Sewage backup procedure for a restaurant: the first 15 minutes, when to close, what to throw out and the clean-up

Friday, 7:15 p.m. Gray water starts bubbling up from the floor drain by the dish pit, then the floor sink under the prep table. Within ten minutes it's around the legs of the reach-in and the smell is reaching the dining room. The line is still firing tickets.

A sewage backup is one of the few things the Food Code tells you to stop service for. This post gives you the rule, a way to tell sewage from a clear-water leak, a first-15-minutes procedure, a decision table for what can stay open, the clean-up, a discard log, an incident record and a checklist to make it less likely.

General information. Your state or local health department enforces its own edition of the Food Code and decides when you can reopen. Section numbers and quotes below are from the FDA Food Code 2026. Your plumber decides what's wrong with the pipes.

The rule: stop and call

Sewage or clear water? Wisconsin's retail food regulator (DATCP) writes that "Sewage contains pathogens that could become a source of contamination on equipment, environmental surfaces, cleaning tools, and the shoes and clothing of employees and/or customers" (Wisconsin DATCP: Response to sewage backup, 07/24). By the Food Code's definition, what comes up out of a floor drain, a toilet, a floor sink or the grease trap is sewage. Indiana's emergency plan for food establishments adds that "Clear water waste (i.e. ice bin/machine drainage, condensation from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment) is not considered sewage" (Indiana State Department of Health: Sewage backup (2006)). Clear water is still a slip hazard and a reason to call the plumber. If you're not sure which it is, treat it as sewage.

The first 15 minutes

Sewage backup: first 15 minutes · [location]

1. Stop food in the affected area. No more prep, plating or dish washing near the backup. Cover or move clean food and clean dishes away only if you can do it without walking through the water.
2. Stop the water going down. Tell everyone: no sinks, no dish machine, no ice machine draining, no mopping into drains, no toilets if the backup is near them. Every gallon down the drain comes back up.
3. Keep people out. Close off the area with [cones / tape / a closed door]. Nobody walks through it and back into the kitchen.
4. Call the plumber or drain service: [name, phone, after-hours number].
5. Call the health department: [office, phone, after-hours line]. Say what happened, where, and what you've stopped.
6. Tell the guests what you need to. If the dining room, the restrooms or the route to them are affected, close the dining room; finish or comp the tables that are eating.
7. Write the time down and start the incident record below. Take photos.

Person in charge tonight: [name] · Owner: [phone]

What can stay open

Wisconsin's fact sheet gives clear lines. Use them to plan, then follow what your own health department tells you on the phone.

What to throw out

Wisconsin's fact sheet says to discard these "if sewage has covered, splashed, dripped, or seeped into the package":

• "All opened containers and packages"
• "Food in glass jars, including unopened jars"
• "Alcoholic beverages"
• "Foods; liquids; beverages in crown-capped bottles; or containers with pull-tabs, corks, or screw caps"
• "Exposed foods, bulk foods, fresh produce, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs"
• "Any food packaged in paper, plastic, cloth, or fiber"
• "Foods with cardboard seals such as mayonnaise and salad dressings"
• "Cardboard boxes, even if contents seem dry, such as cereals, pasta, or rice"
• "Canned food that is damaged, dented, leaking bulging, rusted, or has missing labels"
• "Foods in bags or canisters"

It also says single-service items that touched sewage, "packaged or unpackaged", "must be destroyed and properly disposed of", and "Linens or uniforms contaminated by sewage must be discarded or professionally laundered."

When in doubt, throw it out, and log it.

Discard log · sewage backup · [location] · [date]

Total discarded: $…… · Photos taken: [yes / no] · For the insurance claim: [yes / no]

The clean-up

Wait until the plumber has stopped the backup. Large spills or a backup into the dining room may need a professional clean-up company: [name, phone].

Sewage clean-up procedure · [location]

Protect the people cleaning

1. Rubber boots, waterproof gloves, eye protection and protective clothing or a disposable apron. Our PPE hazard assessment is where this goes in writing.
2. One way in and out of the area. Boots and gloves come off at the edge, not in the kitchen.

Clean

3. Remove standing sewage with a wet vac or squeegee into [a working toilet / a floor drain the plumber has cleared / the clean-up company's tank].
4. Throw out everything on the discard list, and anything porous that can't be cleaned: cardboard, wooden pallets, mats that soaked it up.
5. Wash every surface the sewage touched (floors, walls up to the splash line, equipment legs and bases, shelving) with detergent and water, then rinse.
6. Disinfect with [product], mixed as its label says for this use, and leave it for the label's contact time. The procedure in our vomit and diarrhea clean-up post works the same way.
7. Food-contact surfaces and utensils that were in the area: wash, rinse and sanitize, or run them through the dish machine once it works.
8. Mops, brushes and buckets used on sewage: disinfect them or throw them out.
9. Air dry everything. Use caution with any equipment that has electrical parts that got wet; have it checked before you switch it on.

Finish

10. Everyone who cleaned washes hands and arms thoroughly before touching food or clean items, and changes clothes.
11. The health department is called for approval before you reopen (§8-404.12). Write down who approved and when.

The incident record

Sewage backup incident record · [location]

Completed by: …………………… · Date: ……………

Wisconsin's fact sheet asks a designated person to record "all incidents/expenses incurred as a result of the sewage backup, including photo and video records, if possible." The record above, the discard log and the photos are what your insurer and your landlord will ask for.

Making it less likely

Drain and plumbing prevention checklist · [location]

Grease in the line is the cause you can do the most about. Our grease trap service log has the pump-out log and the kitchen habits that keep grease out of the line, and our emergency action plan template is where the numbers above belong.

Your sewage backup checklist

• [ ] The first-15-minutes card posted by the dish pit and in the office, with phone numbers filled in
• [ ] The health department's after-hours number on file
• [ ] A plumber and a drain service who answer at night
• [ ] Boots, gloves, eye protection and aprons kept in one place for clean-up
• [ ] A discard log and an incident record printed and ready
• [ ] Floor drains cleared daily; the grease trap on schedule
• [ ] Everyone knows: stop using the water, keep people out, call

Where Mays fits

• Tell the managers at once. Post the backup in the Logbook under Health & Safety, flagged Needs follow-up, so the location's other managers and admins see it, and reply on the entry as the plumber and the health department call back. See The manager logbook.
• Tell the team. A group chat with tonight's crew or the opening shift says what's closed and who should come in. See Group chats.
• The clean-up as tasks. Create one-off tasks for the steps (Remove standing water, Disinfect the dish pit floor) with a Photo answer, so you see each area done. See Creating one-off tasks.
• What you threw out. Log the discarded stock in the Waste Log with the reason Other and Sewage backup as the description; each entry takes the item out of stock and adds its cost, which is the number for the insurance claim. See Logging waste.
• The plan and the prevention. Put the first-15-minutes card and the clean-up procedure in a Knowledge Base folder, and add the drain checks to your closing and monthly checklist templates. See Knowledge base basics and Scheduling and assigning checklists.

What Mays doesn't do: it doesn't call the health department or the plumber for you, and a Logbook follow-up can't be marked done yet; reply on the entry when it's sorted.

Stop, call, contain, throw out, clean, and reopen only when they say so

The Food Code's sewage rule is short: stop operations in the affected area, call the health department, and don't reopen until they approve. Everything else is doing it in the right order: stop the water, keep people out, get the plumber, throw out what it touched, clean and disinfect, and write it all down.

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