Resources for Effective Purchasing and Receiving in Foodservice Operations

In our first blog for August, we reviewed best practices for purchasing and receiving, and why these can mitigate risks to safety of food from unintentional or intentional threats. In this posting, we offer some resources from trustworthy sources that can help foodservice managers in developing their own guidance for staff to follow when purchasing or receiving from vendors. Written guidance in the form of a standard operating procedure (SOP) makes clear to everyone in the relationship (vendor and foodservice staff) what and how tasks should be accomplished.

Written SOP templates to guide purchasing and receiving can be found at several extension websites or through health agencies. We’ve worked to develop those at Iowa State University, which are tailored for restaurants, schools, assisted living, or childcare foodservices. SOP templates are also available from the Institute of Child Nutrition.

With COVID being a concern, the trend of purchasing from local sources is gaining in popularity. A checklist of questions local fruit and vegetable growers can complete will ensure the foodservice has documentation that safe practices are followed by the farmer. The National Restaurant Association and Food and Drug Administration, and of course FoodHandlers, provide guidance regarding delivery of supplies by vendors, in addition to other reopening recommendations, following COVID-related shutdowns.

As an example, here are the SOPs from Iowa State University for Restaurant Purchasing and Receiving. Notice that the SOPs provide a rationale, assign specific tasks with detailed instructions, include measurable or observable standards to either employees or managers, and describe monitoring functions.

We would add that monitoring is NOT the responsibility of ONLY the manager. In a safe food culture, all employees should be comfortable providing nudges to others or calling attention to management to correct unsafe practices. Only by having everyone attuned to correct food handling and cleaning practices can a foodservice consistently provide safe food and avoid risk. Risk Nothing!

Meat Color and Doneness: Persistent Pinking

Late in June, my family and I were able to visit the Black Hills, an area of the country in which I have not had the opportunity to spend much time.  One evening, as we dined at a local restaurant, I observed a table across the dining room sending back a dinner.  While I couldn’t hear the entire conversation and I certainly wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, it was apparent that the customer was unhappy with the cooking of their hamburger and was sending it back because it was too pink in the middle.  That immediately brought to my mind the phenomenon known as persistent pinking.  A term I became familiar with because of work done by some colleagues here at Kansas State, which they present each summer to a group of foodservice operators who join us on-campus for an in-depth week-long look at all things food safety.

Quat Binding – Why this Can Have a Disastrous Impact on Your Sanitation Program.

In June, I had the opportunity to represent FoodHandler and speak on food safety behavior for customers of Martin Bros. Distributing in Waterloo, Iowa.  One of the questions that was asked caught me a little off guard. The question was about quat binding.  It caught me off guard not because it was a bad question, but only because it was not something I had previously been asked nor had not yet been exposed to the phenomenon. However, I soon learned that in certain jurisdictions, it is resulting in changes to how sanitizing cloths are to be stored in sanitizing buckets (or not) in the foodservice industry. When I returned home from the trip, I had to dig into it to learn about what quat binding is and how it might impact foodservice operations.

Are Grades for Foodservice Inspections a Good Idea?

I generally try to stay away from controversial topics in my blog, but this is one I thought it might be interesting to discuss. Occasionally on my travels, I will come across a state or a local jurisdiction that requires foodservice inspection scores be posted in the window of the establishment.  The idea is to allow would-be customers the ability to see how the foodservice operation in which they are about to eat scored on their latest health inspection.