Dry Food Storage – How Vital is it to Food Safety?
Whichever you decide, because some jurisdictions have more stringent requirements than the conference for food protection, check with your local health department to make sure they also recognize the exam before you pay for it.
Navigating a Power Outage in Your Foodservice Operation
In the Midwest this year, it seems storms are occurring weekly. Perhaps this is the norm, and I haven’t paid much attention in years’ past, but the frequency and intensity [...]
Using Artificial Intelligence to Strengthen your Food Safety Program
In many facets of our lives today, we see technology driving innovation and changes that 25 years ago were unimaginable. Though, for many of the front lines of foodservice operations [...]
UNDERSTANDING TIME AS A CONTROL FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Much of our business that revolves around food safety is governed by temperatures. The endpoint cooking temperature of ground beef, the hot holding temperature on the line, the temperature of [...]
RETHINKING THE RINSE: WHY WASHING POULTRY ISN’T SO WISE
As November rolls around, we generally start to shift our focus to Thanksgiving and the busy holiday season. When I was in operations, our busiest day of the year was [...]
Navigating the Intricacies of Temperature Management
I spend a bit of time in these blogs discussing various nuances of food safety – but one that we haven’t spent much time discussing is basic temperature management. I [...]
IN AN AI WORLD, ENSURE YOUR FOOD SAFETY FUNDAMENTALS ARE ESTABLISHED
In October, I talked about how you could use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance your food safety program. And while AI and other forms of technology are revolutionizing the way we [...]
Finding the Food Safety Training Program that is Right for You
Whichever you decide, because some jurisdictions have more stringent requirements than the conference for food protection, check with your local health department to make sure they also recognize the exam before you pay for it.
Remembering the Importance of Food Safety During Food Safety Education Month
In the foodservice industry, every plate that leaves your kitchen carries not just flavors and aromas, but also the responsibility of providing safe and wholesome meals to customers. Celebrated each September, National Food Safety Education Month provides a platform for foodservice professionals to reaffirm their commitment to food safety. It's a reminder that excellence in foodservice operations must always be accompanied by excellence in food safety; a reminder that any great meal begins with safe food as the foundation.
Embracing Technology for Enhanced Food Safety in Foodservice Operations
Technology. We love it, we hate it. I’ve always been fascinated by technology; I remember getting my first Blackberry in the mid-90s and thinking it was the pinnacle of technological advances. Before that, I remember ordering a dictation program in college that was going to revolutionize the way I “typed” my assignments. Looking back, it really wasn’t worth the box that the program came in. Now, we have ChatGPT that will write the entire paper for us!
Meat Color and Doneness: Persistent Pinking
Late in June, my family and I were able to visit the Black Hills, an area of the country in which I have not had the opportunity to spend much time. One evening, as we dined at a local restaurant, I observed a table across the dining room sending back a dinner. While I couldn’t hear the entire conversation and I certainly wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, it was apparent that the customer was unhappy with the cooking of their hamburger and was sending it back because it was too pink in the middle. That immediately brought to my mind the phenomenon known as persistent pinking. A term I became familiar with because of work done by some colleagues here at Kansas State, which they present each summer to a group of foodservice operators who join us on-campus for an in-depth week-long look at all things food safety.
Quat Binding – Why this Can Have a Disastrous Impact on Your Sanitation Program.
In June, I had the opportunity to represent FoodHandler and speak on food safety behavior for customers of Martin Bros. Distributing in Waterloo, Iowa. One of the questions that was asked caught me a little off guard. The question was about quat binding. It caught me off guard not because it was a bad question, but only because it was not something I had previously been asked nor had not yet been exposed to the phenomenon. However, I soon learned that in certain jurisdictions, it is resulting in changes to how sanitizing cloths are to be stored in sanitizing buckets (or not) in the foodservice industry. When I returned home from the trip, I had to dig into it to learn about what quat binding is and how it might impact foodservice operations.
