Astral Hygiene

  Are you ready for Hygiene 2.0?  21st April 2021  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Coronovirus ,  Hygiene The virus that effectively shut down the world in 100 days, has taught us a great deal about Hygiene, and particularly how to manage it The virus that effectively shut down the world in 100 days, has taught us a great deal about Hygiene, and particularly how to manage it. It has also taught us that we need a new strategy, to manage the effects of any future pandemics or breakouts, to slow the spread down without having to shut everything down. Businesses, individuals; everyone has been through such a difficult and harrowing time over the last 12 months…. so now is the time to devise a plan to counter the effects of new virus outbreaks to allow us to manage it whilst still allowing businesses to function. In 2007, statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb defined “Black Swan” as an event that “is an outlier,” as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations. Black...

  Are all hypochlorous products made equal??  7th April 2021  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Hygiene Not all Hypochlorus Acid is created equal... can you be sure your HOCI is in the right state to kill bacteria and virus - or if it is just salt water? Since 2020 the popularity of  Hypochlorous Acid  has increased exponentially, and its explosion can only be testament to the benefits of this biocide that effectively bottles the same capability the human immune system uses to fight infection. This chemical is amazing, and in the right formulation, and in the right chemical state it can kill up to 99.9999% of pathogens quickly and safely.  IF it is the right formulation,  HOCI  can be used effectively on hard surfaces, on skin and hands, in fogging machines and in some cases, babies bottles and dummies. This incredible chemical, in it’s pure form has been proven to kill E. coli, Salmonella, C. difficile, Coronaviruses and Norovirus faster than ot...

  Breaking down knowledge barriers.....  6th April 2021  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Coronovirus ,  Hygiene ,  Cleaning Tips Anna is breaking down some knowledge barriers in this weeks blog, highlighting what everyone should know about the differences between BS EN 1276 and BS EN 14476? Last week I began to briefly discuss all the nuances between the differences between  BS EN 1276  products and  BS EN 14476  products. We have learned that coronavirus is an umbrella term encompassing both the common cold and flu and also more severe and pertinent viruses like COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. We also talked last week about how manufactures are trying to manipulate the audiences limited knowledge (i.e YOU) to give the impression that that manufacturers product does kill COVID because it kills coronavirus, and that it is  BS EN 14476  or  BS EN 1276  when it has failed the accreditation. So let’s start at the beginning;  ...

  Preparing to return to work .... shared kitchens  1st Aptil 2021  | By Anna Armstrong In my latest blog series “Preparing to get back to work safely” last week I discussed the implications around making sure your office chair is both clean and sanitised. If you missed it you can have a read  here . It is important to make sure that as an employer or building manager the area you expect employees to come back to is both safe, and hygienic.  There are so many disinfectants on the market claiming to kill Coronovirus, bacteria etc, but to really know what it kills you have to practically be a hygiene professional! Let’s drill down a bit here on this point........ Coronovirus is an umberella term which basically covers everything from COVID 19, SARS-COV-2 to the common cold and flu.  So even if a product only kills the common cold; which is quite easy to kill - it can legally have on its label KILLS CORONAVIRUS.... which is technically true.... but doesn’t mea...

  How to prepare for your Environmental Health Inspection  14th October 2019  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Environmental Health Welcome to our brand new – rejuvenated Blog, in which we are going to be sharing key industry knowledge to help you to live and run a cleaner, more hygienic life and business. In here we will be sharing key pieces of info, so we wanted to start with some really useful info on Environmental Health visits. This is such a massive topic I’ve decided to spit it into five separate blogs which will be released over the next five weeks. We all know that Food Handling Operators are regularly inspected by the Environmental Health, and for a lot of you out there, the thought of an Environmental Health Inspection can be so terrifying it can chill you to the bone! This blog is meant to alleviate some of that fear, and to let you know that Environmental Health are there to make sure the food you are serving is safe, well cooked, prepared hygienically and...

  8 of the Germiest Public Places – Some May Surprise You  2nd October 2019  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Hygiene ,  Cleaning Tips It’s an exciting world out there, but it can be pretty germy, too. That’s according to the editors of Prevention Magazine, who have compiled a list of the eight public places that bacteria like best. 1. Restaurant menus Except for a quick swipe with a dirty rag, when was the last time you saw your menu being cleaned? Right after handing it back would be a good time for a  PURELL  moment. 2. Lemon wedges According to a 2007 study in the Journal of Environmental Health, nearly 70% of lemon wedges on restaurant glasses contain disease-causing microbes—including, in some cases, E. coli and other fecal bacteria. How about skipping the fruit garnish? 3. Condiment dispensers Remember those rarely cleaned restaurant menus? Ditto for the salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and mustard bottles and other shared table property. I'd give ...

  Part 2 - Environmental Health - Are you doing it right?  24th October 2019  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Environmental Health To follow on from what we learned about visits from your Environmental Health Officer; how they are not the mortal enemy, more a source of knowledge and experience to make sure you are maintaining your hygiene by taking the right approach; we will be talking about how your EHO wants you to wash your dishes. The last time I blogged about the benefits of a colour coding system, and how having all areas assigned a colour ensures  clarity in terms of which mop is to be used where just makes maintaining hygiene standards a lot easier.  Just recapping really quickly these are the colours and the zones which they should be attributed to. This blog is about an equally important and quite a contentious issue how to wash your dishes the correct way (yes there is a correct way)!  Simple right? Well no it’s not really that simple so plea...

  Part 3 - How to prepare for your Environmental Health Inspection - Sanitisers....  1st November 2019  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Environmental Health To follow on from our tour of colour coding and the lessons learned about washing a dish the correct way in this blog I’ll be talking about sanitisers that are available and how they can be used in the most effective way possible to really make your environmental health officer really at ease with your approach. Sanitise your surfaces properly While I’m going through the sanitisation section, it is so important to get the dish washing correct, but it’s also important to ensure that the surfaces you are touching and putting your freshly sanitised dishes on are clean and sanitised surfaces.  Your surfaces need to be sanitised as part of your regular cleaning regime, but also between raw and cooked food preparation. It is vital again that you are using a two stage process to clean your surfaces; Stage 1: General ...