Hot off the Press: The 2022 Model Food Code has been Released! Part Two.
Earlier in the month, we started a discussion about the changes to the 2022 Food Code. If you missed that post, late in December 2022, the Food and Drug Administration released the 2022 Food Code and I wanted to highlight a few of the changes that have been made to the code.
One of the changes made to the code is related to allergens and the inclusion of sesame as a major allergen as defined in section 1-201.10. Certainly, our readers who are in the school environment are keenly aware of the allergen issues faced by our youth in the United States, and if you have followed allergens and the revisions to the “Big 8”, this will come as no surprise. Data shows that almost 1.5 million Americans have an allergy to sesame.
Along with the addition of sesame to what is now the “Big 9” allergens, the annex was revised to include more information on conducting training for employee related to major food allergens and outlined topics that managers might consider offering training to employees about. These include risks of offering food containing major food allergens; identification of the major food allergens and the hazards they present to sensitive individuals; recognition of symptoms of an allergic reaction and how to respond; food allergen ingredient identification and labeling; principles of allergen cross-contact prevention concerning the major food allergens; and food establishment specific procedures, processes, communication, and controls for allergen management.
…remember to check with your local health inspector to see what these changes might mean for you. As I discussed earlier in the month, just because the Model Food Code is updated, doesn’t necessarily mean that your local food code will change.
Related to allergens, if you serve bulk food items for customer self-dispensing, the revised code now requires you to label any major food allergens contained in the food. Those who operate buffets of any sort should take careful note of this and be sure to review your offerings related to the “Big 9” Food Allergens.
The definition to “intact meat” has also been revised to specifically exclude any meat that has undergone vacuum tumbling with a marinade or any meat that has been pounded. With that change, the “Internal Cooking Temperature Specifications for Raw Animal Foods” in Annex 7 was also revised to clarify internal cooking times of roasts, intact, and non-intact meats. The revised code now states that intact meat, except whole meat roasts [which should follow recommendations in 3-401.11(B)] and whole muscle intact beef steaks [which should follow recommendations in 3-401.11(C)] should be cooked to a minimum of 145˚F for 15 seconds, and non-intact meats should be cooked to a minimum of 155˚F for 15 seconds.
A seemingly minor change, but one that might be of benefit to our operators who utilize older facilities is the change to section 5-202.12 and the temperature of the water the handwashing sink is able to provide. Previously 100˚F was the temperature water coming from the handwashing sink was to reach. Now, 85˚F is the temperature it should reach. I would note that this section does not indicate at which temperature hands should be wash, rather it simply states that the sink must be capable of delivering water at a temperature of 85˚F. This is a common misconception.
As a reminder, the changes I highlighted in this blog and my last blog do not represent all the changes to the 2022 Food code, only those that seemed to be the most pertinent to our readers. If you’re interested in checking out all the changes, you can check out the summary of changes online.
Also, remember to check with your local health inspector to see what these changes might mean for you. As I discussed earlier in the month, just because the Model Food Code is updated, doesn’t necessarily mean that your local food code will change.
As a reminder, if you want to learn more about the food code – check out the last SafeBites webinar we hosted in 2022, “A Foodservice Operators’ Guide to the Food Code”. It will help you make sense of the food code, the annexes, and how your health inspector utilizes it and how you can use it to improve your food safety program in the new year! As a reminder, if you have any topics you’d like to hear about in 2023 or any other food safety questions, please drop me a note. 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.
