Q: I just finished a health inspections column in the AJC. It stated, “Officials also reported watching one worker ‘clear multiple dining room tables with only one wet wiping cloth never returned to the sanitizer in between use on each table.’” I eat at restaurants every day and often see servers clean tables and chairs with the same cloth. How would a server have time to always sanitize a cloth for every table? Or, am I interpreting this incorrectly?
—Lori Srail, Johns Creek
A: Tables and dining counters are to be "cleaned and sanitized routinely," according to Chapter 511-6-1 of the Rules of Georgia Department of Public Health.
They are:
- A two-step method in which an employee can wipe down a table or dining counter with a cloth that has been rinsed in sanitizing solution to "clean food debris from the surface." A second cloth — dipped or sprayed with another "separate sanitizing solution" — is then to be used to rinse the surface.
- Sanitizing solution can be sprayed directly onto the dining surface and then wiped with a disposable towel.
- Single-use disposable sanitizing wipes can be used for cleaning, "in accordance with EPA-registered label use instructions."
“Dry wiping cloths and the chemical sanitizing solutions in which wet wiping cloths are held between uses shall be free of food debris and visible soil,” the rules state.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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