Keeping your Taylor soft serve or frozen drinks machine hygienically clean has always been an important part of your daily and weekly cleaning processes. 

But now it’s never been more important!

Touch Points – Clean throughout the day!

At regular intervals throughout the working day (at least once every four hours), ensure that any parts of the machine which come in to contact with either staff or customers are cleaned and sanitised properly.

Pay particular attention to:

1. Hopper Covers & Surrounds

2. Draw Handles & Controls

3. Dispense Spouts & Openings

4. Drip Trays & Splash Shields

Always use food safe sanitiser and disposable paper towel to clean these areas and follow the recommended contact time to ensure that it works effectively.

Always clean up split mix immediately – both from the front drip tray and from around the hopper when topping up the machine.

Always be diligent about preventing physical contamination of the hopper. Don’t allow paper towel or pieces of packaging to fall into the hopper.

Always keep the hopper cover in position to prevent air borne bacteria, insects and debris from falling into the hopper.

Use approved cleaners & consumables

Sanitiser – Taylor recommends Kay-5 or Sterra-Sheen food safe sanitiser. These products have been fully tested to ensure that all bacteria and viruses are destroyed and any dairy milk-stone residue is removed a from the machine during the cleaning process. The milk-stone removal element is especially important for heat treatment machines. Without it, calcium from dairy products can form deposits on the inside of the hopper and barrel which, if left untreated over time, could lead to mechanical issues and breakdown.

Standard food safe spray surface sanitisers can be used to clean and sanitise the external areas of the machine throughout its operation but it is not recommended to use these to sanitise the machine in it’s entirety.

Lube – It’s massively important to make sure that your Taylor machine is lubricated correctly. Failure to do this will result in premature failure of key components which won’t be covered under the warranty. There’s three different types of Taylor lube; standard blue for 3 day clean machines, ‘high performance’ red for 14 day heat treatment machines and ‘extra-performance’ grey for 28 day clean machines. It’s really important to make sure you use the correct lube for your machine as each type has different properties. Taylor doesn’t recommend the use of any other food safe lubricants, choosing to use a non-approved lube may cause damage to your machine and invalidate any warranty.

Spare parts and consumables – Only ever use genuine spare parts, tune up kits and consumables. Cheap alternatives or ‘after-market’ parts which can be found on the internet may appear to be great value but these components are rarely manufactured to the same quality or precision as genuine ones. Ill fitting parts will cause premature ware on expensive components leading them to failure. Bu more importantly, you cannot guarantee what these fake parts are made from. Cheap plastics don’t tend to be food safe and will contaminate your products with any number of unknown chemicals or break into small pieces which may be ingested by your customers… Are you prepared to risk it?

For advice on the correct cleaning procedures for your Taylor machine, or to purchase genuine cleaning products and consumables, contact the Taylor UK Customer Service & Support Centre on 01473 350047

Watch the Taylor Operator Videos here >>>

Maintain the factory approved cleaning interval…

Taylor C152

3 Day or Non-Heat Treatment Machines – If you’re using a dairy based shake or ice cream product, the machine MUST BE brush cleaned and re-sanitised at the end of every third day of operation to prevent any unwanted bacteria developing in the mix. This is especially important if you make your own mix using fresh ingredients. If you’re using a non-dairy product, especially in a frozen drinks machine, this interval can be extended slightly but we’d always recommend brush cleaning and sanitising your machine once a week. It is important to strip and clean your machine regularly to ensure that any consumable parts like o-rings and nylon bushes are in good condition and that drive shafts and draw valves are lubed correctly.

Taylor C708 with cart, self pasteurising

Standard 14 Day Heat Treatment Machines – Taylor heat treatment machines in their standard configuration need to be brush cleaned and re-sanitised once every fourteen days. The internal systems of the machines will automatically count down the remaining days until this process needs to be carried out and once this deadline has been reached the machine will ‘lockout’ preventing further use until the unit as been cleaned correctly. The nightly heat treatment process reduces the risk of bacterial contamination in both the freezing barrel and hopper which allows the cleaning interval to be increased, but it doesn’t prevent any physical contamination of the product, pieces of mix carton for example, the operator needs to be diligent at all times to prevent this sort of contamination entering the machine. Heat treatment machines have additional cleaning and maintenance steps to follow at the beginning and end of each day to maintain reliable, hygienic operation, consult the operators manual of your machine for details.

Extended 28 Day Heat Treatment Machines – Taylor Crown Series machines manufactured within the last five years can be upgraded to the new 28 cleaning interval. This means the unit only needs to be switched off and cleaned once a month which allows for more up time which hopefully generates more profits. To maintain the highest levels of hygiene throughout this process, the operator needs to be diligent about the daily cleaning procedures and prevent any physical contamination etc. You can sign up for the Taylor Touch Free cleaning service which will remove most of the hassle as one of our qualified technicians will visit once every 27 days (+/-) to clean your machine for you. Find out about Taylor Touch Free here >>>  

If you have a Taylor Crown Series Heat Treatment machine and you’d like to upgrade it to the 28 day cleaning interval, call us on 01473 350047 to discuss the options.

Download your Operator Manual here >>>