How To Guide For CFPMs Dealing With Foodborne Illness Complaints

How To Guide For CFPMs Dealing With Foodborne Illness Complaints

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Certified food protection managers (CFPMs) go to great lengths to keep the food they serve safe, but from time to time a customer may experience symptoms of a foodborne illness after eating in your establishment. While you don’t expect to hear a customer complain about being sick from consuming your product, you should still be prepared in the event they contact you to complain of symptoms. CFPMs with a plan to deal with foodborne illnesses can help deescalate a situation with an upset customer and can go a long way towards resolving a food safety issue you may be unaware of.

How To Guide For CFPMs Dealing With Foodborne Illness Complaints
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Certified Food Protection Manager Tips for Resolving Food Poisoning Complaints

There’s a right way and a wrong way for certified food managers to take phone calls concerning a possible food poisoning case. You should never start by assuming that the guest may have been sickened at home or at another restaurant. Taking the strategy that they may be at fault will instantly put them on the defensive. It’s also important not to be apathetic towards the situation, but rather act in a professional manner. When a guest complains of foodborne illness, the certified food protection manager should:

  • Be sympathetic
  • Gather as many details on their dining experience as possible
  • Assess the time frame between their patronage and symptoms
  • Offer to look into the situation
  • Promise to follow up with them if requested

CFPMs being concerned for your guests will show that you care about the safety of your food. We’re not talking about admitting fault without investigating, we’re simply talking about being sympathetic to the situation.

Details will be important, and they’ll also show that you’re taking the situation seriously. Make sure you find out when they dined in your establishment, what they ordered and how long afterward they experienced symptoms. It might also be a good idea to ask if anyone else in their party ordered the same menu items and if they experienced any symptoms. The timing and symptoms will be an important detail to note as it could pinpoint the type of pathogen that may have affected them.

After taking down this information, take the time to assess the possibility that this illness could have come from your restaurant. As a certified food protection manager, you should review food handling procedures for the product in question. If you find questionable practices or a gap in food safety training, you should address them as soon as possible.

Finally, certified food protection managers should follow up with your guest if they request it. If they’ve seen a doctor for symptoms and the diagnosis is a foodborne illness, address whether it is plausible the source was your facility. If you receive multiple complaints, you need to work with your local health department to resolve the issue.

As a CFPM how do you deal with foodborne illness reports?

CFPMs Take Advantage Of The New Meal Kit Market

CFPMs Take Advantage Of The New Meal Kit Market

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Restaurant patrons have taken to cooking at home more over the past few years, and this gives food businesses and restaurants the opportunity to take advantage of this new market. If you’re looking for a way to reach new customers and give them a chance to cook their favorite menu items at home, you may want to consider offering meal kits with everything they need to prepare their favorite dish. Since you’re not cooking these meals in-house, there’s a different set of challenges involved. Let’s consider what Certified Food Managers ( CFPMs ) should consider when preparing meal kits for customers to cook at home.

CFPMs Take Advantage Of The New Meal Kit Market
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CFPMs Food Safety Challenges for Take Home Meal Kits

Meal kits can help boost your business, but certified food protection managers must make your staff aware of the unique food safety hazards is the key to doing it safely. Your kit can include raw protein ingredients, fresh vegetables, cooked products and dried spices, so there are several different food handling rules you have to consider.

The biggest concern will be cross-contamination during preparation and packaging. Make sure all fresh ingredients are stored away from raw products at all times. If you sell these kits at high volume, have your certified food protection manager designate space in your walk-in refrigeration so there can be no risk of cross-contamination during storage.

The highest risk of cross-contamination may occur during packaging. Many of these meal kits fit into one large box, so keeping raw food separated from fresh ingredients can create some difficulties. If you do use one large box for these kits, we suggest tightly sealed and separate containers for raw ingredients. We’d also recommend taking it a step further and placing these sealed containers in a separate box within the larger crate for dual-layer protection. It’s also important to consider some sort of cold pack or ice bag to keep cold foods cold during transport.

