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What Is Colour-Coded Cleaning? Food Safety Guide NZ

Date: 08-10-2026
General Cleaning Blogs

What Is Colour-Coded Cleaning, and Why Does Your Food Site Need It?

Colour-coded cleaning means giving each cleaning tool a colour and using it in one area or for one task only. A red brush stays in the red zone. A blue scraper stays on food contact surfaces. It sounds simple, and that is the point. It is one of the easiest ways to stop a cleaning tool carrying contamination from one place to another.

This is the starting point for our complete guide to colour-coded cleaning tools in NZ.

The problem colour coding solves

Cleaning tools touch dirt, so they pick it up. Move the same brush from a floor drain to a prep bench and you move whatever was in the drain. Vikan lists five contamination risks that colour coding helps control: microbes, food residues, allergens, chemicals and foreign bodies.

The real problem is that tools look alike. Colour makes the difference visible, so anyone on site can tell at a glance if a tool is in the wrong place.

How it works

Colour coding has three parts:

  1. A colour for each zone or task. For example, one colour for high-risk areas, another for floors.
  2. A written scheme. A simple chart that says which colour goes where.
  3. Storage and training. Tools live in their zone and staff know why the colours matter.

Vikan, which says it pioneered cleaning tool colour coding in the 1990s, gives these examples on its colour-coded segregation page:

Colour

Vikan's example use

Red

High-risk areas

Yellow

Low-risk areas

Blue

Surfaces that contact food

Green

Floors

These are examples, not rules. Your site can use different colours, as long as the scheme is written down and followed. Vikan's tools come in up to 12 colours, so there is room to add colours for allergen areas, raw and cooked zones or specific production lines.

Why it matters for audits

Auditors want evidence that you control cross-contamination. A clear colour scheme, a chart on the wall and tools in the right place are easy to show. Vikan says its colour-coded range supports HACCP and food safety standards including BRCGS, FSSC 22000, IFS and SQF.

For tools that touch food or food contact surfaces, Vikan supplies Declarations of Compliance. Keep them on file with your colour-coding scheme. See Vikan's compliance page.

Common mistakes

  • Too many colours. If staff can't remember the scheme, it won't be followed. Start with the fewest colours that cover your risks.
  • No written chart. A scheme that lives in one manager's head fails when that manager is away.
  • Tools in the wrong place. Colour coding only works if tools are stored in their zone. See cleaning tool storage and 5S.
  • Mixing tool types and colours. Use the same colour for the same zone across brushes, scrapers, squeegees and handles, so the whole kit matches.
  • No refresher training. New staff and agency workers need the scheme explained.

Where to start

Begin by mapping your site into zones, then pick colours. Our guide to building a hygienic zoning plan takes you through each step.

Hygiene Direct stocks Vikan's colour-coded brushes, scrapers, squeegees, shovels, scoops, handles and wall brackets. Browse the Vikan Pro Hygiene Cleaning Tools category, or open a trade account for bulk pricing across the full Vikan colour range.

Related reading: How to build a hygienic zoning plan and Cleaning tool storage, 5S and wall brackets.