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Cleaning Molds
Suddenly my health department wants me to clean and sanitize all my molds between uses.
Do you guys do that?
Does anyone know of any regulations from any health department anywhere that covers cleaning chocolate molds?
We have in the past cleaned them when there is cross contamination or anything other than chocolate on them,
and I have always been told never to put them in the bleach water.
I've seen some employees sanitizing a few molds before I stopped them, and I don't see anything going wrong with those molds. Is that an Old Wives Tale?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mirihn on -
I'm interested to hear replies, too. My health department expects everything to be sanitized in a dishwasher, with temperature sensitive stickers to prove that the water got up to 160F. But I also keep reading that you should never wash molds, etc.
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Permalink Reply by Laura Trairatnobhas on -
I contacted the manufacturer of my polycarbonate molds, and they specifically said DON'T put them in the dishwasher . . . now what?
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Permalink Reply by Christopher M Koshak on -
My local health dept. is great when it comes to this, they know their stuff and don't bust my chops about not sanitizing my molds. Once the chocolates are out of the molds I put the molds into my warming cabinet and then wipe out the excess chocolate, then use cotton cosmetic wipes to shine them and they are ready to use again. The health dept. is fine with this method. If there is something stubborn stuck in the mold such as caramel I run it under hot water and dry it quickly as to not leave water marks on them.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Churchill on -
If you are just using chocolate in the molds and not egg products, then there is no need to. Some health inspectors need to be educated with regard to the risk of chocolate as a confection (almost zero). Your inspector probably just doesn't know.
I just went through a thorough inspection of a new store with a health inspector who wasn't familiar with chocolate. He looked at the solid chocolate in my tempering machines (the bloom kind of looks like crystally mould), and asked how often we wash them. I told him "We don't." He was very surprised. I then had to explain to him about water and chocolate, and the moisture content in chocolate not being conducive to pathogen growth. After that, he was fine.
If you still have trouble, go over your inspector's head and get the straight goods from his/her supervisor.
Having said that, maybe your shop is so messy that they just said "this guy's a pig and needs to clean EVERYTHING." (not that I'm saying you're messy. I just don't know.)
Cheers.
Brad
Hope that helps.
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