LESSON 8: KEEPING A CLEAN DEPARTMENT

Cleanliness is regularly listed as one of the top three reasons consumers choose where they shop for food. When your department looks clean and neat, your customers will tend to trust the safety of the food you sell. A regular cleaning schedule is key. Here’s some ideas for how to establish one.

Fixtures

Refrigerated cases and the shelving where you merchandise most of your cheese can become dirty very quickly, especially if you are cutting and wrapping in house. It’s a good practice to clean as you go, wiping down real estate of each item as it’s being rotated and restocked.

Matting – This can be used to create a barrier between the product and fixture shelving but be aware that this can become dirty and/or moldy if not replaced regularly. It might be in your best interest to simply do without it and just keep the shelves wiped clean.

Air flow – Output/intake vents are prone to getting dusty. Make a regular practice of dusting these regularly. Could be added to a daily/weekly checklist of tasks.

Freezing/Thawing – Some old cases will need to be thawed to prevent any ice accumulating near the condensers. If left unattended, this could lead to warm spots in the case and permanently damage cooling systems. In these cases, you’ll need to remove the food to completely thaw the case. Always wait until cases are back up to temperature before refilling with cheese and/or charcuterie and make sure the food cheese and/or charcuterie is relocated to another refrigerated environment so that cold items are always put back into a cold case.

Ambient specialty display fixtures – Will accumulate dust as well as pooled fat from cheese kept at too warm temperatures for too long. These should be wiped and dusted regularly.

Prep Area 

Staging area – where whole wheels and large portions stay while waiting to be cut. Be sure to keep piles of cardboard and refuse packaging out of view of the customer and take it out for recycling often.

Cutting Area Cleanliness

• Make sure to have soap and sanitizer close to cheese prep areas.
• Regularly clean knives, cutting boards, cheese wires, wrapping stations, and anything else naked cheese touches while it’s being cut and wrapped for sale.
• Ideally, you should clean and sanitize between every different type of cheese that you cut.
• Organize your prep so that cheeses that make a bigger mess or have surface molds get cut after cheeses with no surface molds or rinds (i.e. cheeses with internal or external flavoring, cheeses wrapped in wax, mold ripened and blue cheeses).

Passive Sample Areas (Pre-COVID)

Ideally, keep samples in a covered sample dome that customers can open and close, keeping the cheese protected from the elements when it’s not being tasted.

Keep clean toothpicks well-stocked and labeled next to the cheese.

Provide a trash receptacle for used toothpicks and mark it clearly as such. Ideally, make it difficult to retrieve toothpicks dropped inside of it.

Replenish samples regularly — it’s better to put less out more often, because this keeps customers modest about how much they sample, plus you reduce the chance of wasting any surplus samples that have been at room temp for more than four hours.

Product

Cheese rinds should never touch the paste of the cheese.

Particles from the rind that smear across the cut surface of the cheese should be scraped away before the cheese is wrapped for sale.

Trim any mold that appears on the cut surface of a cheese where it is not meant to be (i.e. blue cheese) and assess whether what remains can still be sold or if it must be discarded (and recorded) or if it’s still good enough to be sampled out. Any mold that appears on the cut surface of a cheese wrapped for sale is a sign that you are cutting too much — cut less more often.

Natural rind surfaces can, for the most part, be left as they are. If you find a particularly moldy surface on a natural rind, simply wipe off with a cloth dampened with salt water or plain white vinegar.