/nemco-logo.png){kind=logo}
As the manufacturer behind an extensive catalog of NSF-approved food equipment, Nemco feels your concern for upholding the highest standards in food safety, which is why we’re keen to share our insights regarding four hot-button issues for today’s health inspectors.
1. Cut the ice: cold-food holding goes under the microscope
Over the past few years, the growing consumer demand for fresher food and hands-on customization has made cold food holding solutions a greater priority—for both foodservice operations and health inspectors.
An impressively extensive salad bar or self-serve station offering an array of sauces, condiments, garnishes, or fresh toppings may give your operation an element of appeal that your local competition doesn’t have. At the same time, it presents a troublesome scenario for foodservice teams. Maintaining temps at or below that critical 41°F mark with traditional ice baths can require disruptively frequent monitoring by your staff or run the risk of food-borne illness.
Smarter, safer foodservice operations will shift from the old fingers-crossed, check-and-hope system of ice baths to investing in more reliable cold food holding equipment that won’t melt your peace of mind.
2. A can-do attitude: can openers as bellwethers for overall kitchen hygiene
Veteran foodservice operators know there’s one unexpected appliance that health inspectors love to scrutinize: the industrial can opener.
Why? Because health inspectors know that, as a seemingly marginal tool among the ranks of kitchen equipment, the can opener is likely one of the first food-safety corners an undisciplined foodservice operation will start cutting. If they find disgusting food residue gumming up the blades, teeth, gears or other parts of the can opener, it’s very probable a thorough inspection will turn up quite a few other health concerns.
Conversely, a spotless can opener indicates rigorous attention to food-safety protocols.
And, just to come clean, not all can openers are created equal: some can openers lend themselves to better food safety by virtue of their engineering.
3. Need to vent: CA’s more stringent ventilation requirements could waft across state lines
Updated in 2020 and again in 2022, California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards keep toughening the ventilation requirements for additions or alterations to commercial kitchens within the Golden State. (Note: these do not apply to kitchens that are part of healthcare facilities.)
Essentially, foodservice facilities with exhaust outflow rates greater than 5,000cfm have a new compliance table to follow that dictates which type of hoods are required relative to what type of cooking appliances are being used.
CA health inspectors will be especially attentive to Type I Hoods responsible for greasy smoke removal.
While California is known for leading the way on government regulations related to health & safety and environmental protection (think Proposition 65 and plastic bag bans), it’s unclear whether this specific regulatory change will catch on elsewhere. Even without updated codes elsewhere, it’s natural to reason that this will put proper ventilation on more health inspectors’ radars, regardless of their jurisdiction.
4. Scrubbing data: IoT integration will tell you when to maintain equipment—and much more
Today’s kitchen appliances can talk to us in ways previous generations of equipment couldn’t.
IoT stands for the “Internet of Things” and refers to how physical objects, including appliances in commercial kitchens, are embedded with sensors, software, and other technology so as to connect and exchange data with other devices via the Internet.
For foodservice, the benefits are numerous. They could look like a walk-in cooler that alerts you when the target temperature is off, a deep fryer that signals when it needs a deep clean, or a food processor that reminds you to order replacement blades before your current ones lose their edge.
For smaller foodservice businesses, the primary upside of IoT will be for maintaining equipment and keeping it operating up to code. Larger businesses will likely have the resources to dive further into their data to also minimize food waste, increase efficiency and achieve better profit-margins.
Expect health inspectors to start questioning foodservice managers as to how they’re leveraging their IoT capabilities to keep their operations up to health code more reliably. As kitchen equipment becomes more adept at communicating its maintenance needs, the tolerance for excuses will grow shorter.
