Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert Regarding Restaurant Fire Hazards

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

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As Minnesota certified food managers we are trained to create a safe eating experience for our guests. But owners and food service managers must bear in mind more than just food safety to protect employees and customers. This is the fourth in a series of blogs that look specifically at the hazards that Scott Futrell, a local fire protection consultant, has provided to assist you in protecting your customers, business and employees.

What can Owners and Minnesota Certified Food Managers do to protect your investment or your facility?

The Minnesota State Fire Code requires you to maintain your fire protection equipment in working condition.  There are procedures you should establish for you and your staff in addition to hiring competent contractors to clean and inspect and test your systems and equipment.

Basically the Codes and Standards require you to inspect, test, and maintain your kitchen hood, duct, fan, and suppression systems in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements.  Thus it is essential you obtain from the contractor the minimum requirements for inspection, testing, and maintenance and then understand your responsibilities and the very limited, or minimal, portions of these requirements that the contractor will actually perform.

Checklist for Kitchen Fire Safety

The owner’s responsibility for inspection and maintenance of wet chemical systems on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis should include the following at a minimum:

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert Regarding Restaurant Fire Hazards

It is very important to note that often the fusible links are wired shut during the cleaning process to prevent accidental activation preventing the system from operating automatically. It’s also possible that your system might have been disconnected, damaged, or has accumulated excessive deposits of grease causing your system to become inoperative, see Figure 1.

 

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

Figure 1 – Post Grease
All Image credits: Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc

Both of these pictures were taken post-fire, where the suppression system did not operate because the expellant was disconnected.  Note that the grease cleaning was not performed thoroughly. The fire occurred the day after the cleaning!

The bottom line is this:

  • Contractors that you hire for inspection, testing and maintenance do not perform all of the safety checks that need to be done on your systems on a daily, weekly, or periodic basis;
  • your responsibilities include staff education as well as performing daily, weekly, and periodic inspections;
  • your responsibilities include observing the hoods, ducts, and fire protection devices after the contractor’s complete their work; and
  • schedule the fire suppression six-month inspection, test, and maintenance immediately after the hood, duct, and fan cleaning.

If you want more information or have any questions about fire safety in the food preparation environment that you would like Scott to discuss leave a comment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Scott A. Futrell, PE, FSFPE, CFPS, SET, CFEI, is a fire protection consultant with Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc., in Osseo, Minnesota and has over 40 years’ experience designing, specifying, and investigating fire protection system related losses and can be reached by e-mail at: scottf@ffcdi.com, or visit www.ffcdi.com.

GMO Effect on Servsave MN

ServSafe MN Training and the New GMO Labeling Bill

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GMO- Lableing Effect on ServSafe MN Training

How will new GMO -Labeling Law Effect ServSafe MN Training?

Recently, the President signed a bill that calls for the labeling of all products that contain genetically modified ingredients. This is a hotly debated topic among consumers, produce suppliers and food industry professionals, and we feel that it’s an important issue and worthy of at least some discussion.

ServSafe MN Training and GMO Labeling

As current ServSafe MN training and Minnesota Food Code regulations stand, there is nothing that is mandated in regards to using GMO-modified ingredients in the local food service industry. As far as food safety and food-borne illnesses are concerned, the state does not feel that GMO’s pose any significant health risk.

There is, however, a growing trend among consumers to purchase food items that are certified organic or clearly labeled as non-GMO. This current bill appears to provide transparency as to where the ingredients in prepared items come from and will allow the consumers to make their purchasing decisions based on whether a product is GMO free or not.

GMO-Labeling Effects on the Food-Service Industry and ServSafe MN Training

This new bill forces us to consider how new regulations will impact local businesses.
Quite honestly, we do not have enough information at this time to fully address the long-term effects of this bill. The United States Department of Agriculture has stated that it may take up to two years for them to put any regulations in place.

While we know that these rules will play a role in how food is packaged on our grocery shelves, it may also have repercussions for our restaurants and smaller businesses. Most food-service managers will tell you that proteins and fresh produce often come from different suppliers depending upon availability. A lot of these ingredients are shipped in bulk and many times are only labeled with their farm or place of origin. In these cases, it is our view that the suppliers themselves will be responsible for clearly labeling these ingredients before they reach your facility. If you produce any item packaged for sale using ingredients previously labeled as genetically modified, you will probably be required to label your product accordingly.

One sector of the industry that does not seem to have been addressed in the early stages of this process is the restaurant industry. At this point we cannot tell you whether restaurants will have to include any form of disclaimer on their menus. If this does become the case, you can rest assured that Safe Food Training will cover it in an upcoming blog.