How to clean a meat slicer?

Most people just love to cut the meat with a meat slicer. It slices the meat smoothly and keeps intact the shape of the meat. But they often struggle with the meat slicer while cleaning it due to lack of proper knowledge. Do you know the processes of cleaning a meat slicer properly? If not, then this article is for you.

A meat slicer is crucial equipment in any grocery stores, buffets, delis, catering businesses, cafeterias and other foodservice. Because they can slice and chip meat effortlessly within a short time. Along with its functions, proper cleaning of a meat slicer is equally important. The user should clean the slicer after every usage. But most people don’t know the processes of cleaning a meat slicer properly.

Therefore, in this article, I am going to discuss about How to clean a meat slicer step by step for your better understanding. Along with this, you will get idea on some relevant topics regarding cleaning and some answers to the questions in the FAQ section. So, without any delay, let’s get started.

                             Why It’s Important to Clean a Meat Slicer?

There are several reasons for why cleaning is very important for a meat slicer. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. Prevent food-borne disease: If you don’t clean your meat slicer after every usage, bacteria can contaminate your slicer, spreading into the new pieces of meat. It will eventually contaminate the food and spread food-borne diseases.
2. Pass Health Inspections: Sometimes, health inspectors visit different restaurants as part of their duty. Their sudden visit can make the owner frightened. But If you keep your kitchen equipment neat and clean, you will pass the inspection and get positive feedback that can increase your sales.
3. Cleaning enhances the effectiveness of any equipment: Any dirty equipment faces difficulties while functioning. But when you keep them neat and clean, they can perform competently.                                          

How to Clean a Meat Slicer

There are mainly two types of cleaning that one can follow: Light cleaning and deep cleaning.

Light cleaning: Light cleaning is appropriate when you don’t want to go through a deep cleansing process, but you need to clean the slicer after any usage. Through light cleansing, you can remove the upper sticky food particle from the slicer.

Light cleansing is beneficial as it will not let the food particles be stuck into the slicer and keep the food uninfected.

Required ingredients:

Paper towel or soft clean cloth, hot water, food-grade cleaner

Process:

• Unplug the meat slicer and turn off the blade by setting it to zero.
• Remove the sticky food particle that remained in the slicer with a paper towel or soft clean cloth. But make sure that the paper is clean and not that much harder to put scratches.
• Make a liquid with the food-grade cleaner and hot water
• Then wipe away both sides of the blades, carriage, food tray, product pusher, and food collector, the small nooks, and crannies areas with that liquid.
• Rinse the slicer with hot water
• Wipe it with a new towel
• Let it be air-dried

Deep cleaning:

Deep cleaning is most essential to prevent food-borne disease and to prevent bacteria from emerging. Everyone should deep clean their meat slicers at the end of the work when they are not supposed to use it for that day anymore.

The main difference between light cleansing and deep cleansing is that deep cleansing requires disassembling the different parts of the slicer. Deep cleaning will remove the hidden food particle that is not possible to remove through light cleansing. 

Required ingredients:

Paper towel or soft clean cloth, hot water, food-grade cleaner

Process:

• unplug the meat slicer
• turn off the blade by setting it to zero
• Remove the remained food particle with a paper towel or soft clean cloth
• Disperse the components such as product tray, blade plate, guard, and knife sharpener
• Clean and rinse the disassembled components with a 1:1 ratio of hot water and food-grade cleaner.
• Let the components dry
• Take a small brush to clean the scrub areas such as seams, screws, handles, and knobs.
• Put a clean, soft cloth or paper towel between the blade and blade guard, and clean the whole area
• If the slicer contains a hole at the center of the blade, use a small brush to clean that area
• Now thoroughly clean the entire slicer with hot water
• Spread liquid sanitizer on all parts of the slicer
• Let the parts dry
• Reassemble the parts
• Put a cover on the slicer to keep it protected overnight

FAQ:

1. When a person should clean Meat Slicer?

According to the FDA, a person should clean his meat slicer every 4 hours if he keeps using the slicer. Generally, it is wise to clean a meat slicer every day to keep it safe and protect its functioning capability. If you can’t clean it every day, then you should clean it after every usage.

2. What are the difficult parts that need special inspection while cleaning?

Ring guard mount, blade guard, slicer handle, seams, seals, and gaskets are some important parts that require extra notice while cleaning the meat slicer. Because these parts can collect hidden food molecules and can develop bacteria.

Keep a bird’s eye on the cracks and worn away in any parts of the slicer, and try to replace them as quickly as possible because food particles can heap in those parts too.

3. What are the tips that anyone can follow during cleaning a meat slicer?

• Always use protective gloves to prevent scratches while cleaning the meat slicer.
• Religiously maintain the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Don’t wear harsh cleaning sponges such as steel wool as it can create scratches in the slicer.
• Never engulf the slicer. Usually, the slicer manual provides information on which parts one can submerge, which parts are dishwasher safe, and how to maintain other parts.
• Use sanitizer after cleaning the meat slicer but before assembling the parts of your meat slicer.

Final verdict:

There is no confusion that a meat slicer is an important piece of equipment for any kitchen. But it is also important to keep it clean to protect your body from any food-borne diseases and also to keep the machine effective.

In this article, I have tried to provide detailed instructions on how to clean a meat slicer properly. I hope you have found the article comprehensive.