For restaurants, commercial bakeries, and cafeteria operators in La Puente and the City of Industry, maintaining full compliance with Los Angeles County Sanitation District (LACSD) Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG) control regulations is vital to avoiding steep fines and emergency health shutdowns.
Why Los Angeles County Strictly Regulates Grease
When warm fats, cooking oils, and animal grease are poured down commercial kitchen sink drains, they rapidly cool inside municipal sewer pipes, solidifying into massive obstructions known as fatbergs. These obstructions cause raw sewage to overflow into city streets and storm drains, creating environmental hazards.
Mandatory Grease Interceptor Requirements
Commercial food preparation facilities must install and maintain approved grease retention equipment:
- Hydromechanical Grease Interceptors (HGI): Smaller point-of-source units installed under three-compartment sinks or inside prep kitchens, requiring frequent pumping and routine baffle maintenance.
- Gravity Grease Interceptors (GGI): Large in-ground concrete chambers (typically 750 to 1,500+ gallons) installed outside the building footprint that slow wastewater velocity, allowing grease to float and solids to settle.
Maintenance Records and the 25% Rule
Under LACSD standards, commercial grease interceptors must be thoroughly pumped before the combined thickness of floating grease and bottom sludge exceeds 25% of the total liquid depth. Exceeding this threshold allows grease to bypass baffles and enter the public main, triggering enforcement citations.
Facilities must maintain documented pumping manifests on-site for a minimum of three years for presentation during unannounced health and sanitation inspections.
Professional Hydro Jetting for Commercial Kitchens
Even with code-compliant interceptors, kitchen branch lines accumulating daily grease washings require periodic 4,000 PSI hydro jetting to strip internal pipe walls clean and maintain unrestricted flow.