Keep Ready-to-Eat Foods Safe
In our first blog for February, we identified some of the risks with ready-to-eat foods. RTE does not mean risk free! We pointed out that food processors have implemented food safety plans that use good manufacturing and good handling practices (GMPs and GHPs). Foodservices often purchase RTE foods to avoid some risk in-house. In fact, many schools do not purchase raw protein foods because of risks from under cooking and cross-contamination. But there are still risks from temperature abuse due to improper holding and from contamination that occurs intentionally, or unintentionally, from employee practices or unclean equipment.
So, what prevention steps can be taken? Avoiding temperature abuse means having calibrated temperature measuring devices readily available and staff knowing how to use these. It means knowing which foods need to be kept out of the temperature danger zone (remember that is between 41°and 135°F) as well as recognizing end-point cooking temperatures for the specific food item, and keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
Defending the safety of food means it being stored in secure locations or closely monitored. Using the “see something, say something” approach prevents unauthorized people from causing harm. Controlling access to food storage and production areas to employees and having staff in public service areas monitoring the action and being a presence can reduce risks. So, if you have a self-serve food bar, schedule employees to be out front. The bonus is they can keep the area clean and replenish supplies, and provide a visible presence.
Avoiding unintentional contamination means storing the food correctly to keep it safe. Staff who are in good health following good hygiene practices and who don’t directly touch the food with their bare hands is key to risk prevention. FoodHandler has several good videos on these topics for staff. The current Model Food Code, released in 2017, states that food handlers should not touch ready-to-eat foods with their bare hands and that suitable utensils such as deli tissue, spatulas, tongs, single-use gloves, or dispensing equipment should be used. Use of these tools provides a barrier between hands and the food, thereby minimizing some of the risk.
Gloves are an easy to use solution to providing this barrier. In fact research has found that customer perceptions improved if gloves were worn by food workers. Risk nothing!
Making sure utensils and surfaces in contact with the RTE food are clean and sanitized, and haven’t been re-contaminated by dirty hands reduces risk of pathogen transfer.
Food safety fundamentals of temperature controls, good employee practices, and a rigorous cleaning and sanitation program are key to keeping food safe. RTE foods reduce some risks, but not all. Since we are in basketball season, we will use the adage of “the best defense is a good offense” and add, “particularly for ready-to-eat foods”.
As we say at FoodHandler, Risk Nothing!
Evaluating Food Safety
One of the suggestions I made in the last blog was to assess the food safety culture in your organization by observing the food handling techniques of workers. Let’s explore that some more. You can do an overall assessment or you can hone in on specific areas of the operation, such as production or cleaning practices. Remember, when the environmental health inspector visits your operation, he/she just gets a snapshot of what is going on in your operation on that particular day at that specific time. You are there nearly every day, so you have a much better understanding on what really happens in your operation.
September is National Food Safety Month: The Future of Food Safety
Each September we recognize the importance of food safety every day in our operations by celebrating National Food Safety Month. This year’s theme, The Future of Food Safety, emphasizes the changing environment in which foodservice operates. Each week of September has a unique focus:
September is Food Safety Education Month: The Culture of Food Safety
Developing a culture of food safety is important for any foodservice operation. You may be wondering--just what is a culture of food safety? Let’s start talking about it by first defining what is meant by culture. When you look culture up in the dictionary, you will see terms such as shared knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes, and meanings; a way of life; patterns of behavior; learned behavior of a group of people; and transmitted from generation to generation. I think these descriptors provide good insight into the meaning of a culture of food safety. You can also think about where you grew up, and a vision of culture comes. For example, I grew up in rural Oklahoma, graduating in the 1970’s with a class of 24 students. My culture instilled in me an appreciation for rural life, hard work, and independence. As I grow older, I realize I haven’t changed very much from my early years, even though I have completed a PhD, lived a lot of places, and traveled throughout the world!
Produce Safety: Special Considerations
In our last blog, I talked about general produce safety. Today, I want to talk about some special products—melons, tomatoes, leafy greens, and sprouts. These are all foods that have a history of bacterial contamination leading to foodborne illness. I also want to discuss salad bars because they have some special risks.
