Sanitation

Sanitation is the everyday work of keeping a food facility, its equipment and its food-contact surfaces clean and sanitized so that soil, allergens and germs don't end up in food.

  • Food safety
  • Cleaning & sanitation

Sanitation has two parts that always happen in order. Cleaning comes first: crumbs, dust and food residue are removed dry, then surfaces are washed with detergent and rinsed. Sanitizing follows, using heat or an approved chemical on the already-clean surface. FDA's manufacturing rule describes sanitizing as treating cleaned surfaces in a way that kills vegetative cells of pathogens and greatly lowers other unwanted microbes without hurting the food or the person eating it. The FDA Food Code expects sanitizing of food-contact surfaces to deliver a 5-log, or 99.999%, drop in representative disease-causing organisms. Sanitation also means keeping buildings, fixtures and non-food-contact surfaces clean and in good repair.

Surfaces that are dirty or poorly sanitized can pass pathogens and allergens from one batch to the next. FDA's preventive controls rule lists sanitation controls as a distinct type of preventive control, aimed at hazards such as environmental pathogens, germs spread by worker handling, and food allergens. Because sanitizing is defined as a treatment for cleaned surfaces, skipping or rushing the cleaning step undermines it. The rule also treats dry and wet operations differently, which matters for bakeries that handle flour and other low-moisture ingredients.

Key facts

Food-contact sanitizing target
5-log (99.999%) reduction (FDA Food Code)
Bleach for food-contact surfaces
50–100 ppm, mixed fresh daily (UMN Extension)
Low-moisture food surfaces
Must be clean and dry before use (21 CFR 117.35)
Preventive control type
Sanitation controls, 21 CFR 117.135(c)(3)

In a bakery or commercial kitchen

  • Follow a written five-step routine: dry clean, wet clean with detergent, rinse, sanitize, then dry or air-dry as the label directs
  • Keep surfaces used for low-moisture foods, like flour and dry mixes, clean and dry; thoroughly dry anything that gets wet-cleaned before reuse
  • Clean and sanitize food-contact surfaces before use and after any interruption that could have contaminated them in wet operations
  • Check sanitizer strength with test strips made for that chemical, and follow the product's required contact time
  • Store wiping cloths in sanitizer solution between uses and skip sponges, which can trap debris and germs

For home and cottage bakers

  • Mix a fresh food-surface sanitizer daily: about 2 teaspoons of 5.25–6.25% unscented bleach per gallon of room-temperature water
  • Clear flour and dough off counters and tools first; sanitizer is meant for surfaces that are already clean
  • Never combine bleach with ammonia or other chemicals, because the mixture can release toxic fumes

Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 17, 2026.

  1. 21 CFR 117.3 Definitions, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (National Archives)
  2. 21 CFR 117.35 Sanitary operations, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (National Archives)
  3. 21 CFR 117.135 Preventive controls, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
  4. Food Code 2022, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  5. Sanitizing equipment and food contact surfaces, University of Minnesota Extension