From the simple to the sublime, this year’s crop of food safety products takes on the challenges of kitchen cleanliness in a range of different ways. Machines that self-maintain, products to simplify cleanliness, tools to monitor employee compliance. All promise to make it easier than ever to keep a kitchen up to snuff.

ONLINE TRAINING
None of the new products or equipment matters if employees don’t understand the basics, says Jeff S. Palmer, president of DayMark Safety Systems, which is bringing to the fore its CertifiedSafer, Certified Safety Training, an online safety certification and continuing education program. “Employees can do it in their pajamas while at home,” Palmer says, adding that it is far easier to keep current with data that comes to you online. “The information is constantly updated and current with all 50 states.”

CUTLERY
In the realm of cutlery, here’s a plan. First scorch it, then zap it. That’s the proposition put forth by Paul Douglas, president of Campus Products, Inc. “With cutlery, when it is run through dishwashers and handled by employees, there is a significant opportunity for contamination,” he says. Douglas’ solution is the Silvershine Cutlery Drying Machine. Take the forks out of the dishwasher, agitate in a 170° polishing granulate, then blast them with an ultraviolet C germicidal light. “It eliminates more of the human component and therefore the potential for error,” Douglas says.

HYGIENE
So the cutlery is clean. Now, what about the staff? They are supposed to wash their hands, but how do you really know? As president of CanBeFit HealthCare Consultants, Eugene Pittz is introducing the Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitoring Service, which uses a quick and easy surface pH reading to tell whether hands were washed. “Your skin has a normal, natural acidity, a natural pH level. When you wash it with soap, it goes up and then slowly goes down over the course of half an hour,” says Pittz, a former dermatological researcher. It takes 10 to 20 seconds to run a scan with the device, which costs about $85, plus another $40 a year for supplies and batteries.

ENVIRONMENT
In addition to all the other impressive tools and technologies available this year, the industry also has a chance to improve its own environmental profile. Take, for example, RapidAll from Earth Alive, an all-in-one janitorial and sanitation cleaning solution. Safe for people, animals, and the environment, the product was endorsed by the Boston-based Green Restaurant Association. RapidAll can do things that formerly were only available in the realm of heavy acidic chemicals, tasks like heavy-duty degreasing. It leaves skin soft, eliminates nasty mop smells, and uses cool tap water rather than hot.

CLEAN NAILS
For some, safety means making things easier. One example comes from San Jamar, whose Kleen-Brush System simplifies the process of nailbrush use. The brush hovers in a self-cleaning stream of water, making it easy to flush away bacteria. By putting the nailbrush at the point of use—in the water stream, over the sink—Kleen-Brush makes it easier to get into the habit of thorough hand washing.

REFRIGERATION
While some of today’s best solutions are arguably lowtech, sometimes it takes a higher technology to meet a food safety challenge. In this case, the challenge comes in the form of inconsistent freezing and refrigerating. The Kitchen Innovations 2007 Award winning solution comes from the FX Series with FlexiCold Technology by Randell. This product platform maintains refrigeration by compartmentalizing food in selfcontained insulated drawers. A unique drawer lid provides cooling to the insulated insert, ensuring the unit’s cold air stays with the product in the drawer. Because the unit is installed at the point of preparation, there is less chance for contamination, and the drawer insert pulls out easily for simplified cleaning and disinfecting.

FOOD LABELING
At FreshMarx, the object of the game is to make food labeling almost stupidly simple. With the Automarx 9415 Automated Labeling System, after an initial setup in which food types are entered into a database, the user needs to do practically nothing to ensure things stay fresh. “All you have to know is what you are preparing,” says Richard Masartis, senior director of marketing. “The device calculates the current date and time, then goes into a database to say this item is good for this many days. Then it prints out a sticker using various types of material, depending what the items are.” With the dual printing head model, a user can generate date coding with one head and nutritional labeling from the other. All information comes from that single initial database.

Meanwhile, back in the DayMark labs, Palmer’s team is complementing their training platform with a labeling system that helps overcome a longstanding sticky problem. Unlike traditional labels, DissolveMark Dissolve-AWay food rotation labels leave no sticky residue behind. “For years everyone used masking tape and other kinds of labels, and the labels did not come off completely,” says Palmer. “At the end of the day when they clean the pans, they stack them, so now the bacteria stuck to the back of one container gets transferred to the inside of the next one. In some cases, one whole side of the pan is adhesive crud, plus anything that sticks to that crud, including bacteria.” As the name suggests, DissolveMark washes away completely, dissolving in a commercial dishwasher in 30 seconds or less.

All in all, it’s a good year for food safety. Technology marches along, and manufacturers are becoming increasingly attuned to the need for simplicity and ease of use—features that in the long run may prove the most significant in ensuring that food safety products and protocols become a part of the regular routine.

Adam Stone is a frequent contributor to HOTEL F&B.