What is Food Grade Sanitizer?

November 03, 2021 Leave a Comment

Keeping any area clean and free of germs and bacteria that can cause illness is extremely important for businesses of all types, but the food industry is often held to a higher standard due to regulations imposed by federal and state agencies. These agencies include the FDA, the Department of Health, and other agencies that regulate everything from the quality of the food to the cleanliness and safety of the environment where the food is cooked and served. Restaurants that don't adhere to these guidelines face extensive fines and risk being shut down. This is why it is so important that cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting routines are practiced regularly and correctly in the restaurant industry.

What Are the Health Risks in a Restaurant Environment?

While we often think about the kitchen area where food is being prepared, germs and bacteria can be found everywhere in a restaurant setting. The dining area and bathrooms are also important areas to consider when cleaning and sanitizing a commercial restaurant. That's why employees are required to wash their hands and continually wipe down food preparation surfaces. The germs found in bathrooms and other areas of a restaurant can easily be transferred to the food preparation area. Which can be the cause of many foodborne illnesses. Some of the bacteria found in restaurants include:

• E. coli
• Listeria
• Clostridium perfringens
• Norovirus
• Campylobacter
• Salmonella
• Staphylococcus aureus (food poisoning)
• Botulism
• Hepatitis A
• Shigella

Viruses and bacteria that cause colds and flu as well as food-borne illness are spread by hand to hand or hand to surface. People who have noroviruses, hepatitis A, or staphylococcus and streptococcus can easily spread these illnesses to other people simply by handling food or by touching surfaces where food will be prepared.


Raw meats, fish, and poultry are prone to bacteria as well. E.coli is one of the most serious and common organisms, often found in undercooked hamburger and other meats.According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), E.coli is one of the most common reasons we see foodborne illness. According to the same source, this bacteria can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome—a disease that often targets children with deadly results.

Chicken, turkey, and poultry have also been linked to shigella, salmonella, and campylobacter. The effects of these bacteria range from cramping and diarrhea to fever. Many meats are susceptible to contamination toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that can be dangerous for pregnant women and even their unborn children.

Of course, seafoods, shellfish, etc. are prone to many types of bacteria. Unpasteurized cheeses are susceptible to contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, which has been known to cause disease or even more severe damage, such as miscarriages or developmental issues with unborn babies.

Other areas of a commercial kitchen (or any kitchen for that matter) that present potential health concerns when they aren't cleaned properly include:

• Garbage disposal, trash bin (inside and out)
• Refrigerators and other food storage areas
• Towels, rags, mops, brooms, etc.
• Can openers, cutting boards, utensils, etc.
• Food processing and preparation tools and devices

Of course, dining rooms harbor germs and bacteria as well. Floors, walls, tables, chairs, windows, door handles, and other surfaces collect all sorts of bacteria that can be transferred back to the kitchen even when the kitchen has been properly cleaned and sanitized. This means an unclean dining area can re-contaminate a clean kitchen.

Food Grade Sanitizer

Unfortunately, many in the restaurant business are under the impression that cleaners and sanitizers with harsh chemicals are the best option for meeting the stringent requirements for keeping the restaurant clean, sanitized, and disinfected. This is not only inaccurate, it can be a potentially hazardous assumption. So many commercial cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products can be harmful to consumers as well. This is because they contain chemicals that present potential health risks to consumers as well as to the overall environment. Bleach, in particular, is often used and can be extremely harmful on many levels. Bleach can be harmful by itself, but it is often dangerous through its interaction with other common chemical-based cleaners used in commercial restaurants. When bleach interacts with ammonia, for instance, it can form chlorine gas, which, according to the CDC, can cause damage to cells, nasal passages, and to the lungs, causing issues with breathing.


Using a food grade sanitizer is an ideal solution to these issues. Sanitizers and disinfectants that are toxic-free are preferable in food environments. Cleaners used in settings where they may make contact with food should be food grade. In fact, commercial food establishments should always strive to find and use food grade sanitizer and other cleaning and disinfectant products rather than the harsh chemical-based products many restaurants use on a regular basis.

GenEon has the Solution for Your Food Grade Sanitizers Needs

As you can see, it's important to have an effective way to kill spores, viruses, and bacteria in all areas of a restaurant while using food grade sanitizer and cleaners to minimize the risks. This is the best way to ensure germs are effectively eliminated from every surface in the environment. At GenEon, we offer consumers non-toxic food grade solutions that are powerful and eco-friendly. That's because our cleaning, sanitizing, and degreasing products are created by consumers with a process known as on-site generation using nothing more than energy, water, and natural minerals. This process produces powerful and efficient cleaning, degreasing, and sanitizing products through electrochemical activation (ECA). Here's how it works. One of the natural minerals that GenEon uses as a catalyst is salt. Salt is a compound comprised of sodium and chloride. Sodium ions are positively charged and chloride ions are negatively charged. GenEon Onsite Generators expose these ions to a low electrical charge. The positive side of the charge electrochemically converts the chloride ion (Cl) to hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which is a powerful sanitizer. The negative side of the charge electrochemically converts the sodium ion (Na) into sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is a cleaning compound commonly found in soaps and detergents. Unlike many other OSG systems, GenEon's system is a Blended Stream System that uses both versions in the same solution. The hypochlorous solution is represented as Free Available Chlorine (FAC) that has 80-200 times the sanitizing power of chlorine bleach. This means you get all the sanitizing power of bleach without the hazards.


Our Electrolytes are also food-based additives that have been classified as GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) by the U.S. FDA. Our proprietary Electrolyte lets consumers harness the power of natural minerals to make the cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting solutions that clean and disinfect effectively while saving your business money and eliminating the need to store dangerous products on the premises.

At GenEon, we also offer a range of OSG products and effective delivery systems for commercial environments. Our InstaFlow system is compact and ideal for generating a high volume of our cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting solution on demand. We also offer advanced delivery systems, such as our Mist systems, that are perfect for dispersing our cleaning products in tight, hard-to-reach areas and over wide open surfaces, including surfaces where foods are prepared. Used together, our sanitizing and disinfecting products, our on-site generators, and our advanced delivery systems are the perfect way to keep commercial restaurants clean and sanitized.

To learn more about GenEon and our line of cleaning solutions, toxic-free disinfectants, and our technology, call 866.217.0205. We are always happy to assist you with finding the safer solutions for your food-related business.


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