Ice Machines, Beverage Dispensers & Other Overlooked Food Safety Hazards
At the end of the spring semester in our campus food production lab, we’re fortunate to have the opportunity to hit pause and reset for the summer and prepare for fall—a luxury many foodservice operations don’t often get. During this time, we can deep clean, shut down equipment, and perform a thorough reset of the space. While some school foodservice programs may also have this seasonal window, many commercial kitchens operate year-round and rarely have the chance to step back in this way.
Among the many pieces of equipment that we focus on cleaning during this time are the ice machine and soda dispensers. We clean them throughout the year, too, but they are pieces of equipment that are sometimes neglected. I can see why some may forget about them. In food safety training, much attention is paid to keeping food at safe temperatures, avoiding cross-contamination, and ensuring hand hygiene. While the spotlight is often on cooking and holding procedures, some food safety hazards are hiding in plain sight: ice machines, beverage dispensers, and other equipment that’s easy to forget during daily cleaning routines.
Ice is considered a food under FDA guidelines, which means it must be handled and stored with the same care as any other consumable. Yet, ice machines are notorious for harboring mold, slime, and bacteria, often due to irregular cleaning and maintenance. Ice scoops left on top of the machine, hands reaching into bins, or contaminated utensils can all introduce pathogens. When was the last time you inspected the water line to your ice machine – or even more importantly, the filter? Just as with any surface, if they are not cleaned and sanitized regularly, the risk of contamination only grows.
In foodservice operations, ice is an important component of the service and production processes. It is used for both beverages and for cooling of food. Thus, it is important to be diligent in cleaning and monitoring ice machines.
…Food safety isn’t just keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold; it’s about the unseen risks that accumulate over time.
Soda fountains and beverage dispensers can also be a hidden hazard. Sugary syrups and low-acid liquids provide a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and yeast, especially in and around the nozzles and drip trays. These areas often go unnoticed in daily cleaning routines and can develop biofilms—thin layers of microbial growth that are hard to remove and can contaminate drinks. In most cases, the trays themselves are dark in color, often black, meaning spotting these biofilms is not easy to do visually.
Another issue arises with the internal tubing of beverage systems. Without proper flushing and sanitization, residue can build up, leading to off-flavors and microbial risks. In both commercial and institutional settings, ensuring that staff are trained to clean these systems according to the manufacturer’s specifications is essential.
Beyond ice and beverages, there are many overlooked surfaces that require consistent attention. Refrigerator gaskets can collect food particles and condensation, creating a moist, dark environment where mold and bacteria thrive. Handles of reach-in coolers, microwave buttons, and faucet levers are frequently touched but seldom cleaned with the same rigor as food prep surfaces.
Food safety isn’t just keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold; it’s about the unseen risks that accumulate over time. By creating comprehensive cleaning schedules that include non-obvious equipment and surfaces, and by regularly training staff on the “why” behind those practices, foodservice operations can protect both their customers and their reputations. After all, preventing illness doesn’t just happen on the line—it happens behind the ice machine, under the soda fountain, and everywhere in between. Risk Nothing.
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Don’t Compromise: Clean and Sanitize
The subject is cleaning and sanitizing. Chefs, food service directors, managers and staff try to practice safe food-handling at every turn in the kitchen. Don’t let that effort go down the drain by slacking off on the many aspects of sanitation. That includes dish and ware-washing techniques (pots, pans, equipment), and cleaning all the areas that give us that “neat as a pin” appearance in your customers eyes. Customers seldom fail to bring that soiled silverware or glass with lipstick on it to the attention of the manager or wait staff. Improperly cleaning and sanitizing of food contact equipment does allow transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to food and ultimately our customer.
The Route to Safer Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Although fruits and vegetables are one of the healthiest foods sources in our diet, we continue to have foodborne disease outbreaks of significance from produce, sometimes affecting large groups of people in multiple states because of their wide distribution. The CDC estimates that fresh produce now causes a huge number of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States. Produce needs our continued food safety efforts at the restaurant level as well as at the stages in agricultural production. Occasionally, fresh fruits and vegetables can become contaminated with harmful bacteria or viruses, such as Salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7, Norovirus, and Hepatitis A. This contamination can occur at any point from the field to our table. If eaten, contaminated fruits and vegetables can cause foodborne illness.
Be Cool, Chill Out, Refrigerate Promptly!
The Cold Chain -- Keeping perishable foods at proper cold holding temperatures (between 28°F and 41°F maximum or 0°F for frozen food) from your food producers / manufacturers to your customers has to be one of our strongest links to safe food and high quality. Sometimes that is referred to in the food industry as “maintaining the COLD CHAIN”. Any slip ups in the cold chain, and we have a weak link. Most all of our state food regulations require 41°F as a cold maximum, but colder is a “best practice” policy to maintain.
Cutting Board Safety
Everyone knows to prepare food only on a clean and sanitized surface. Everyone also knows not to prepare food on a surface previously used to prepare any type of uncooked meat—cross-contamination. But does everyone know what this clean, sanitized, uncontaminated surface should be made out of? Or how cutting boards should be cared for?
