Step 2 of 5•15 minutes read
Hygiene and Guidelines for Cooks
Maintaining high standards of cleanliness and hygiene in galley and storeroom areas onboard ships is of paramount importance, as these spaces serve as the epicenter of food preparation and storage. Not doing so will have a direct impact on the health and safety of the crew.
Galley staff must adhere to rigorous flag-state hygiene practices. This not only prevents foodborne illnesses but also safeguards the integrity of provisions, sustains crew morale, and ensures compliance with international maritime regulations, ultimately fostering a healthy environment crucial for successful maritime operations.
Using the correct chopping board for the appropriate items aids in preventing cross-contamination.
Keeping Stores and Working Areas Clean
Efficiently organising your food products within refrigerators, freezers, and dry stores is key to ensuring a clean and efficient galley area. You should allocate distinct spaces for dairy products, meat, fish, and vegetables, to ensure that there is no cross-contamination during storage. Safeguard the freshness of perishables by covering them with plastic foil to prevent both drying and contamination when in the chilled or dry storage areas. When it comes to food preparation, employ separate cutting boards tailored to different food types. Many such boards conveniently come in various colors for easy differentiation.
When managing the stores onboard, encourage the use of older items first while vigilantly monitoring expiration dates. Arrange new items towards the back of shelves, granting easy access to the older stock. This will ensure that older foods are used in good time and there is a low level of wastage.
To improve the health of those onboard without compromising on hygiene in the galley, consider embracing the effectiveness of ordinary white vinegar as a natural cleaning alternative instead of resorting to harsh chemicals. Thoroughly wipe down knives, workbenches, cutting boards, and other kitchen utensils with vinegar, extending its utility to cleaning refrigerator shelves prone to black mold growth.
Weekly Galley Inspection
Every week, the galley should be inspected by the Master, or their representative. This inspection will check that the galley, storerooms, and all food handling areas are clean and in good working condition. Before this inspection takes place, you should ensure that:
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The grease filters and grease traps over the stove are cleaned.
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The benches are clean and dry.
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Nothing is stored under the benches on the floor.
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All fridges are clean inside as well as outside.
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The freezer is organised and clean, and nothing is stored on the floor.
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The dry store is cleaned and nothing is stored on the floor.
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You wear safety shoes and clean clothes.
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The garbage or food waste is covered and recycled according to the onboard garbage management plan.
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Your resting hours have been documented every day.
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Maintain the logs of the temperature in the fridges and the freezers and that the temperatures are correct. Fridge maximum +8° Celcius and freezer minimum -18° Celcius.
A wooden chopping board at sea is not always the best idea due to no clear separation of what food can be used on it.
Port State Control Inspections
Often, health inspectors come on board for galley inspection when the vessel is in port. This is liable to happen without previous notice. Before coming into port, the galley staff should ensure that the galley is ready for any such inspection. In addition to the preparations for the weekly inspection, the galley staff should ensure that:
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All raw and cooked ingredients, fish, meat, vegetables, and dairy are suitably segregated in storage.
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All leftovers and salads are covered and dated for use.
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You are using different cutting boards for different products - vegetables, meat, chicken, and fish.
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All personnel in the galley are wearing clean clothes and safety shoes.
How to Keep the Galley and Tools Hygienic
It’s important to keep the galley and tools clean. Not only to keep the bacteria and dirt away but also to keep the galley neat and organized for visiting shore personnel and inspectors, and it is always nicer to work in a clean and proper environment.
Keep stores organised so it’s easy to see what you have in stock. Make sure to open up boxes so you can see the content. Stock everything so it is secured when the weather is bad. Always put new provisions behind the older ones. Use the oldest first. Make sure all flour and cereals are fresh. Flour bugs come from old flour and cereal, don’t keep anything old in stock. Clean up if there are spills on the floor or shelves. Health inspectors always look for this.
Make sure to disinfect tools after a day’s work. Wipe cutting boards, knives, benches, and door handle, with a paper towel blotted with ordinary white vinegar, no need to wash or rinse afterwards.
Keep the galley tidy, work with one thing at a time. When needed, clean the cabinets. Take out everything and throw away old items. Clean the grease filters and grease traps every week. If you wash the filters in the dishwasher, don’t forget to change the water in the machine afterwards.
Keep the floor free from boxes or other items. Store everything on shelves. If you need to use the floor for storage put something between the floor and the box, like a small pallet. Health inspectors always look for this.
Store similar items in the same place. Don’t spread the items over different places. Keep the shelves clean, especially from flour products. Clean the shelves before a provision, when they are nearly empty. Keep dairy products separate from other products. Health inspectors always look for this.
Store the same type of items in the same place - even in the fridge and freezer. You don’t have to spend a long time in the freezer if you know where everything is.
Wipe walls and fridge with white vinegar, which prevents mould and kills bacteria. Cover leftover food in the freezer properly. Cover or wrap it with plastic or aluminium foil and mark it with the date and what it is. Keep all leftover food in the same place.
Recycling Garbage
Remember that health- and vetting inspectors watch your garbage handling, so make sure it’s hygienic and in accordance with the ship's Garbage Management Plan. Remember, if something is mixed, such as plastic and paper, you sort it according to the content. For example, if a carton consists of 70% paper and 30% plastics you sort it as paper.
The following items are to be recycled:
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Plastics.
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Metal.
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Paper.
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Glass.
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Organic waste.
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Oil.
Smart Provisioning
When taking provisions, think about what you need. Some ships cannot take provisions regularly and are not always in suitable ports. The cook must adapt to the circumstances and stock up. Don’t order things you already have in abundance. Keep all stores tidy and easy to inspect, so you don’t overstock.
Don’t order more than you will use. Calculate how much you use in the next period. If there are 15 members of the crew, you need about 6 kg of protein every day (meat, chicken, fish) in total for lunch and dinner. In 6 weeks it is 6 kg x 42 days = 252 kg (400 g/person/day). Breakfast is not included. Don’t order more spices than you need. Just order small packs, 50-100 g. Then you will have fresh spices in stock. Calculate how much you use in 4-6 weeks. Order flour, sugar, and salt in smaller packs, 1–2 kg. That makes it easier to keep the dry store fresh and prevents flour bugs. Don’t copy the previous provision list and order the same amount. Reduce or cancel the items you don’t need.
Don’t unfreeze and freeze the same items many times. If you get a big block of, for instance, minced meat, unfreeze as little as possible, and divide it into smaller pieces (1–2 kg), and freeze it in small plastic bags. Do the same with all kinds of “block frozen” products.
Planning what you will serve for lunch and dinner one week ahead, will make it easier to work. Take out items from the freezer 2–3 days ahead, and thaw them out in the fridge. Alternate between Asian and European food.
Making a nice and colourful salad buffet every day makes the meal more enjoyable and healthier. When making the salad buffet, use several different colours so you get a nice variety.
