Cleaning
Clean and sanitised are two different things
"The bench is clean." Probably. Is it sanitised? They are two separate steps doing two separate jobs, and one does not substitute for the other.
What each step does
Cleaning removes what you can see and feel — food debris, grease, soil. It is a physical process, done with detergent, water and agitation.
Sanitising reduces the microorganisms left on the surface afterwards to a safe level. It is a chemical or thermal process, done with an appropriate sanitiser at the right concentration and contact time, or with heat.
Why the order matters
Sanitiser applied over grease does not reach the surface it is meant to treat. Soil also neutralises many sanitisers chemically, so applying one to a dirty surface wastes it twice over.
The sequence is wash, rinse, sanitise, and then air dry or dry with single-use towel. A cloth that has wiped three other benches undoes the last step entirely.
Concentration and contact time
A sanitiser has a concentration it must be used at and a contact time it must remain wet on the surface. Wiping it straight off gives you the cost of sanitising with none of the effect. Both figures come from the product label or supplier data, and both belong in your cleaning schedule.
Where it matters most
Food contact surfaces: benches, boards, slicers, containers, utensils. Also the surfaces people touch constantly with gloved hands — fridge handles, tap handles, bin lids — which are a common route for recontamination.
What to do this week
Read your cleaning schedule. Does it say "clean", or does it name both steps, the chemical, the concentration and the contact time? If it just says clean, the person doing it at 10pm has no way of knowing what you actually meant.
The short version
Cleaning removes the soil you can see. Sanitising reduces the bacteria you cannot. Food contact surfaces need both, in that order, at the right concentration and contact time.
This is general information, not advice for your specific business. Check the requirements that apply to you against the current Food Standards Code and your own licence conditions.
The records for this
The free Food Safety Record Pack has fifteen everyday records including temperature, cooling, calibration and cleaning logs — with document control and a worked example on every sheet. No cost.
Read next
A record needs a date, a reading and a name. Complete it at the time, not at the end of the shift, and always record what you did about an out-of-limit result.
Read it ›The Code requires compliance with the program, not possession of it. Ask a staff member what the critical limit is for their step — if nobody can answer, the plan is not working.
Read it ›