Bain-Maries for Food Service

Do you use a Bain-Marie in your food service operation? A commercial bain-marie is used for a range of food services including self-serve, buffets, QSR, and food displays. They are commonly used in industries such as hotels, event spaces with caterers, restaurants, and businesses with large scale food service such as airports and education facilities.

Bain-maries are designed to keep food at a safe temperature over long service periods. A bain-marie is a heated bath consisting of a tank, an element & food pans that sit in the heated water and often have glass screens to protect the food from contamination.

To ensure food safety is maintained there are a few rules that should be followed when storing or serving food in a bain-marie. Bain-maries are designed to keep hot food hot (60°C or above), they are not to be used for heating food. Food should be heated so that the core temperature is 75°C before being placed in the bain-marie. Bain-maries should be preheated before use and operated on the highest temperature setting. It is recommended to use a clean thermometer to check that the temperature of food does not fall below 60°C. Users should not over fill food trays as food will not stay above the ideal temperature of 60°C to ensure a high standard of presentation and safe food handling.

Bain-maries require cleaning and descaling as the elements, internal surfaces and food trays stay submerged in water for long periods of time resulting in scale build up.

To descale a bain-marie, we recommend Dominant Phos Kleen, a strongly acidic descaler with low foam surfactants, or Dominant Descaler, an acidic descaler for descaling commercial bain-marie equipment. Removing scale assists in ensuring your bain-marie performs to specification and minimises the need for expensive maintenance.