Score Big in Food Safety: Amp Up Your Food Safety Education Month
It is mid-August and in just a few short weeks it will be that time of the year again. The time we wait for all year long – not football season…Food Safety Education Month! Fair enough to say, it will be football season, too – but each September in the United States we celebrate National Food Safety Education Month, a time dedicated to highlighting the importance of food safety practices and education. While the month is dedicated to those across the food chain – from home cooks to those who prepare food in foodservice operations, I like to focus most on our foodservice professionals, who prepare billons of meals each year for the public.
If you’ve kept up with our blog at all, you are likely to already know the statistic that approximately 48 million people in the United States become ill due to contaminated food each year in the United States. During each September, National Food Safety Education Month provides us an opportunity to recommit ourselves to enhancing food safety practices, training staff, and reinforcing the vital role everyone plays in preventing foodborne illnesses within our businesses.
Foodservice professionals play an important role in reducing the estimated number of illnesses caused by foodborne illnesses each year. As managers and leaders in the foodservice industry, we must be committed to education and training as key components in ensuring that all staff members understand the importance of food safety. From line cooks to servers, every team member must be aware of best practices, including personal hygiene, cross-contamination prevention, and proper cooking temperatures. By investing in comprehensive food safety education, businesses can minimize risks and ensure a safe dining experience for their customers.
As we approach September, take time now and recommit yourselves and your businesses to food safety and food safety education. Focus on several key areas to enhance your food safety knowledge and practices:
- Personal Hygiene: Proper handwashing and personal hygiene are fundamental to not only preventing the spread of foodborne illnesses, but to general health and wellness. Staff should be trained in the importance of regular handwashing, wearing clean uniforms, and using gloves appropriately when handling food.
- Temperature Control: Maintaining safe temperatures is crucial for preventing the growth of harmful pathogens. All your staff can likely recite the temperature danger zone in their sleep, but make sure they really appreciate the implications of not ensuring that cold food stays cold and hot food, hot.
- Cross-Contamination Prevention: Emphasize the importance of using separate cutting boards, utensils, and storage containers for raw and cooked foods. Regular cleaning and sanitizing of work surfaces, equipment, and utensils are also important considerations in maintaining a safe kitchen.
… National Food Safety Education Month provides us an opportunity to recommit ourselves to enhancing food safety practices, training staff, and reinforcing the vital role everyone plays in preventing food borne illnesses within our businesses.
To maximize the impact of Food Safety Education Month, plan now to implement a food safety certification program in September to make sure all of your key kitchen staff are certified in food safety. The more staff who are certified and truly recognize the importance of food safety helps you to build that food safety culture that we so often discuss. If you’re unable to do a full food safety training class, plan for some interactive training sessions, workshops, or pre-shift meetings to reinforce key concepts and provide learning opportunities.
Embracing food safety education in your business empowers your management and staff to make informed decisions and contribute to a safer food industry. Food Safety Education Month is an excellent opportunity to renew your commitment to food safety and enhance your employees’ knowledge, skills, and commitment to serving safe food. Risk Nothing.
Protecting Fresh Produce Post-Harvest, Integral to Safe Food
During the height of the summer, at least in the Midwest, farmers markets are in full swing and fresh produce is plentiful. Every backyard gardener is reaping the benefits of their work, with bountiful harvests of tomatoes and cucumbers. Everyone seems to have a neighbor who is trying to pawn off his or her over-production of cucumbers or summer squash during this time of year. When picking up that produce at the farmer’s market or from your neighbor down the street, have you ever given any thought to the microbial safety of it? Honestly, even in my position, it certainly is NOT the first thing that comes to my mind. But, earlier this month, I came across a news story out of Wisconsin discussing a Salmonella outbreak associated with shelled peas sold at a local farmers market. Who would have thought shelled peas would be impacted? The story noted, and it served as a great reminder, that most outbreaks associated with Salmonella in produce are due to mistakes made in handling or transportation of produce after harvesting.
Properly Cleaning and Sanitizing: The Right Chemical Mix to Maintain Ultimate Effectiveness
A few weeks ago, my family and I had the pleasure of setting sail on a cruise vacation. It is truly one of the only ways that I find that I am able to unplug from work and relax for a small spell. However, as I walked around the ship in our post-COVID world, I couldn’t help but admire all the extra cleaning steps the staff were undertaking to keep us all as safe as possible while in the middle of the ocean with 3,000 other vacationers. All of this cleaning and sanitizing had me thinking about how we each clean and sanitize our own operations and which chemicals we chose to use.
Proper Cooking Temperature: A Basic Food Safety Measure
Each summer, we see an increase in the incidence of foodborne illnesses. Perhaps this is because of the warmer temperatures making temperature control for Time/Temperature Control for Safety (TCS) food more difficult or perhaps it is the increased amount of people who are barbequing this time of year – it is National Picnic Month, after all!
Changing Climate: The Unseen Impact on Food Safety
In June, I was asked to participate in the Allinfoodz podcast, put on by a colleague, Dr. Amit Sharma, at Penn State University. One of the points Dr. Sharma wanted to discuss was the impact of climate change on food safety, which is something I was certainly aware of, but not something I had done much research on. However, when preparing for the interview and podcast, it was interesting to learn more about the relationship between the two.
