Achieving Food Safety Vision 2020
Once you have a vision of what your 2020 Food Safety Program should be, it is time to implement that vision. Some of you may already have a great food safety program that just needs some tweaks. Others may not have a formal food safety program. Whatever your situation, here are some ideas for achieving a good food safety vision.
First, take small steps in implementing your plan. Workers may resist massive changes to their work routine, so start with a small, but important practice. Your first emphasis might be on handwashing if you observe that employees are just not doing enough handwashing or not doing it correctly. After all, that may be the most basic and important behavior for employees. This time of year, the flu virus is rampant so you can use that as one rationale for increasing the frequency of handwashing.
Second, be a role model for food safety. I remember growing up with the adage “What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear a thing you say.” In other words, the management team should practice what is preached and “walk the talk”. Because handwashing is fundamental, this behavior should be modeled. Every time a supervisor walks into a kitchen, that individual should wash hands. Every Single Time! Even if that person does not plan to handle any food and even if the visit is short, handwashing should be done. Taking the time to model this behavior reinforces that handwashing is important—and employees ARE watching.
Third, train employees on the how and why of following food safety practices. We don’t think training should only focus on what and how you want something done, but also on the why it is important. What is the link to food safety? What outcomes do you get if you implement or if you do NOT implement the behavior? Make it personal by connecting the dots of what could happen if there were a foodborne illness because safe food practices were not followed. Emphasize that the right way is the best way. The training can be an informal one minute reminder or a scheduled 30-minute session for everyone but the information should be consistent! See past blogs and webinars on this topic.
Fourth, follow-up with employees after training. Sometimes we train employees and assume that they will just go off and immediately put this information into practice. In reality, that does not happen. New procedures might require a change in routine or take more time. So the follow-up is important. Remember the term “active managerial control’? That means supervisors are actively involved in implementing the food safety program and holding employees accountable for following correct practices. We have also introduced the term “management by walking around”—managers must observe to make sure food safety behaviors are practiced and correct unsafe behaviors.
Fifth, reward good food safety practices. Rewards can be as simple as an “atta-boy/girl”, after all, everyone likes to be complimented on a job well done. Food safety should be part of performance reviews as well. You could even have a food safety award each quarter, including a small cash bonus. That would elevate food safety and, perhaps, make employees more aware of its importance.
The bottom line is that thinking about what you want to accomplish with your food safety program, and developing a plan will affect your bottom line! Food safety is as basic as food quality and cost control. All of these outcomes must be recalibrated from time to time. Making sure the 2020 Vision for Food Safety is practiced is an important element of an operation’s success. Risk Nothing!
Developing Good Food Safety Habits
Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.
Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized
As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.
Getting Started with Building the Infrastructure
Hopefully in our first January blog, we convinced you of the importance of establishing an infrastructure within your operation to support a safe food culture. So, how does one go about doing this? Well, like any major project, break it into small bites. In our opinion, having a written guide for employees that documents expectations related to food safety basics of employee health and hygiene, temperature controls, and cleaning and sanitizing is the first step. Having this documentation serves as a reference for training and helps fulfill the mission of most foodservice operators which is to serve safe, quality food.
Food Safety Resolutions for the New Year
Finally, 2020 is in our rearview mirror and we can all turn the page to 2021! Resolutions for the new year might be more of the same from prior years (lose weight, exercise more, less screen time, etc.) OR you may have identified new practices to implement in your operation. If the latter, likely goals included some practices related to food safety – especially given the turmoil of 2020 and heightened concern by customers. It is our philosophy that attention to safe food handling practices is a win-win for any operation because of the direct relationship between food safety and food quality, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. This past year has also demonstrated that attention to safety can affect the bottom line. Thus, the topic of our first SafeBites webinar for 2021 is on the topic of the return on investment of food safety, it is scheduled for January 20, so register now and please plan to attend.
