyone remember this news story?).
Below we’ll discuss some of the top contaminants that infiltrate ice machine equipment.
Food Particles
This is where it all begins. Yeast, sugar, grease can easily travel through the air or be cross-contaminated by employees and wind up in your ice machine. This is especially true regarding yeast in restaurants or cafes that do a high volume of baking, breading meat, or even brewing beer. These particles are not easily noticed and are difficult to thoroughly clean out.
Mold
Mold thrives in dark, wet environments and requires only moisture and a ‘food’ source to grow. Once food particles, such as yeast, enter the ice machine it creates the perfect combination for mold to thrive. If black spots begin to appear in your equipment, that’s a sure sign of mold. Although mold is not necessarily harmful, if spotted during a health inspection or by a customer, it could result in a violation and/or unfortunate PR.
Bacteria
Bacteria is almost impossible to avoid entirely. Some bacteria are safe and unavoidable, while other strains are the culprits of foodborne illness. Bacteria enter ice machines in multiple ways including through water, air, and human contact.
A couple measures to prevent bacteria contamination is to enforce proper hand-washing and ice-handling policies, such as (1) employees must wash their hands thoroughly after using the restroom or handling trash, (2) never use hands or glassware to retrieve ice from the bin, and (3) always use a proper scoop with hand guard and sanitize it every night.
Biofilm (AKA Slime)
When all of the above combine, biofilm or slime is born. Biofilm is essentially layers of bacteria, mold, and food particles that have built up overtime. It can be very difficult to remove biofilm once it has formed on the surfaces of your ice machine. Slime will give your ice a poor taste and strange odor – and – if the bacteria contains a harmful strain like E. Coli, salmonella, or legionella it will lead to illness.
At the first onset of black spots (mold), the best thing to do is have a professional cleaning performed.
If you are currently concerned about the cleanliness of your ice machine, let our ice machine technicians get you back on track by scheduling a deep cleaning.
We offer preventative maintenance plans in order to keep you on the appropriate schedule with little effort on your end, we’ll handle the PM for you!
