Emergency Preparedness and Responding to a Disaster with Food Safety in Mind

As I write the first blog this month, the realities of the devastation in Florida are coming to light as we also deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, which impacted Puerto Rico late in September. Recent news has been focused on the recovery efforts for all who have been impacted. Thus, I thought it would be fitting this month to discuss emergency disaster planning resources in our first blog and delve into recovering from a disaster in our second blog later this month.

We’ve certainly discussed being prepared for disasters in previous blogs, but times like this can be a great reminder to update your emergency plan or begin to get your plan on paper if you haven’t already.

The simple fact is that if you are in business long enough, you WILL be impacted by an emergency or disaster. It is only a question of when it will happen.  These situations, even if they do not disrupt your operation, can certainly make serving food in a safe manner challenging.  Further, some of our businesses, especially schools and healthcare operations, must continue feeding and do not always have the ability to close during emergency situations.  Thus, having a solid plan is imperative to protecting our guests, students, and/or patients.

…your plan should be developed with your operation, your employees, and your area of the country in mind.

Power outages, lack of potable water, flooding, sewage backups, and fires are all issues that might impact any of us. Giving each of these situations some thought ahead of time alleviates the confusion and simple mistakes that can be made if you are responding ‘on-the-fly’ to these types of situations. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” and those words can certainly ring true in emergency planning.

If you are new to emergency planning and/or haven’t given much thought to your emergency plan in recent years, start today!  Each foodservice business is unique, so it is important that you develop a plan for YOUR operation. Yes, there are many resources available on the topic from which you can start, but don’t just download one and call it good. These resources will give you some things to think about that may not have crossed your mind previously.  But your plan should be developed with your operation, your employees, and your area of the country in mind.

Here are a few resources to checkout:

  • Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments
    • An in-depth resource developed by the Emergency Preparedness Committee of the Conference for Food Protection with a very detailed guide that will provide you with lots of details from the food code on how to develop your plan.
  • Food Safety Emergency Response Pocket Guide: Disaster Edition.
    • Developed by the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service Office of Food Safety and the Institute of Child Nutrition, specifically for child nutrition programs, the guide is applicable across all segments of foodservice and is a resource from which to start.    
  • Emergency Action Planning Guidance for Food Production Facilities.
    • Published by the New Jersey Department of Health, this resource provides some great information on the issues you might face during an emergency and what alternative procedures might be for you to pursue. It is about 10 years old now, but it is still a good starting resource.

Now is the time to start planning. Don’t wait until you’re in the eye of a storm to start thinking about it.  It is human nature to think that it won’t happen to us, but the statistics lead us to believe that it will, it is just a matter of time.  When you are facing an emergency situation, you will be glad you spent some time in 2022 developing your plan.

We are in the midst of planning our next SafeBites Webinar for the 4th quarter of the year.  If you have any topics, you’d like to see address, please reach out and let us know.  Likewise, if you have any food safety questions, we are just a quick email away.  Risk Nothing.   

Proper Cooking Temperature: A Basic Food Safety Measure

Each summer, we see an increase in the incidence of foodborne illnesses. Perhaps this is because of the warmer temperatures making temperature control for Time/Temperature Control for Safety (TCS) food more difficult or perhaps it is the increased amount of people who are barbequing this time of year – it is National Picnic Month, after all!

Changing Climate: The Unseen Impact on Food Safety

In June, I was asked to participate in the Allinfoodz podcast, put on by a colleague, Dr. Amit Sharma, at Penn State University.  One of the points Dr. Sharma wanted to discuss was the impact of climate change on food safety, which is something I was certainly aware of, but not something I had done much research on.  However, when preparing for the interview and podcast, it was interesting to learn more about the relationship between the two.

Thawing Food with Food Safety in Mind

There comes a time in almost every foodservice operation where you must thaw food. Yes, I know there are those operations who have moved to fresh products only and don’t have a freezer in-house, but I am willing to bet that is more the exception than the norm. I am almost sure that anyone reading this blog who works in a foodservice operation can regurgitate what methods are acceptable to thaw food per the FDA Model Food Code. In case you don’t recall, I will discuss them briefly, but I wanted to spend some time covering these requirements a bit more in-depth – so you not only know WHAT to do, but the WHY we do it that way.

Addressing Major Food Recalls in Your Business

It seems like every year we have a large-scale food recall that reminds consumers and foodservice operators about the importance of food safety. Not that we need reminded, but it certainly puts the topic in the headlines again. Last year, it was the onion recall. This year, it may very well be the Jiff peanut butter recall, of which we are in the midst of.  At the time of the publishing, we are starting to learn more about a potential hepatitis A outbreak linked to strawberries.  If you have not been impacted by either of these recalls in your personal or business life, I would be surprised.