When Temperatures Rise, Keep Food Safety Top of Mind
Summer brings a welcome increase in business for many restaurants, catering services, and event venues. It certainly did for the restaurant that I used to manage. With outdoor dining, festivals, weddings, and seasonal traffic, foodservice operations often experience their busiest stretch between Memorial Day and Labor Day. And the warmer weather creates ideal conditions for bacteria to grow quickly.
In our restaurant, it was even more of a challenge because our back kitchen was not air-conditioned. With the heat at the peak of summer often reaching the high 80s, our back kitchen would often top the 100-degree mark.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does note that foodborne illness rates tend to spike during summer months. Keep in mind these rates are heavily influenced by consumer food preparation, and the average consumer does tend to prepare food outside more during the summer, which is away from refrigeration and water sources that are important for handwashing and general cleanliness. Anecdotally, it also seems that most tend to neglect to use thermometers when grilling or barbequing, which also contributes to this increase in foodborne illness rates.
That doesn’t mean that those of us in foodservice are off the hook. While the spike in foodborne illnesses during the summer is influenced by consumers, warmer temperatures create ideal conditions for bacteria to grow rapidly, and busy kitchens may find it harder to maintain strict time and temperature controls. And for those kitchens that have poor or no air-conditioning, like the back kitchen at the restaurant I managed, it is even more problematic. We also tend to see an increase in off-site and outdoor catering requests during the summer, which are always challenging for food safety, just as they are for the average person grilling outdoors at home. For foodservice operators, now is the time to double down on best practices to protect your customers.
…Maintaining proper temperatures is one of the most effective ways to prevent foodborne illness. Cold foods must be kept at 41°F (5°C) or below, while hot foods must stay at 135°F (57°C) or above.
Maintaining proper temperatures is one of the most effective ways to prevent foodborne illness. Cold foods must be kept at 41°F (5°C) or below, while hot foods must stay at 135°F (57°C) or above. Use calibrated thermometers regularly and ensure holding units and refrigeration equipment are functioning correctly, especially on those hot days when they’re under more strain.
Remind staff that the “danger zone” between 41°F and 135°F is where bacteria multiply rapidly. Even short exposures, such as during delivery, prepping, or buffet service, can be risky if not closely monitored.
If you’re offering outdoor dining or catering for off-site events, take extra precautions. Transport perishable items in insulated containers with ice packs or refrigeration units. At events, ensure you have safe food handling stations with handwashing access, and always cover food to protect it from insects and environmental contaminants.
With staff turnover often higher in summer, especially with seasonal hires, consistent hygiene practices can slip. Conduct brief, regular refreshers on handwashing procedures, glove use, and staying home when sick. Providing accessible handwashing stations and fully stocked hygiene supplies can go a long way in helping to improve proper food safety practices and helping employees to maintain compliance with identified standards.
Encourage a culture where safety comes first. I know this is something we seem to include in most of our blogs, but it is vital to ensuring proper food safety in your establishment. Empower your team to speak up if they see something concerning, and reward attention to detail.
Now is a great time to revisit your food safety plan and ensure staff are trained and procedures are up to date. Consider a mid-season check-in to evaluate what’s working and what might need adjustment during peak operations. Risk Nothing.
Developing Good Food Safety Habits
Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.
Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized
As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.
Getting Started with Building the Infrastructure
Hopefully in our first January blog, we convinced you of the importance of establishing an infrastructure within your operation to support a safe food culture. So, how does one go about doing this? Well, like any major project, break it into small bites. In our opinion, having a written guide for employees that documents expectations related to food safety basics of employee health and hygiene, temperature controls, and cleaning and sanitizing is the first step. Having this documentation serves as a reference for training and helps fulfill the mission of most foodservice operators which is to serve safe, quality food.
Food Safety Resolutions for the New Year
Finally, 2020 is in our rearview mirror and we can all turn the page to 2021! Resolutions for the new year might be more of the same from prior years (lose weight, exercise more, less screen time, etc.) OR you may have identified new practices to implement in your operation. If the latter, likely goals included some practices related to food safety – especially given the turmoil of 2020 and heightened concern by customers. It is our philosophy that attention to safe food handling practices is a win-win for any operation because of the direct relationship between food safety and food quality, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. This past year has also demonstrated that attention to safety can affect the bottom line. Thus, the topic of our first SafeBites webinar for 2021 is on the topic of the return on investment of food safety, it is scheduled for January 20, so register now and please plan to attend.
