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 now the big question, do you really need to clean ice machines regularly? why?

If you use ice in your customer’s drinks, then it is just as likely to cause foodborne illness as anything else coming out of your kitchen. No good restaurant wants their customers to end up sick, and secondly, no good restaurant wants their name in the news alongside the phrase ‘Slime in the Ice Machine’ (Anyone remember this news story?).

So, why you ask? Well, below we discuss some of the common contaminants that infiltrate ice machine equipment. Some are pretty much unavoidable, which is why cleanings every 3-6 months are *strongly* encouraged.

Food Particles

This is where it all begins… Yeast, sugar, grease can easily travel through the air, or, be transferred by employees and wind up in your ice machine.  This cross contamination can be especially severe in restaurants or cafes that do a high volume of baking, breading, or even brewing beer. The food particles are not easily noticed and quickly become difficult to thoroughly clean out.

Mold

Mold thrives in dark, wet environments and requires only moisture and a ‘food’ source to grow. So once those ^food particles enter the ice machine, the perfect environment is created for mold to thrive.

If black spots begin to appear in your equipment, that’s a sure sign of mold. Although mold is not *always* harmful, if spotted during a health inspection it could result in a violation and some 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.

Scale

Scale is caused by mineral deposits in most tap water. If scale is allowed to buildup excessively your equipment will begin to have issues and likely wind up damaged. Most ice machine owners will have a filter system installed to help mitigate scale; however, filter cartridges need to be replaced every 3-6 months as well depending on your water quality and usage.

At the first onset of black spots (mold), the best thing to do is have a professional deep cleaning performed.

If you are currently concerned about the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of your ice machine, let our ice machine techs get you back on track by with a deep cleaning.

Put your cleaning schedule on auto-pilot with our preventative maintenance plans. Just let us know your preferred schedule, and we take it from there!