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Kitchen extraction - the TR19 certificate
Every extract clean comes with a certificate - but not every certificate is worth the paper. A genuine TR19 certificate is a verification report, backed by photographs and measured grease readings that prove the system was actually cleaned to standard. A token certificate that just asserts a clean happened proves nothing when it matters.
The short answer
A real TR19 extract cleaning certificate is a post-clean verification report - it documents that the system was cleaned to the standard, backed by before-and-after photographs taken from identical positions and measured grease-deposit readings (in microns, via a Deposit Thickness Test) confirming the levels are below the compliant threshold. A token certificate that simply asserts a clean was done, with no photos or measurements, proves nothing. The difference matters because the certificate is your evidence of compliance - and only a genuine, measured one stands up.
Not all certificates are equal
Every extract clean produces a certificate of some kind, which makes it easy to assume they are all much the same - a document confirming the clean happened. They are not. There is a fundamental difference between a genuine TR19 certificate, which is a verification report proving the system was cleaned to the standard, and a token certificate, which simply asserts that a clean took place without evidencing it. The two look superficially similar - both are certificates - but one proves compliance and the other proves nothing.
This distinction matters because a certificate is only worth what it can demonstrate. A bare assertion that a clean happened - a slip of paper with a date and a statement - carries no real evidential weight, because it shows no proof the system was actually cleaned to standard. A genuine verification report, by contrast, carries the evidence that makes it credible: the proof that the cleaning met the required standard. When you pay for a TR19 clean, the certificate you should be getting is the verification report, not the token - and knowing the difference is knowing what you are actually paying for.
The photographs
One of the two pillars of a genuine TR19 certificate is photographic evidence. A proper verification includes before-and-after photographs of the system, taken from identical positions, so the condition before cleaning and the condition after can be directly compared. The identical positioning matters: matching before-and-after shots from the same points show, unarguably, that the cleaning transformed the system from its greasy state to a clean one, at the specific locations documented. It is visual proof of the work, location by location.
This photographic evidence is what makes the certificate demonstrable in a way a bare statement never is. Anyone reviewing it - an insurer, a fire risk assessor - can see the before-and-after condition of the system and verify that a genuine clean was carried out. The photographs turn the certificate from an assertion into a documented, visual record. A certificate with no such photographs is missing one of the two things that make a TR19 verification credible, which is a strong sign it is a token rather than a genuine verification report.
The measurements
The other pillar is measurement, and this is what makes a TR19 certificate a verification rather than an opinion. TR19 Grease sets measurable limits on how much grease deposit is acceptable, expressed in microns, and a genuine certificate includes measured grease-deposit readings - typically via a Deposit Thickness Test - confirming that after cleaning the levels are below the compliant threshold. This is objective, numerical proof: the grease was measured, and the measurements show the system meets the standard. It is not someone saying it looks clean; it is a reading demonstrating it is.
These measurements are what give the certificate its real evidential force. Because TR19 defines cleanliness by measurable grease-deposit limits, a certificate that reports the measured levels against those limits is proving compliance in the terms the standard itself uses. A certificate with no measurements - no readings, just a statement of cleanliness - has not verified anything against the standard; it has only asserted a clean. So the measured grease readings, alongside the photographs, are what distinguish a genuine verification report from a token certificate. Together they are the proof; without them, the certificate is a claim.
Why the difference matters
The reason the difference matters so much is that the certificate is your evidence of compliance, and evidence is only useful if it stands up when tested. As the insurance and fire-safety requirements on food businesses make clear, what is needed is proof that the extract was cleaned to standard - and a genuine, measured verification report is that proof, while a token certificate is not. After a fire, or in a fire risk assessment, a proper TR19 certificate with photographs and grease readings demonstrates the system was compliant; a bare assertion does not, and can leave you exposed despite having paid for a clean and holding a certificate.
So a token certificate is a false reassurance: it looks like the proof you need, but it does not actually verify anything, so it fails at the exact moment the evidence has to count. Paying for a clean and receiving only a token certificate means you have the clean but not the provable compliance - which, given that the certificate is much of what you are paying for, means you have not really got what you paid for. The genuine certificate is the deliverable that holds up when tested, which is precisely why it, and not the token, is the one that matters.
The takeaway
A genuine TR19 extract cleaning certificate is a post-clean verification report - proving the system was cleaned to the standard, backed by before-and-after photographs from identical positions and measured grease-deposit readings in microns confirming the levels are below the compliant threshold. A token certificate that just asserts a clean happened, with no photographs or measurements, verifies nothing.
The difference matters because the certificate is your evidence of compliance, and only a genuine, measured verification report stands up when it is tested - by an insurer after a fire, or by a fire risk assessment. A token certificate is a false reassurance that fails exactly when the proof has to count. So the certificate is much of what you pay for in an extract clean, and it is worth ensuring you get the real thing: the verification report with the photographs and the measurements, not a slip of paper that proves nothing.
Questions
A post-clean verification report proving the system was cleaned to the standard - backed by before-and-after photographs taken from identical positions and measured grease-deposit readings (in microns, via a Deposit Thickness Test) confirming the levels are below the compliant threshold.
It simply asserts that a clean took place, with no photographs or measurements to evidence it. It looks superficially similar to a genuine certificate but verifies nothing - it proves a clean was claimed, not that the system was actually cleaned to standard.
Before-and-after photographs from identical positions provide visual proof that the cleaning transformed the system from greasy to clean, location by location. Anyone reviewing the certificate can see the work was genuinely done - turning an assertion into a documented record.
TR19 defines acceptable cleanliness by measurable grease-deposit limits in microns, so measured readings confirming the system is below the compliant threshold prove compliance in the standard's own terms. Without measurements, a certificate has verified nothing against the standard.
Because the certificate is your evidence of compliance, and only a genuine, measured verification report stands up when tested - by an insurer after a fire, or in a fire risk assessment. A token certificate is a false reassurance that fails exactly when the proof has to count.
Largely, yes - the verification report is much of what a TR19 clean delivers, because it is the provable evidence of compliance. Receiving only a token certificate means you have the clean but not the provable compliance, so it is worth ensuring you get the genuine, measured report.
We provide a genuine TR19 post-clean verification report - with before-and-after photographs from identical positions and measured grease readings - the real evidence of compliance.
