Professional Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Certification

Certification. How does a company get it? Who monitors it? Is it worth it?

Unfortunately the word “certification” is being misrepresented in the commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning industry. One would think, if a company was claiming to be “Certified” then it would have employees knowledgeable and trained in what they are doing. This is not always the case.

I have personally seen companies claiming to be “Certified” by some associations they belong to, but those associations do not actually certify any companies. I have seen other companies use stickers that you can easily purchase on line, but there is nothing behind them.

Do your research. Always ask the company claiming to be certified, who they are certified with. Then contact that company to ensure they are a certifying body and that that company is actually certified by them. Also ask what they have to do to maintain their certification. In some cases they just pay a fee and get the stickers. Legitimate certifications must have an obligation on the certified company to maintain their certification by acquiring continuing education credits (CEC’s). The CEC’s will validate the company is staying current with cleaning techniques and NFPA 96 Standards.

Pressure Kleen was the first Canadian company, over 23 years ago, to be certified by the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association (IKECA); the first company to have on staff a Certified Exhaust Cleaning Specialist (CECS) and a Certified Exhaust System Inspector (CESI). That means almost 25 years of continuing education credits to ensure we are serving our customers with the highest professionalism and cleaning restaurant kitchens to the highest standard.

Yes, it has been worth it.