This article will cover cafeteria grease trap control. Administrators of various institutions and establishments prefer having a cafeteria in their own building to help their employees, students, guests, or staff gets their meals on time at more affordable prices. Some even come up with coupons or stubs that take a certain amount off of certain food items or meals at any given time. This is one way of promoting home cooked meals instead of fast food. There are cafeterias that even offer vegetarian dishes or lactose-free drinks. Even allergies are taken into consideration so that everyone gets to have the benefit of good eating without thinking of anything offensive or unhealthy happening to them.
Cafeteria food has long been a subject of humor. In the United States, food that come from the cafeteria are often known as bland, fat-filled, cheap, and unappealing. As years go by, cafeteria cooks have realized the shortcomings of their cooking and have already come up with ways to enhance the flavor and presentation of their food. It wasn’t an easy struggle especially with the fact that fresher, prettier food is more costly. With the increasing production of new dishes, the United States is now facing a FOG (fats, oils, grease) problem. To help lower the amount of FOG in the wastewater system, the government has released a grease ordinance that has to be followed by every company that has a cafeteria.
The ordinance mandates all cafeteria owners to install an appropriate grease trap in their premises. The grease trap should have a permit and should be regularly inspected. Maintenance schedules should also be followed to prevent excess amounts of FOG in the grease trap. The small grease traps that are designed and installed indoors should be pumped out every month while the large grease traps installed outside should be pumped out every quarter. This rule of thumb is not usually followed because the cafeterias have their grease traps cleared out every week. The administrators prefer such practice than deal with the headaches of having lawsuits and penalty payments badgering their doors because of FOG overflow.
Cafeteria grease trap control should be practiced well. This mainly lies on the efforts of the cafeteria staff. They should modify their grease management in the kitchen. If they have been used to just dumping everything down the drain, then they should learn how to manually scrape the solid wastes and grease materials off the dishes and kitchen equipment; collect them in a bin that could be sealed up; and dispose of it with the regular trash. The drains should have filters or meshes that could catch smaller pieces of food and FOG before they even reach the grease trap.
Part or cafeteria grease trap control is the use of effective cleaners. Some still use enzymes and chemicals in removing the grease and solid wastes from the grease interceptors. These products are really not effective in making the FOG crisis go away. The enzymes and chemicals just emulsify the FOG. This makes it a lot easier for the FOG to mix in with the wastewater. When the FOG solidifies in the pipe lines, it sticks to the pipe walls and blocks the wastewater flow. Untreated effluent then backs up into the cafeteria facilities and the surrounding environment. Health and sanitation issues spring out and affect everyone in the area.
If there should be an effective cafeteria grease trap control, money should be invested on bacteria. The primitive bacteria are the ones that should be used to maintain the pristine condition of the surrounding environment and to eliminate foul smells at the same time. Bacteria use can either be bioremediation and bioaugmentation. Bioremediation is when the non-pathogenic bacteria are used in converting the solid wastes and FOG into less detrimental substances. Bioaugmentation is when a selected strain of bacteria is used in breaking down FOG and other contaminants.
Bacteria are the most environmentally safe helpers in cafeteria grease trap control. Surely penalties and lawsuits could be prevented because the FOG levels are always kept at a low minimum.