Safety and Sanitization in Your Mobile Kitchen Trailer

Whether you own a mobile food business or are renting a mobile kitchen trailer for a special event, safety and sanitization should always be two of your top priorities. These issues are more important than ever these days. You want to keep your food and your staff safe. Mobile Kitchens USDA offers these simple tips for a safer and more sanitary mobile kitchen workplace.

Include No-Slip Flooring

Slips and falls are behind many commercial kitchen accidents. Not only should your kitchen staff be wearing proper footwear with ample grip, but you should have no-slip flooring and mats installed to prevent slipping.

Make Sure You Have a Quality Refrigeration Unit

Your mobile kitchen trailer should have a high-quality refrigerator and/or freezer to keep cold ingredients properly stored at the desired temperatures. You may need special drawers and sections for meats, fruits, vegetables and specialty foods that are more susceptible to spoiling. Whether it’s a big walk-in unit or small refrigerator/freezer unit(s), you cannot skimp when it comes to your cold storage equipment. For large cold food and beverage storage needs, you may even consider a separate mobile refrigeration or freezer trailer.

Install a Hand Sink

There should always be a hand sink (ideally separate from food prep and dishwashing sinks) that allows kitchen staff to regularly clean their hands with fresh, warm water. 

Install a Commercial Dishwasher 

If you are serving a lot of food daily and need to reuse any glasses, silverware, utensils and dishes, you should consider installing a professional commercial dishwasher to efficiently and effectively keep your supplies clean. You can have a hand-washing and food prep cleaning sink, as well, but a commercial dishwasher is a huge time saver and offers much more sanitary results than hand washing and drying.

Understand Your Water Circulation System

When it comes to providing hot and cold water for your sinks and dishwashers, there are different water tanks and systems that can be installed in a mobile kitchen trailer. How much water you will need may depend on your daily usage and foodservice needs. You can’t afford to run out of water and gray water should always be drained and disposed of safely.

Improve Your Safety Training

Everyone who is working in your mobile kitchen trailer or around it at any point should be fully and properly trained on basic safety measures. Don’t assume a chef or server who is used to working in a normal restaurant will immediately adapt to a mobile unit. All precautions should be taken to improve safety through better training and education.

Get the Necessary Permits and Licenses

A mobile kitchen trailer is a professional commercial kitchen. Depending on your usage, local foodservice permits and/or business licenses may be required. These will also come with meeting certain safety standards.

Install a Fire Suppression System

You should always have fire extinguishers on hand, and installing a quality hood/fire suppression system is also highly recommended. These safety systems are standard on every mobile kitchen trailer we sell or rent at Mobile Kitchens USA.

Keep Your Space Clean

It should probably go without saying—but we’ll say it anyway—that you should clean all the surfaces in your mobile kitchen trailer several times a day. Don’t let grease, grime, bacteria and viruses build up on your kitchen surfaces. This is the best way to keep your employees, your food and your customers safe and clean. Installing hands-free soap, hand sanitizer and paper towel dispensers is another good idea.

Practice Safe Transportation

If you are transporting your mobile kitchen from place to place, specific safety precautions must be taken. Your mobile kitchen trailer has to be street legal with the necessary lights, brakes, wheels and tires. The hitch must be carefully secured to the tow vehicle, and the tow vehicle should be rated to pull a load as heavy as your mobile kitchen trailer. Then, the unit itself must be properly set up and secured once on site.

These are just some of the helpful safety and sanitization tips to keep your mobile kitchen trailer clean. Whether you are renting a mobile kitchen unit for a day or you own one that you use every week for different events and foodservice needs, you have to be smart about cleanliness and safety.

It also helps to work with an experienced mobile kitchen trailer designer. The team at Mobile Kitchens USA will work with you to determine your specific design needs and they will gladly offer specific advice on safety and sanitization features that should be included or are automatically included on each of our mobile units. Contact us today to learn more.