Manual of Naval Preventive Medicine
Chapter 1: Food Service Sanitation
Section II: Standards and Sanitation of Food Service Equipment and Utensils

1-14. Messing Facility Sanitation.

Department of the Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

1. Daily Inspection. Flatware must be inspected daily by supervisory personnel. Forks with broken or badly bent tines must be immediately removed from use and surveyed. Badly worn, rough-edge spoons, chipped or cracked cups, dishes, glasses, and other dinnerware will be surveyed on detection, since cracks not only harbor bacteria but may injure the user. These items should be removed during the sorting procedure, prior to dishwashing.

2. Messing Facility Tables. During the meal, tables and seating areas will be cleaned using a mild detergent and water solution as each patron has finished and left the table. After each meal wash the tables with hot detergent, rinse with hot clear water and then apply an approved sanitizing solution with a sponge or cloth.

a. Moist cloths or sponges used for cleaning/sanitizing must be laundered and disinfected at the end of each operation in the following manner:

(1) Wash and dry in automatic laundry machines in the food service facility (ashore facilities only) which are used only for the washing and drying of work clothes, linens and wiping cloths used in the operation of the food service facility.

(2) If an automatic washer is available and no clothes dryer is available, cloths and sponges may be air dried in a laundry room or other specially designated location separate from any operational areas. They may be stored moist in the automatic washer.

(3) Hand wash in hot detergent water, rinse in hot clear water, and sanitize with hot water or approved chemicals (see Article 1-11.b.). Boiling for 5 minutes is also acceptable. Air dry and store protected from contamination or store in an approved sanitizing solution.

b. Cleaning sponges, clothes, and similar materials must be discarded when badly soiled, stained, frayed or deteriorated.

3. While conducting food sanitation inspections medical department personnel must also look for evidence of insect or rodent infestations. Procedures for accomplishing such surveys and establishing proper control techniques aboard ship are contained in the Navy-wide Shipboard Pest Control Manual, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Instruction (BUMEDINST) 6250.13 or superseding instruction, and Chapter 8, Medical Entomology and Pest Control Technology of this manual.

Figure 1-1. Temperature Necessary for the Proper Sanitizing of Food Service Equipment and Utensils