Proper Cooling: Your Food-Safe Culture Demands It

Last week, we had a great webinar presented by Dr. Paola Paez from the Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs at Kansas State University.  If you were not able to join us, please feel free to go back and review the webinar to learn some valuable ways in which you can implement safe cooling practices in your foodservice operation.

In a perfect world, if any amount of cooling of food products within your operation was done, there would be a blast chiller.  Blast chillers are designed to expel hot air from the environment, whereas a regular cooler is only equipped to keep cold air, cold.  But, they are an expensive investment (estimate of $5,500 – $10,000 for counter model!) and once you invest in one, you still must find physical space and a workable location in the operation. So, we know it isn’t always feasible financially, especially in the middle of a global pandemic which has impacted our industry so profoundly.  As we noted in our last blog and was discussed by Dr. Paez in her presentation, correct cooling procedures don’t have to be difficult or expensive, but make sure the practices identified for your operation work for you and your staff, both in terms of the usability of the methods to making sure the method chosen cools products effectively.  Moreover, be sure to communicate and train staff accordingly.

 …together we keep OUR food and OUR customers safe. Together we implement and follow safe cooling practices. Together we excel.

We so often find that managers and supervisors go through the process of training staff on the correct way to cool food, but if the importance of the practice isn’t internalized and that practice isn’t enforced by managers, why would employees continue to do it?  As managers, demonstrate the importance of correct cooling to your employees by developing the proper infrastructure to support it, including the use of written standard operating procedures and/or logs to document that cooling practices have met Food Code standards. Yes, we know, this is easier said than done, and we realize all the demands that are placed on a foodservice manager.  This is why we stress the importance of developing that food safety culture in your organization – so it isn’t all on your shoulders as a manager.  Cooling, as well as other food safety practices, should be ingrained in the life of the operation with every employee being accountable, and providing oversight, that safe practices are followed.

There are templates readily available to use in creating a standard operating procedure for cooling, so you don’t need to start from scratch. Iowa State University Extension has SOPs throughout the flow of food that can be customized to your operation (for instance, you can modify to reflect operational specifics or add the organizational logo). These were developed for different sectors of the foodservice world: child care; assisted living; restaurants; and schools. There are also cooling logs that can help document that Food Code standards were met in during the two-stage cooling process.

Yes, the manager has responsibilities and is the leader of the operation, but once that safe food culture is ingrained in every employee, it becomes a team effort – ‘we’ instead of ‘me/I’, ‘us’ instead of ‘them’ – together, we keep OUR food and OUR customers safe. Together, we implement and follow safe cooling practices. Together, we excel. Risk Nothing.

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.

Sanitation, Sanitation, Where Art Thou?

Continuing the theme I picked up on a few months ago, discussing common causes of foodborne illness, I’d like to focus this blog on cross contamination, more precisely sanitation. Sanitation is another issue that employees don’t often do at home, so they discount the importance of it in the food production environment. That is to say that they have never made someone sick at home because they only clean their countertops and they have likely never sanitized their kitchen, so why is it so important in a foodservice facility?