In addition to having a good commercial garbage disposal, in this article are some suggestions for restaurants and other places that serve food to help reduce the amount of food waste.
One, be sure that you use older food before more recently received foods. Have a system that works best for you to help you keep track of which food you have had the longest and utilize it first. Without some kind of system it may be difficult at times to tell the difference between older food and fresher food. Using the less fresh food first will reduce the amount of food that has to be thrown away.
Two, when your food is delivered to your business from your suppliers be sure to check it all for freshness before you sign the buy order. Refuse to accept any rotten and damaged foods. Simply send it back and ask for replacements. Your food vendor will likely not complain because they do have competitors and they want to maintain your business. But too often in the rush of doing daily business buyers do not inspect the food deliveries and wind up wasting a good amount of food and money as a result.
Three, there is a right way and wrong way for raw vegetables to be stored. If you do it wrong the vegetables will spoil and rot. Airtight reusable containers will help produce to remain fresher longer. Also helpful tip is to remember not to place lettuce and tomatoes near each other and certainly not in the same box together. Gas from the tomatoes will cause the lettuce to turn brown.
Four, you can prevent freezer burn by making sure that the food is wrapped securely and that it does not sit in the freezer for too long before being used. Again a good rotation plan will allow you to use the older food first.
Five, along the same line who has not had the experience of discovering some food item in their freezer from long ago and they had even forgotten that they had it but it had fallen into a corner and was not easily seen? For that reason it is necessary on occasion to clean out and rearrange the freezer. This will take a little time but will be well worth the effort in the food that is saved.
Finally, rather than just throwing away good food check around your town to see if any food banks would be interested in coming out and picking up the food to distribute to those in need.
Even after taking all of these steps there no doubt will be some food waste that must be disposed of. That is why even the most efficient commercial kitchens should have installed a good commercial garbage disposer.
Finding a good quality garbage disposer for your business is only part of the battle. Put into these tips into practice and you disposal will last even longer.