Halfway Gone, A Mid-Year Food Safety Check-up for your Foodservice Business
July is often a time when a portion of us in the foodservice business are at our prime. In many areas of the country, we are in the midst of our busiest season of the year. Yet, for those in other foodservice operations it is a slower time of year, where we can spend time refocusing on the busy season ahead. Whatever the case for you, as we cross over the halfway point of 2024, it is an ideal time to conduct a thorough food safety check-up.
As we all know, ensuring food safety isn’t just about meeting regulatory standards, it’s about safeguarding your customers’ health, protecting your reputation, and maintaining operational excellence. So, this is a great time of year to take a step back and conduct a comprehensive inspection and walk through of your entire operation from receiving to service and evaluate areas of concern. While not a comprehensive list, here are some things to pay particular attention to.
- Storage and Stock Rotation:
- Check coolers and freezers to ensure they maintain the correct temperatures for storing perishable items. If you haven’t developed temperature logs to track this daily, now is the time to start doing this – at FoodHandler, we’ve even created a log especially for this and it is available for free on our FoodHandler website. It could help prevent the loss of inventory in the future – and potentially save you lots of money should a cooler or freezer go down this summer.
- Ensure your dry storage room meets your cleanliness standards and is free of evidence of rodents and/or pests.
- Check to ensure your stock rotation practices are being followed by employees to prevent expired or spoiled goods from being used.
- Kitchen Cleaning and Sanitation:
- Assess the cleanliness of the kitchen as a whole. Most foodservice operations do a fairly good job at keeping the daily food preparation areas cleaned, but what about areas we don’t get too every day? The floor areas under standing equipment, the outside of ovens, the exhaust system in the kitchen? Have these been kept up to your standards?
- Schedule a professional pest control inspection to prevent infestations that could compromise food safety.
- While all personal hygiene standards are important, perhaps none more so than handwashing. Reinforce proper handwashing practices among staff and be sure to follow up on this every day.
- Staff Training:
- Verify that all staff members have received adequate training in food handling, hygiene, and safety protocols. If they have not, start planning a training session now, don’t wait.
- Ensure certifications for food safety are up to date for all relevant personnel.
- Supplier Relationships:
- Review the quality assurance measures in place with your suppliers to ensure they meet your food safety standards. Be sure to discuss this with the individual who receives your food and checks in the orders – they may not be telling you of recent issues they may have noticed.
… this is a great time of the year to take a step back and conduct a comprehensive inspection and walk through your entire operation from receiving to service and evaluate areas of concern.
After you’ve done your inspection, make sure you document what actions you took as a result. While I hope you never have to defend yourself in a food safety lawsuit, the fact is that documenting things now not only helps you keep up with your overall food safety program, but it also could help provide documentation for an affirmative defense in a lawsuit.
As a result of the inspection, you may notice that the policies and procedures you had implemented may not be performing as well as you had hoped. Update these now while the issues are fresh in your mind. Be sure to also note a day to do a follow-up inspection. Depending on what you discovered during this inspection, that may be a week from now, two weeks from now, or two months from now – whenever it is, schedule it in now and stay on top of your food safety program. Remember, consistent monitoring helps maintain high standards and promptly address any emerging issues.
A mid-year food safety check-up can be a solid proactive measure to protect your customers and your business. By investing time and resources into thorough inspections, staff training, and updating policies and procedures, you ensure that your foodservice establishment continues to operate at the highest standards of food safety. Risk Nothing.
During National Food Safety Education Month is it time for Your Food Safety Refresher?
You see them in every restaurant and commercial foodservice operation across the United States. Framed and proudly displayed, often by the kitchen, the cashier, the kitchen entrance, or the service counter - just as they should be. To what am I referring? The food safety certification certificates, of course!
Welcome to National Food Safety Education Month!
In September of each year, we not only have the opportunity to celebrate Labor Day, but we also welcome National Food Safety Education Month! It is this time of the year when it is important to remember that Foodborne illnesses are still a major concern in the United States, although I am guessing many Americans don’t think about the safety of the food they eat as they go throughout their daily lives. The statistics show one in every six Americans will suffer from a foodborne illness each year, for a total of about 48 million cases each year.
Protecting Fresh Produce Post-Harvest, Integral to Safe Food
During the height of the summer, at least in the Midwest, farmers markets are in full swing and fresh produce is plentiful. Every backyard gardener is reaping the benefits of their work, with bountiful harvests of tomatoes and cucumbers. Everyone seems to have a neighbor who is trying to pawn off his or her over-production of cucumbers or summer squash during this time of year. When picking up that produce at the farmer’s market or from your neighbor down the street, have you ever given any thought to the microbial safety of it? Honestly, even in my position, it certainly is NOT the first thing that comes to my mind. But, earlier this month, I came across a news story out of Wisconsin discussing a Salmonella outbreak associated with shelled peas sold at a local farmers market. Who would have thought shelled peas would be impacted? The story noted, and it served as a great reminder, that most outbreaks associated with Salmonella in produce are due to mistakes made in handling or transportation of produce after harvesting.
Properly Cleaning and Sanitizing: The Right Chemical Mix to Maintain Ultimate Effectiveness
A few weeks ago, my family and I had the pleasure of setting sail on a cruise vacation. It is truly one of the only ways that I find that I am able to unplug from work and relax for a small spell. However, as I walked around the ship in our post-COVID world, I couldn’t help but admire all the extra cleaning steps the staff were undertaking to keep us all as safe as possible while in the middle of the ocean with 3,000 other vacationers. All of this cleaning and sanitizing had me thinking about how we each clean and sanitize our own operations and which chemicals we chose to use.
