If the dishwasher in your commercial kitchen is in near-constant use and you are very reliant on this equipment, it's important to be aware of the mistakes that you and your kitchen staff could make that may negatively impact this item's performance. Continue reading to find out what these mistakes are.

Not scraping the food off the dirty dishes before putting them into the dishwasher

Before your staff members place a dirty plate or bowl inside the dishwasher, they should first use a knife or a fork to quickly scrape any bulky bits of food off the plate or bowl.

There are two reasons why it is important to do this. First, large chunks of food (particularly hard-textured items like chicken or fish bones) could potentially clog up the filter and form a blockage inside the dishwasher's waste pipes (these pipes are designed to remove the dirty water from the dishwasher).

These issues could lead to the dishes emerging from the dishwasher with a film of dirty residue on them, in which case they may then need to be handwashed. This, in turn, could negatively affect your commercial kitchen's productivity levels.

Second, if there are many large pieces of food left on the dishes when they are put into the dishwasher, some of this food debris may not be rinsed down the waste pipes but may instead get stuck in the dishwasher rack's nooks and crannies.

This could encourage the growth of bacteria in these parts of the equipment, which could, in turn, give the interior of the dishwasher a bad odour. This could then lead to the dishes that are washed in it smelling bad when they are taken out at the end of each wash cycle.

Not bothering to clean underneath and around the door's rubber seal

Most commercial dishwashers have rubber seals around the perimeters of their doors. Over time, food particles and limescale can build up inside and underneath this seal.

If you or your staff members don't clean out this debris on a regular basis, the dishwasher's performance could start to decline.

The reason for this is as follows: if the seal between the door and the rest of the dishwasher is not airtight (because there is debris in the seal that is creating a gap), the internal temperature of the water that is being released inside the dishwasher during wash cycle and the rinse cycle could be lowered.

This could affect how well the dishwasher cleans the dishes; for example, if the water is too cool, it may not kill off all of the bacteria on the dishes or cut through all of the grease on their surfaces.

As such, it is worth getting into the habit of cleaning below and around the door's rubber seal on a regular basis.

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