Commercial kitchen degreasing in Singapore covers the cooking line, walls, floors, canopy filters and exhaust hood, with the full duct degreased by a specialist at least once every 12 months under SCDF’s Fire Code. SCDF confirmed at least three kitchen exhaust ducting fires at food centres and coffeeshops between January and August 2026. Below, we set out the scope, frequency and records, drawing on our specialist commercial cleaning services.
Hotel kitchens need the same log with more lines, because banquet, room service and outlet kitchens often share one riser. The hotel kitchen stewarding standards Hong Ye Group follows build these records into the stewarding shift.
What does commercial kitchen degreasing cover?
Commercial kitchen degreasing covers every surface where cooking grease settles: the cooking line and equipment exteriors, walls and ceilings above the range, floors and floor drains, the exhaust hood and its canopy filters, and the accessible first section of ductwork. The duct interior beyond reach and the grease trap are separate jobs with their own contractors. That split matters because three different parties are accountable. A cleaning or stewarding contractor handles daily and weekly degreasing of the kitchen itself. A specialist duct cleaner degreases the full exhaust duct, interior and exterior, as the Fire Code requires. A licensed general waste collector empties the grease trap. Most kitchens that fail an inspection have one of those three missing from the schedule. The cooking line itself needs the most frequent attention. Wok ranges, fryers and charbroilers throw grease vapour upward and outward, so the wall panels behind them and the canopy above them load fastest. A kitchen running heavy wok cooking needs the hot line degreased after every service and the canopy filters pulled weekly. Hong Ye Group’s kitchen hygiene work at Sengkang General Hospital runs on that daily and weekly split.
Who inspects commercial kitchens in Singapore: SFA or NEA?
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) licenses and inspects food retail kitchens, and has done so since it took over those functions from NEA in April 2019. Searches for “NEA kitchen inspection” still bring up the old arrangement, but restaurants, caterers and food stalls now answer to SFA on food hygiene, SCDF on fire safety and PUB on grease traps. SFA’s grading also changed this year. Its SAFE framework took effect in Phase 1 on 19 January 2026 and replaced the old grade decals, which operators must now remove. SAFE grades are based on track record: grade A needs more than three years without a major lapse, grade B between one and three years, and any licence suspension drops an establishment straight to grade C. Suspension follows 12 demerit points within 12 months under the Points Demerit System. Restaurants with kitchens of 16 square metres or more fall into Category 1, alongside caterers and central kitchens. From Phase 2, due to be detailed by 2027, those kitchens will need an Advanced Food Hygiene Officer and a food safety management system to hold grade A, and SFA lists cleaning and sanitation programmes as part of that system. At that point, a documented degreasing schedule counts as grading evidence.What does the law require for exhaust hood and duct cleaning?
Singapore requires the entire kitchen exhaust duct, interior and exterior, and the kitchen hood to be degreased and cleaned at least once every 12 months by a specialist, with records kept for verification. The rule comes from SCDF’s Code of Practice for Fire Precautions in Buildings, known as the Fire Code, under clause 7.1. SFA enforces it during routine inspections. According to SFA’s guidelines for licensed food retail premises, officers check the exterior of the exhaust system and ask for the maintenance records. SFA takes action against food shops with dirty kitchen exhaust, and refers those without proper records to SCDF for follow-up. That makes the record as important as the clean. A spotless hood with no dated service report still fails the check. Twelve months is only the legal floor. SFA’s guidelines state that SCDF has identified grease accumulation in kitchen exhaust systems and ducting as the cause of fires in food establishments, and a busy wok kitchen can load a duct to a dangerous level well inside a year.How often should an exhaust hood be cleaned in a busy kitchen?
A busy wok, frying or charbroil kitchen should have its hood and duct professionally degreased every three months, with canopy filters cleaned weekly. Moderate-volume kitchens need it every six months, and only light-use kitchens should rely on the 12-month legal minimum. The international benchmark sets the same tiers. NFPA 96, the US standard for commercial cooking ventilation, schedules exhaust system inspections monthly for solid-fuel cooking, quarterly for high-volume operations such as 24-hour cooking, charbroiling and wok cooking, twice a year for moderate volume and annually for low volume, and requires cleaning whenever grease is found. Singapore’s 12-month rule matches NFPA’s lowest tier. Zi char kitchens, busy hawker wok stalls and hotel banquet kitchens sit in its quarterly tier.Why do kitchen exhaust fires keep happening in food centres?
