Management of fats, oils, and grease (FOG) is crucial to keeping your kitchen fully functional. When FOG goes down a drain, it begins to cool, allowing it to stick to the inside of pipes and gradually solidify. As it continues to build up, the congealed FOG can cause clogs, resulting in waste backups, horrible smells, and various other costly issues including fines for your kitchen and business.
To help keep it under control, here are some FOG management best practices you can use to train your employees to incorporate into your business practice.
- Pour large amounts of oil and grease into containers for disposal, When disposing of excess cooking oil or grease, the best thing to do is let it cool in the pot or pan and then pour it into a separate container with a lid. Cooking oil can be collected and recycled at appropriate facilities. Mixtures of oil, grease, and food waste, however, need to be collected and disposed of in the garbage.
- Install Strainers/Screens on Floor & Sink Drains
Though they require regular emptying, strainers, and drain screens are an effective and simple means of preventing solid food waste from making it down the drain. We highly recommend that they be installed in all your sinks or floor drains in your commercial kitchen.
- Wipe Dishes & Cookware
The #1 reason FOG makes it into a drain is due to pre-rinsing and washing dishes and cookware. While a drain stop or strainer might catch the larger solid chunks of food waste, it won’t prevent residual oil, butter, gravy, creams, or food drippings from making it into the drain.
Before pre-rinsing or washing your dishes, pots, and pans, use a paper towel to wipe off any remaining FOG and dispose of it in the proper waste receptacle.
