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.
Be Aware When You Prepare – Food Prep Tips
The subject of food preparation covers some very broad, basic principles within food safety, with many steps associated with “risk” in some recipes. Certainly, preparation steps are where the most mistakes have occurred if a foodborne illness should occur. Outbreaks usually happen when more than one mistake occurs during prep, but sometimes it only takes one. Cooking is the biggest risk for raw foods, but all foods become ready-to-eat foods at some point in final preparation steps and that’s where the most care is required.
Food Gloves & Latex Allergy Education
Politicians joke about the endless stretch of rubber chicken dinners they may consume in an election year. For people with a latex allergy, such a prospect may be no laughing matter. While latex serves as an effective barrier glove material and has the best fit because of its elasticity, the risks associated should not be ignored. The solution is not simple and many options are available for operators today. It should always be mentioned that handwashing (before putting on gloves) is always the primary barrier to contamination and gloves are considered a good secondary barrier.
Foodborne Illness Myths & Facts
“It must have been something I ate.” That’s the typical statement when a person develops some relatively minor symptoms from food. Maybe not severe enough to go to the doctor so you choose to tough it out without medical care. Sudden onset of flu-like symptoms such as onset of stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and fever could possibly mean you are the victim of a foodborne illness. The illness is sometimes referred to as “food poisoning”, but it’s often misdiagnosed.
Don’t Compromise: Clean and Sanitize
The subject is cleaning and sanitizing. Chefs, food service directors, managers and staff try to practice safe food-handling at every turn in the kitchen. Don’t let that effort go down the drain by slacking off on the many aspects of sanitation. That includes dish and ware-washing techniques (pots, pans, equipment), and cleaning all the areas that give us that “neat as a pin” appearance in your customers eyes. Customers seldom fail to bring that soiled silverware or glass with lipstick on it to the attention of the manager or wait staff. Improperly cleaning and sanitizing of food contact equipment does allow transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to food and ultimately our customer.
