Floor Cleaning in Bakeries

The Allgemeine Bäckerzeitung (ABZ) dealt in its Issue 24/2014 (“Trittsicher durch die Backstube” – sure-footed through the bakery) with accidents caused by tripping, slipping and falling, which now account for 40% of all accidents covered by statutory accident insurance. The Employers' Liability Insurance Association for the Food and Hospitality Industry (BGN) focuses on the condition of the floor. The following areas of a bakery require risk assessments to minimise hazards:

• Production, snack kitchen, confectionery,
• cold rooms,
• soaking zone/pre-wash basin, crate washing, tray rack washing system,
• as well as the sales and conference rooms.

The floor itself is assigned the greatest influence on slip resistance. Footwear and cleaning follow.

“Substances that promote sliding, such as greases, product residues or dust
can almost completely cancel out the friction between floor covering and shoe sole.”
(BGN; ASR A1.5/1.2 “Floors”)

And it goes on to demand: “Here, a consistently applied cleaning plan contributes to a significant defusing of the situation. And because incorrectly dosed cleaning agents can also reduce slip resistance, the cleaning plan should specify the cleaning agent to be used, including its dosage.” That is exactly the competence of the Dr. Gansow method.

A contemporary cleaning plan for a bakery relies on mechanical components. In the washing-up area, stainless steel dishwashers and washing tunnels have become a must. Production machines and ovens are unthinkable without stainless steel. For scrubber dryers this conviction has not yet become common: capillary polyethylene tanks, brush heads and squeegees made of untreated aluminium still determine budget-driven decisions.

Here Dr. Gansow sets a counterpoint with the Gmatic scrubber dryers
– with a galvanically electropolished stainless steel construction (DIN 1.4301)
and food-grade acrylic decorative parts (PMMA).

This ensures that HACCP EU 852/2004 is implemented. The cleaning performance is based on extreme scrubbing power and dry suction with the electrochemically acting Gmatic cleaning agents. The use of these cleaning agents requires the electropolished material DIN 1.4301.

The rough R12 or R14 floor coverings in production areas, made of fine stoneware or quartz-sanded epoxy resin, create an intense grip on trodden-in and dried-on dough crumbs, flour residues, dough crusts, chocolate, cream, dried fruit, and vegetable and animal fats. Here the food-safe basic cleaner Gmatic ultra 301 PSKT with its alkaline and electrochemical formulation has become the standard when capillary floor restoration is also required.

For daily cleaning with total grease-dissolving power, the biotechnological cleaner
Gmatic biotech Innu3 with intensely metabolising lactic acid bacteria is used.

After the Gmatic scrubber dryer (usually "Gmatic 80 BTXS 85") the floor is properly matt, the shoe soles can be made to “squeak”. With no dirt residues at all – even in joints – “total hygiene” is built into the process. The scrubbing brushes with food-grade PU drive plate are made of PA6.6 with abrasive silicon carbide in SC46 (anthracite) or SC120 (green), the squeegee blade of chemical-resistant PU Primothan^®.

Today a bakery is a precision operation with high legal requirements: the QA department that accompanies all processes has to test the currently available state of the art in technology and chemistry in day-to-day operation, validate it and ultimately implement it. It has a say in all decisions that influence the processes.

• Gmatic 40BX60, up to 1,000 m², 2 hours
• Gmatic 80BTXS85, up to 4,000 m², 5 hours
• Gmatic 100BTXS95, up to 6,000 m², 6 hours

• Canister dosing unit KD-12 with 2% nozzle
• Maintenance cleaning: Gmatic biotech Innu3 (neutral)
• Basic cleaning: Gmatic ultra 301 PSK (alkaline)
• Rinsing: Gmatic ultra 102 (acidic, 10%)
• Water glass removal: Gmatic ultra 300