S A FE T Y, H YG I E N E & Q UA L I T Y A S S U R A N C E
Will your facility pass the grease traps test? Hygiene in commercial kitchens and processing facilities is important. A commercial manufacturer is not an environment where you would ever want to see pests, especially not flies and cockroaches. Both are carriers of a host of serious illnesses.
S
everal factors can lure pests into a
Industrial cooking facilities and kitchens
processing facility, but the obvious
produce large volumes of waste grease -
culprit is food and food waste. The
present in drain lines from various sinks,
grease and sludge in your grease trap
dishwashers and cooking equipment. The
are hugely attractive to flies and other
law* requires that all premises engaged
cockroaches.
in the cooking and preparation of food must install and maintain adequately sized
WHAT IS A GREASE TRAP? This is a plumbing device designed to slow
grease traps.
down the flow of greasy wastewater by
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WASTE?
separating grease and solid waste before
Fats, oils, grease and starch (Fogs)
it enters the sewerage system. Water
separated by a grease trap forms a scummy layer, which must be disposed of
flows into the sewer and
DID YOU KNOW?
grease floats to the top and is retained in the trap. The design has remained largely the same since its invention in Victorian times. South Africa’s sewerage system is geared to accept toilet,
regularly. If the grease trap is not regularly cleaned out, the
The first patent for a grease trap was obtained by Nathaniel Whiting from California in the late 1800s? The design has remained largely the same since then, and utilise the same laws of physics: that grease and oil are lighter than water and will rise to the top when the mix is allowed to stand for a time.
sink, basin and bath waste, while the stormwater system is only geared to accept
accumulation of Fog’s and foodstuffs will start to rot and give off the characteristic rotten egg/drain smell. This rotting sludge is extremely attractive to pests. Proper maintenance of
grease traps is critical. A biological dosing system offered by
rainwater. Anything else puts a severe
Initial is an environmentally friendly, non-
strain on the system, causing blockages.
chemical maintenance programme. The
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Food Review | September 2019
Grease traps should be kept in pristine condition for optimal functioning
WHAT THE LAW SAYS… * Legislative Requirements for the Maintenance of Grease traps:
The General Hygiene Requirements for Food Premises and the Transport of Food (R.918/1999) corrected by Government notice No 638 of 22 June 2018 specify that food premises must have a wastewater disposal system approved of by the local authority and that the duties of a person in charge of food premises include ensuring that wastewater on the food premise is disposed of to the satisfaction of the local authority. * Provincial Wastewater By-Law: 1 Sep 2006. Section 3: Protection of Municipal Sewers No person shall discharge, permit to enter or put into any municipal sewer - any petrol, oil, greases, waxes, fat or pesticides, insecticides or paints any liquid that has a pH value of less than 5.5 or greater than 12.
