Resolve to Protect: Why This Year’s #1 Priority Should Be Food Safety
The new year presents foodservice managers with a wonderful opportunity to reset, refocus, and recommit to what matters most: protecting the health of every student, guest, patient, resident, or customer who dines in their establishment. As a manager or owner, there’s no better time than now to evaluate your food safety culture and strengthen your team’s dedication to safe food handling practices.
Food safety culture goes beyond simply following health codes or passing inspections. It’s the collective attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that your entire team shares about food safety. When food safety is truly embedded in your establishment’s culture, it becomes automatic. It is not just something employees do because they were told to do so, but because they understand how important it is to everyone: owners, managers, and their fellow employees.
A strong food safety culture protects your customers, safeguards your reputation, reduces liability, and creates a professional environment where employees take pride in their work. A strong food safety culture forces managers to lead by example. I often use the example of handwashing. If managers continually remind employees to wash their hands, but they themselves don’t wash their hands when they first step into the kitchen, they have shown employees that food safety isn’t a priority. They are not leading by example! When managers lead by example and prioritize food safety, the entire team follows suit.
Before you can recommit, you need to honestly assess your current food safety culture. Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have established SOPs that address basic food safety operations?
- Do employees consistently wash their hands at proper times, or do they take shortcuts when they think no one is watching?
- Are temperature logs completed accurately and on time, or filled in hastily at the end of shifts?
- When someone identifies a food safety concern, do they feel comfortable speaking up?
Are these the only questions you should ask yourself to ensure you have a food-safe culture? Certainly not! But the answers to these questions will help to determine whether food safety is prioritized in your operation or merely treated as a box-checking exercise. Remember, this assessment isn’t about finding all the faults of your business. It is about identifying opportunities for growth in your food safety culture and programs.
…this assessment isn’t about finding all the faults of your business…it’s about identifying opportunities for growth in your food safety culture and programs…
Whatever goals you establish, write them down and share them with your entire team, not just the management team. Then, revisit them quarterly to track progress. Post visual reminders throughout your kitchen. Integrate food safety discussions into every staff meeting. Consider appointing food safety champions among your team who can help maintain standards and mentor newer employees.
As a manager, you set the tone for food safety culture. Your team watches everything you do. If you skip handwashing, ignore temperature checks, or make excuses for cutting corners during busy periods, your employees will mirror these behaviors regardless of what your training materials say.
Recommit to being the food safety leader your establishment needs. Stay engaged with your food safety program, observe employee behaviors, and provide immediate, constructive, and positive feedback.
At FoodHandler, we are re-committing ourselves to help you maintain and strengthen your food safety program, too! For the last several years, FoodHandler has sponsored quarterly webinars with our food safety experts to help you stay informed. This year, we are upping the ante and bringing you six webinars to help you keep your food safety programs top of mind! Check out our upcoming SafeBites Food Safety Webinars, all to bring you the most current information about food safety.. Risk Nothing.
READ MORE POSTS
The Alphabet Soup of Hepatitis and Why it Should Concern Foodservice Operators.
Late in July, I was made aware that World Hepatitis Day was on July 28th. I do have to be honest – similar to most of you reading this, I was surprised there was such a thing. After doing a bit of research, I discovered July 28th was named as such to recognize the birthday of Dr. Baruch Blumberg, who first discovered the hepatitis B virus in 1967 and then two years later developed the first hepatitis B vaccine. Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recognize the day to help raise awareness about hepatitis, which impacts over 300 million across the globe and causes more than one million deaths a year.
Food Recalls: Another Important Reason to Have a Sound Traceability Program in your Foodservice Operation
Earlier in the month, I discussed a bit about the proposed traceability rules that may be coming out soon. One result of implementing the proposed rule and improving overall food traceability in your operation is the ability of those in the food chain to quickly identify and pull product involved in a food recall.
Food Traceability in Foodservice Operations: An Essential, and Soon-to-be Required, Component of your Food Safety Plan
In June, I discussed the importance of having a solid food defense plan, and I provided you some resources for developing or strengthening your food defense plan. As I was writing those blogs, my mind kept turning toward food traceability. While they are distinctly different concepts, food traceability goes hand-in-hand with a food defense program. I would argue for your food defense plan to be effective, you must have an effective internal food traceability program, where you can trace the product back to the supplier (backward traceability), but also be able to trace the product from the supplier to the guest who was served the product (forward traceability).
Food Defense Plan Resources – at just the right price…
Earlier in the month, I discussed the importance of having a solid food defense plan in place for your foodservice operation. Even if the first version of your plan is not perfect, it is a start. Having plans down on paper will force you to think through the process and ensure the vulnerable points where opportunities exist for possible contamination within the operation are mitigated.
