The legal starting point
Assimilated Regulation (EC) 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, applied in England through the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, is the rule every food business works under. Annex II requires food premises to be kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition, and requires surfaces and equipment in contact with food to be kept clean and capable of being disinfected. Article 5 requires the business to run food safety procedures based on HACCP principles.
The regulation does not say "deep clean every quarter". It says the premises must be clean and that you must have a documented system for keeping them that way. The Food Standards Agency's Safer Food Better Business pack turns that into a cleaning schedule with daily, weekly and monthly tasks, a diary and a record of what was cleaned, how, with what and by whom. A deep clean is the periodic task on that schedule that the kitchen team cannot do themselves during trading.
Deep clean versus daily clean
Daily cleaning is the brigade's job at the end of service. Surfaces, hobs, fryers wiped down, floors mopped, bins out, filters through the dishwasher. It is limited to what can be reached with equipment in place.
A deep clean is a planned event, usually overnight or on a closure day. Equipment is pulled out or dismantled. Heavy-duty degreasers and steam are used on surfaces that daily cleaning only wipes. The aim is to return the kitchen to a baseline condition, not to tidy it.
The extract system is a third category again. The canopy face and filters belong in the deep clean. The plenum, ductwork and fan behind them are cleaned to BESA TR19 Grease, with grease measured in microns and a separate certificate. Booking one does not cover the other. Ask any contractor to state which of the two they are quoting for.
What EHOs look for
Inspections in England and Wales feed the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. The officer scores three areas. Hygiene covers how food is handled. Structure covers the condition and cleanliness of the building, its equipment, lighting and ventilation. Confidence in management covers the records and systems that show hygiene is maintained between visits. Lower scores are better, and the three combine into the 0 to 5 rating on the door.
A deep clean influences the structural score directly. Grease on the canopy, dirt in the gaps between equipment, damaged floor grout that cannot be cleaned, stained wall cladding and blocked drains are the findings that pull the score down. Officers open the gap behind the range, lift the fryer, look above eye level and check the drain gullies.
The management score is where documentation earns its keep. Officers check that a cleaning schedule exists, that it covers every area and item of equipment, and that the diary shows it being followed. A deep clean report with dated photographs, filed alongside the schedule, is evidence that the system works. A tidy kitchen with no records still scores poorly on management.
How often to deep clean
There is no statutory interval. Base the frequency on volume, cooking style and the findings of the last inspection.
| Kitchen type | Typical deep clean interval |
|---|---|
| High-volume restaurant, hotel, contract catering | Every 3 months |
| Pub, cafe, school or care kitchen with lighter use | Every 6 months |
| Any kitchen before a new lease, a refit or a reinspection | As a one-off |
Individual items run on shorter cycles inside that schedule. Canopy filters are washed weekly, or more often for grills and fryers. Fryers are boiled out and ovens cleaned every one to three months depending on use. Grease traps are emptied when fats reach around a quarter of capacity, which for a busy kitchen means every one to three months, and water companies expect operators to keep fats, oils and grease out of the public sewer. The extract ductwork follows its own TR19 Grease timetable of every 3, 6 or 12 months by hours of cooking.
A deep clean checklist
Use this to specify the job and to check the report afterwards.
Cooking line
- Ranges, hobs and solid tops pulled out, degreased front, back, sides and underneath.
- Ovens, combi ovens and salamanders stripped, racks and door seals cleaned.
- Fryers drained, boiled out and descaled, oil disposed of correctly.
- Grills, chargrills and griddles stripped and degreased.
- Bains-marie, hot cupboards and pass lamps cleaned inside and out.
Extract canopy
- Baffle or mesh filters removed and degreased.
- Canopy face, underside, grease trays and lighting cleaned.
- Plenum and duct entry inspected and any grease build-up reported for TR19 Grease scheduling.
Structure
- Walls and cladding degreased to ceiling height, including behind equipment.
- Ceilings, light fittings and diffusers cleaned.
- Floors scrubbed with attention to grout lines, edges and beneath equipment.
- Drain gullies and channels lifted, cleared and disinfected.
- Doors, kick plates, handles and switches sanitised.
Cold and dry stores
- Fridges, freezers and walk-ins emptied to the extent agreed, shelving cleaned, seals and condensers cleaned.
- Dry store shelving cleaned and checked for pest signs.
Wash-up and prep
- Sinks, dishwasher interior and filters, prep tables and shelving cleaned and sanitised.
- Ice machine cleaned to the manufacturer's method.
Report
- Before and after photographs by area.
- List of items cleaned and any item not cleaned with the reason.
- Defects found, such as damaged flooring, missing grout, failed seals or pest evidence.
- Chemicals used, with safety data sheets available on request.
Chemicals and COSHH
Deep cleaning uses caustic degreasers, descalers and disinfectants. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 require whoever uses them to assess the risk, control exposure and hold the safety data sheet for each product. A competent contractor arrives with those assessments written for the task, not just the product, and with the gloves, eye protection and ventilation the assessment calls for. Rinsing matters as much as application. Residues on food contact surfaces are a hygiene failure of their own, so the specification should state that all food contact surfaces are rinsed and sanitised before handover.
How Commercial Cleaning London arranges it
Commercial Cleaning London surveys the kitchen, agrees a written specification against the checklist above, and schedules the work outside service. Where the canopy inspection shows grease in the plenum or duct we appoint a TR19 Grease specialist to clean it alongside, and the specialist's verification report with micron readings comes to you separately. You receive a dated photographic report for your cleaning file, a defects list for the maintenance team and a proposed interval for the next visit.