Since you’re not cooking these items in your establishment, temperature control is left up to the consumer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to give them the information they need to cook every ingredient properly. Include incredibly detailed recipe cards that list proper cooking temperatures. You can experiment with cooking times of meal kit ingredients in your restaurant and include that information, but CFPMs should remember not every oven will cook at precisely the same rate. Include warnings that will indicate the properly cooked temperature for each ingredient. You may even wish to go so far as to offer probe thermometers at an additional cost.

Are you using meal kits as a way to reach new customers?

Announcing A CFPMs Guide To Proper Handwashing Sink Locations

Announcing A CFPMs Guide To Proper Handwashing Sink Locations

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We talk a lot about proper handwashing procedures as the best foodborne illness prevention, but many times the areas surrounding handwashing sinks are overlooked by certified food protection managers. Let’s take a closer look at how CFPMs properly maintain the area around your handwashing sink locations.

Announcing A CFPMs Guide To Proper Handwashing Sink Locations
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How To Set up a Proper Handwashing Sink Location For CFPMs

CFPMs already train their staff on how to properly use and stock a handwashing station, but, as a quick review, remember your handwashing station should be supplied with:

  • Hot Water
  • Soap
  • Paper Towels of Air Dryer
  • Fingernail Brush

This is usually one of the first things covered in any online or in-person CFPM training course. What may be misunderstood is what the area surrounding your handwashing station should look like. There can be foodborne illness risks involved if your sink location isn’t properly arranged or installed.

First CFPMs should make sure, your handwashing sinks should be easily and immediately accessible. They should be in the food preparation areas and not located behind closed doors. If you block your handwashing sink with storage racks or other equipment, it serves little use if your staff cannot wash their hands. A restroom sink should also not be considered a handwashing sink as door knobs and handles may be contaminated if touched after washing your hands.

Another thing to consider is the relative location to preparation surfaces or clean dish storage. If your handwashing sinks are in close proximity to clean spaces in your kitchen, make sure that there is no risk of water or soap splashing on sanitary items or surfaces. Ensuring there is a gap between these areas and your handwashing station will reduce the risk of contamination from dirty water and handwashing soap.

Finally, CFPMs should avoid storing any food product or clean utensils above and below handwashing station. Doing so may increase the risk of contamination from dirty hands or water used in the handwashing process.

Have you taken the time to evaluate your handwashing stations?

A Valuable Certified Food Protection Manager Refresher On Cooling Procedures

A Valuable Certified Food Protection Manager Refresher On Cooling Procedures

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Having product prepared ahead of time can make for smooth service during the dinner rush and gives certified food protection managers time to concentrate on menu items that need to be prepared at the moment. If you rely on cooking hot foods in advance to be ready to reheat, it may be a good time for your certified food protection manager to review proper cooling procedures with your staff.

A Valuable Certified Food Protection Manager Refresher On Cooling Procedures
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Cooling Times and Temperature Review for Certified Food Protection Managers

The key to making sure that cooling foods are kept safe from foodborne illness is to chill it as fast as possible so that it doesn’t stay in the danger zone for an extended period of time. Food that sits between 41 degrees and 135 degrees has an elevated risk of growing bacteria, especially if left at that temperature for over longer than is reasonable. If your food was prepared at room temperature, you have four hours for your product to reach 41 degrees. If foods are prepared at temperatures over 135 degrees, they must reach 70 degrees within two hours and 41 or below within six total hours from the start of the process.

MN food code and certified food protection manager training reinforces that this chilling process should happen as quickly as possible, so make sure you utilize the following methods:

  • Ice water baths
  • Separating liquid product into shallow hotel pans
  • Slicing solid product to portions four inches thick or less
  • Sanitized cooling wands
  • Rapid cooling equipment such as blast chillers
  • Adding ice as a final ingredient

If you don’t have access to a blast chiller, the fastest way to cool hot product is by reducing portion size and cooling it in your walk-in in shallow pans. If you want to expedite the process for soups, sauces and other liquids, you can add ice as the last ingredient of your recipe. This is quite effective for menu items that have a water or stock base, to begin with.

Ice water baths are also incredibly effective, and when combined with a frozen cooling wand, can bring your chilling product below 41 degrees rapidly.

Has your certified food protection manager taken the time to evaluate cooling procedures in your facility?