Kitchen exhaust fires keep happening because grease builds in ducts faster than annual cleaning removes it. SCDF confirmed fires involving kitchen exhaust ducting at Hong Lim Market and Food Centre on 2 January 2026, a coffeeshop at Block 269B Queen Street on 19 March 2026, and a food court at Woodlands Industrial Park E7 on 13 August 2026. After each one, SCDF reminded stallholders to keep stoves, surrounding areas and duct openings free of grease and oil. The Queen Street fire reached Parliament. In an August 2026 written answer, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said fires at coffeeshops in HDB blocks ranged from 15 to 19 cases a year between 2021 and 2025, under 1% of all fire incidents. He added: “We urge all stall operators to uphold good fire safety practices.” Across Singapore, SCDF’s 2025 statistics recorded 471 fires at non-residential premises, up 13.5% on 2024.How often must a grease trap be cleaned in Singapore?
A grease trap in a Singapore food establishment must be cleaned at least once every two weeks by a licensed general waste collector, and more often if the kitchen’s wastewater carries heavy fat, oil and grease. PUB publishes this as its recommended maintenance frequency for hawker centres, eateries and coffeeshops, including those in malls. PUB’s grease trap requirements set out a wider schedule. The private sewerage system should be cleaned or flushed by a sanitary contractor at least once every six months to clear encrusted grease. A PUB-registered CCTV contractor should inspect it at least once every five years, and a licensed plumber should visually inspect chambers and traps on the same five-year cycle. PUB also states that every establishment handling food, from restaurants to hawker centres, needs a grease trap. Book the kitchen deep clean in the same week as the grease trap collection. Floor drains and channels flushed during degreasing push grease towards the trap, so a collection the same week stops that load from passing into the sewer. The restaurant cleaning protocols Hong Ye Group has published put drainage and grease management on the same checklist for that reason.Which degreasing agents are safe for stainless steel kitchen surfaces?
Alkaline degreasers are safe on stainless steel when they are chloride-free, used at the manufacturer’s dilution and rinsed off completely. Chlorine bleach and chloride-heavy cleaners are the ones to keep off stainless steel, because chlorides break down the thin chromium oxide layer that stops the steel from rusting. Commercial equipment makers’ stainless steel care guides name three threats to that passive layer: mechanical abrasion, standing deposits and water, and chlorides, with household and industrial cleaners the worst source of chlorides. Their instructions are consistent. Use soft cloths or plastic pads, scrub in the direction of the polish lines, and choose alkaline or non-chloride cleaners. Some guides also warn against quaternary ammonium cleaners on stainless steel for the same reason. Pitting, once it starts, cannot be polished out. The sequence on a stainless line is degrease, rinse with clean water, dry, then apply a food-contact sanitiser approved for the surface. Skipping the rinse leaves alkaline residue that attracts soil and can mark the steel. Choosing the chemistry for the soil type follows the same logic as selecting an industrial degreasing agent, and the safety data sheet and dilution ratio belong on file for inspection.What does fire suppression clearance mean during hood cleaning?
Fire suppression clearance means cleaning the hood without disabling, blocking or moving the wet chemical suppression system fitted to it, and confirming it is back in its original state before cooking restarts. Degreasing crews work around the nozzles, detection links and piping; they do not service them. The practical rules are simple. Cover or protect nozzles so degreaser and grease do not clog them. Never reposition nozzles to reach a surface, because each one is aimed at a specific appliance. Leave detection links and the release mechanism to the fire protection contractor who maintains the system. Record in the service report that the suppression system was untouched and visually intact at handover. The common failure is a crew that removes filters or panels near the suppression piping and refits them out of alignment. If the kitchen has changed its cooking line since the system was installed, the degreasing visit is also a good point to flag that the suppression coverage needs checking by the fire protection contractor.What records make a commercial kitchen inspection-ready?
An inspection-ready kitchen keeps a service interval log showing the date, scope, contractor and next due date for every periodic job: duct and hood degreasing, grease trap collection, sewer flushing, pest control and kitchen deep cleaning. SFA officers ask for exhaust maintenance records during inspections, so the log needs to be on site, current and signed.| Record | Minimum frequency | Who provides it |
| Hood and full duct degreasing report with before and after photos | Every 12 months (legal minimum); quarterly for heavy cooking | Specialist duct cleaner |
| Canopy filter cleaning log | Weekly for heavy cooking | Kitchen staff or cleaning contractor |
| Grease trap collection record | At least every 2 weeks | Licensed general waste collector |
| Private sewer flushing record | At least every 6 months | Sanitary contractor |
| Kitchen deep cleaning report | Quarterly | Cleaning contractor |
| Chemical safety data sheets and dilution ratios | Updated on change | Cleaning contractor |