Cleaning and sanitizing are essential throughout the entire process of receiving, storing, preparing, and serving food; with a special focus on Step 1 (Prevent food contamination) and Step 3 (Kill microorganisms) of Food Safety. 

Three Steps to Food Safety

Each step is explained in detail in the following modules. As you read through these modules, you will learn what must be done to keep food safe. Some of these standards will apply to your work; others will apply to jobs that you don’t do very often or don’t do at all. However, every job in the flow of food relates to one of these steps. 

Well-maintained food premises should be clean, sanitary, and free of any condition that can make food unsafe. 

Key components of a well-maintained food premises will include: cleaning, sanitizing, general housekeeping, garbage disposal, and pest control. 

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: 

• understand the difference between and be able to describe both cleaning and sanitizing
• describe the five (5) steps of manual dishwashing with three sinks
• understand the difference between the two (2) main types of mechanical dishwashers
• list some general methods to prevent/control a pest infestation