In your restaurant, you rely on various systems to keep your employees safe, your building in good shape, and your food prepared safely and properly. Yet, with as busy as restaurant kitchens often are, it's far too easy to forget to maintain and test these systems. And, if they are not regularly tested and maintained, you can't really rely on them to protect you. So, which systems should you test and maintain regularly? Here are three.

1. Backflow Preventers

The backflow preventer is a device that prevents waste water and sewage from coming up into your restaurant's drains if there is ever a sewage backup. As you can imagine, this is really important to prevent contamination of any dishes that might be in your sink or produce that may be sitting in the sink that are awaiting washing. All it takes is one sewage backup to give all of your guests E. coli.

Many restaurant owners forget they even have backflow preventers. They're just little devices that sit below the sink. As such, the device can break, and the problem goes unnoticed until there is a sewage backup.

Testing companies such as ABC Backflow will come to send some water back up your line and observe its action to ensure the backflow preventer is working.

2. Sprinkler Systems

The sprinkler system is meant to put out a fire before it gets the chance to spread and cause serious damage. The problem is, many sprinkler heads in restaurants actually become clogged with grease and dust, and then when there is a fire, they do not send the water or fire suppressant out properly or fast enough.

You should arrange to have a professional not only inspect your sprinkler systems on a regular basis but also clean them. This is especially important if you have fryers or if you use oil to cook on a flat-top grill. 

3. Grease Traps

Your restaurant's grease trap is meant to catch any grease that is sent down the drain to prevent it from making its way into the main sewer pipes or larger drain pipes. If the grease trap gets too full, grease will start pouring into these pipes, and you may not notice until your drains are fully blocked.

You can't cook in a kitchen with blocked drains, so arrange to have a plumbing company come to inspect and empty the grease trap regularly. Kitchens that cook with a lot of oil should do this monthly. Others can wait a few months.

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