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.
Last month, we discussed the importance of a basic written infrastructure related to food safety, including standard operating procedures, written communication, and logs. While other priorities may have taken precedent over the last 11 months, as the new year gets into full-swing, have you ever stepped back to look at your entire food safety program and all it encompasses? Is your food safety playbook updated and in order?
While we could debate the legal liability and responsibility for food consumed off-site should a foodborne illness occur, if news of any illness resulting from food served in your establishment reaches the media, the negative consequences are unmistakable.
Over the course of the last year, your food safety system has changed. Maybe you did not write down what those changes were, but what you do to ensure food safety has certainly changed to accommodate the new systems that you established to operate your businesses during the pandemic and the increased demand for food to-go. Whether you took the time to develop new standard operating procedures, reevaluated hazards, established new preventative controls, or updated how you monitored and developed corrective actions, changes were sure to have happened.
If you haven’t explored what safety measures you need to include in your standard operating procedures for food that is taken for consumption off-site, visit with your team about your system and develop these protocols now. Be sure to develop information that can be given to your guests on proper holding and storage of food and how to reheat the food properly. While we could debate the legal liability and responsibility for food consumed off-site should a foodborne illness occur, if news of any illness resulting from food served in your establishment reaches the media, the negative consequences are unmistakable.
Take the time now to pull all this information together. Having one repository of all information – printed or digital – helps access the information you need, when you need it. Moreover, as we emerge from the pandemic and the recovery begins to our economy and our industry, you have the formal, written systems in place to help bring on and train new staff.
If it seems too dauting and cumbersome to pull all of this together, bring in your supervisors and staff to assist – remember, food safety is a team sport. As we discussed in our January webinar, Decision Making in Uncertain Times: Considering the ROI on Food Safety, a small investment now can pay off greatly in the end. After all, the teams that will be playing in the Super Bowl next weekend, didn’t show up without a game plan. They made it to the big game by being focused, well-organized, with each player being mindful of how their performance impacted the overall team. 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.
