FOG management is important for restaurants, cafes, takeaways, pubs and all commercial kitchens across the UK. It is vital to prevent any potential problems with the drains and to cause the minimum amount of disruption.
What Is FOG?
FOG is short for fats, oils and grease. The term is used to describe the waste that is produced by cooking and washing up. Grease is usually hot when it is produced but it rapidly cools and can block drains and cause problems in pipes. When large amounts of grease are poured into the drainage system of a property they can cause serious problems by restricting the flow of water and causing a number of blockages.
FOG can come from anywhere in the kitchen and from time to time certain foods can also be washed down the sink and include large amounts of grease already attached to the food from preparation. It is inevitable that some grease will find its way into your commercial kitchen’s drains, so having a grease trap or FOG Interceptor and having all FOG removed from your traps and pipes on a regular basis is the only way to prevent the problem.
Preventing Blocked Drains and Plumbing Issues
Grease from cooking can accumulate in the pipework of a restaurant’s drainage system, gradually reducing the flow of water through the system. Eventually wastewater could start to back up through the sink, creating an unpleasant smell of grease and wastewater. If not dealt with, this could even attract pests such as rats and cockroaches into the kitchen, posing serious health risks to staff and customers. In extreme cases, a severe blockage could cause a sewer flood in the kitchen.
Clogged drains can bring a restaurant to a standstill stand very quickly. In most restaurants all of the sinks, dish washers and waste disposal units discharge into the drains in the kitchen. If all of these were to get clogged up then the kitchen would be brought to a stop. Clearing blocked drains can be very expensive, some people even report paying thousands of pounds to have their drains unblocked. This cost can be even more extreme when it occurs late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
By clearing out the grease from your grease trap on a regular basis you can help to ensure that your kitchen’s waste water flows freely and does not cause any blockages.
Maintaining Hygiene Standards
Grease that accumulates in kitchen drains can also create a number of unsanitary conditions. The smell of grease can be severe and can cover all areas of a kitchen. Many Environmental Health Officers look for evidence of good FOG management during the inspection of a food business and will take action where they find evidence of poor grease management. This action can include issuing a warning to the business or taking action to enforce improvement. In extreme circumstances a restaurant may be closed temporarily until the problems are resolved.
Managing FOG in Restaurants also supports a cleaner kitchen, helps to reduce the smells of grease, prevents potential overflows and maintains the highest standards of hygiene within the food business. By ensuring that a restaurant’s grease trap is maintained and serviced well, it will stop any contaminated wastewater entering the food preparation area.
Reducing Expensive Repairs
As time passes, the grease that has entered into the pipework can put a lot of extra pressure on the pipes, grease traps and interceptors of commercial drainage systems. This can cause them to corrode, leak or even break. These problems can be very costly and cause a lot of disruption to businesses.
Repairs can be very expensive for large commercial drainage systems which require excavation or specialist jetting equipment to clear blockages in underground pipes. Because restaurants operate at all hours of the day and night such emergencies can cause huge disruption to business, and also be very damaging to a business’s reputation.
The cost of maintaining a restaurant’s grease traps in good working order is small when compared to the cost of repair to drainage systems that have been damaged as a result of grease trap neglect. The work to identify and repair minor problems with grease traps before they become major problems is relatively inexpensive when compared to the potential cost of repairs and resulting loss of business due to work being carried out during peak hours to repair damage to drainage systems.
Supporting Environmental Compliance
The way that FOG is disposed of from restaurants is crucial in preventing problems and ensuring that restaurants are complying with sewer bylaws. Discharging FOG into the public sewer can accumulate with other solid materials to form a large blockage known as a fatberg, which can cause considerable damage to the drainage network before it is removed.
Many water authorities across the UK are actively encouraging practices within restaurants that will help to prevent such problems from occurring within their own drains and in the public sewers. In many cases, commercial kitchens are required to have a grease trap or grease interceptor as part of their waste disposal system and it is recommended that these are serviced regularly to ensure that they are operating correctly and in compliance with regulations.
All water authorities across the UK and Republic of Ireland are actively promoting good practice for the management of FOG and are encouraging businesses to take responsibility for the proper disposal of all waste from their premises. In many cases, commercial kitchens are required to install grease traps or grease interceptors within their waste disposal systems.
Servicing your grease trap on a regular basis is essential to ensuring that it is functioning correctly and being used in the correct manner. In addition to managing the grease from your premises in an environmentally responsible manner by disposing of fats, oils and greases correctly, you are also showing your commitment to responsible waste disposal and your contribution to protecting the environment.
The Importance of Professional FOG Management
It is important to remember that maintenance of grease traps should be left to professionals that have the right equipment and expertise to carry out the required work. Grease Trap Solutions will set up a service schedule to suit your business and will carry out a clean of the grease trap on a regular basis, removing any waste that has accumulated in the trap. We will also check your drainage system for any other problems and highlight any repairs that are required.
Keeping Restaurants Running Smoothly
The FOG management of commercial kitchens is used to keep restaurants running smoothly throughout the year by protecting the operations of restaurants, by keeping the high standards of hygiene and by preventing any costly damage to the drainage system of a commercial kitchen by regular grease trap cleaning and by preventive maintenance to commercial kitchens.
