It’s used throughout your operation, but when it comes to food safely, ice is often overlooked.

When you think about it, ice isn’t often thought of as “food,” but according to the current Food Code, it is. As such, ice should be handled with the same care you’d use when handling any potentially hazardous food. After all, it melts into drinks, chills foods on raw bars and buffets, and helps hold foods cold in walk-ins and freezers.

Whatever type of ice machine your operation uses, you need to follow some basic guidelines when handling ice.

The biggest concern with ice safety is what happens when humans come in contact with it. Every time an ice bin is opened, there is a possibility for cross-contamination. A water or busser, for example, might have just cleaned a table and is hustling to serve the next guests with ice water. Or, a kitchen worker might be working with poultry and go to the ice machine to fill the bin for icing the chicken. Even if a proper metal or plastic scoop is used, there's a huge potential for passing microorganisms if these workers don’t wash their hands properly before retrieving the ice.

The first line of defense with ice safety, as with all tasks in a foodservice operation, is to constantly remind staff to properly wash their hands between tasks to prevent ice from being contaminated.

The containers you use to transport and hold ice must be dedicated to ice alone. Designate special bus tubs, bins and buckets to hold only ice and label them as “Ice Only” with indelible markers. Make sure to clean and sanitize these containers properly before and after each shift. Make it clear to all employees that “Ice Only” containers are just that and should never be used for anything else.

Bartenders often work so quickly between clearing the bar and serving the next customer that cross-contamination is highly possible. In addition, bartenders are especially guilty of using glasses to scoop ice for drinks, which carries a huge potential breaking glass into the bin.

You need to press upon your bartending staff the do’s and don’ts of ice safety; make them check that a plastic or metal ice scoop is at every ice bin at the start of the shift and make proper hand washing an absolute must. If a glass does break near the ice, tell them picking out glass shards is cause for firing as it should be. Ice bins contaminated with glass shards need to be emptied, cleaned and sanitized. And in fact, ice bins in general need cleaning and sanitizing routinely at the beginning and end of each day, shards or no shards.

The other potential hazard is using the same ice machine for keeping food in the kitchen, on buffets and raw bars cold — such as whole fish, raw chicken, deli salads and sushi—and for customers’ drinks. The best scenario is to have a couple of ice machines dedicated to different uses. Ideally you’ll get one machine for the kitchen and one for the dining room.

The best kind of ice to use in the kitchen is flaked ice, so if it’s possible to have two machines, the kitchen machine should be the one that produces flaked ice. If you can only afford one machine, it’s better to use cubed or nugget ice for both tasks. If you’re only using one machine, take out as much ice as you’ll need for chilling foods and store it in bags, bind or tubs in the freezer at the start of the shift.

Where you locate your ice machine also is important. Situate ice machines away from areas of possible cross-contamination; keep them away from the back door, garbage areas and from areas where food is prepared.