Christine Dantz, Author at Safe Food For Thought

March 18, 2024March 17, 2024

Setting Up a Prep Station to Proven ServSafe Standards

Keeping your workstation clean and organized can lead to more efficient production and help increase food safety. Properly setting up and utilizing your workspace to ServSafe standards can also help keep your food free from potential contaminants.

ServSafe MN Guide to a Safe Prep Station

Before you begin setting up your workstation, it’s essential to ensure it’s clean and sanitized. This simple step can prevent leftover food particles from a previous project from contacting your clean utensils, cutting boards, and ingredients.

Secondly, you should ensure that your ServSafe stocked prep station has the necessary supplies to keep your space clean. According to ServSafe MN, these supplies may vary by job, but here are a few essentials:

Clean, dry towels
Properly mixed sanitizer solution
Readily available garbage receptacle

Your dry towel should be easily accessible at your workstation and stored away from food product until you need it. Remember to store your sanitizer solution and garbage receptacle away from food and below your workstation when placing your sanitizer solution and garbage receptacle. Storing these at counter height or above your workspace dramatically increases the risk of garbage or sanitation chemicals coming into contact with food product.

Proper chemical sanitizer mixing is essential. We will examine the different approved sanitation methods in more detail in the future, but for now, you may wish to review the Minnesota Food Code sanitizer fact sheet quickly.

Now that you have your workstation set up, we have four suggestions for keeping it safe and sanitary throughout the day.

Exchange soiled towels frequently.
Wash utensils between tasks.
Sanitize your workspace between each task
Prepare raw meats and seafood last

Being diligent in these areas will greatly reduce the risk of foodborne illness. We must take care of our everyday habits to ensure that all products produced are safe, healthy, and free of contamination.

March 11, 2024March 11, 2024

A CFPM Should NEVER Play The “Does This Smell Old?” Game”- Labeling Secrets

CFPMs keeping food safe through proper labeling

Unfortunately, employees ask their certified food protection manager this question all too often: “Does this smell OK to you?” Before you have to deal with the problem of trying to figure out how old a side of fish, a pre-made soup, or another refrigerated item is by playing the “Does this smell good?” game, CFPMs should take a moment to review proper labeling procedures.

CFPMs Keeping Food Safe Through Proper Labeling

Three important things should be included on every item in your storage areas.

What the product is
The date product was received or made
Potential expiration dates

The first two items on our list are easy to determine and label, but there is no absolute expiration date. Many prepared foods containing dairy and proteins have a shorter shelf life than others. Knowing that some proteins do not necessarily begin to smell as they age is essential. We suggest determining how long you can store these items before discarding them.

Labeling is just the first step to ensure food safety. We have two other suggestions to help CFPMs prevent spoiled food from being served to your guests. First, never mix two batches of sauces, soups, or other liquids made on different dates. An older batch can contaminate a newer batch and create a hazard even though the label shows a recent creation date.

Secondly, rotation is essential. It has become an industry cliché, but FIFO, first in, first out, should be enforced in every kitchen and preparation facility. Using the oldest-dated product first will ensure that it doesn’t begin to spoil and grow dangerous bacteria.

By following these easy labeling steps, CFPMs can help keep your guests safe from food-borne illness and save your nose from having to smell another potentially rancid side of salmon or pungent sauce.

March 4, 2024March 4, 2024

ServSafe Managers Use Revealing Study To Discover The Real Cost Of A Food-borne Outbreak

ServSafe managers use resource to Discover cost of a food-borne illness

Certified ServSafe managers are hired and trained to ensure the kitchen they manage meets the highest food safety standards and prevents food-borne outbreaks. Sometimes, it’s tough to convince others why sticking to these strict rules is crucial. But, at times, it’s hard to get others to see the importance of being picky about following these stringent rules. We recently found a tool that can help ServSafe managers emphasize the importance of creating and sustaining a safe food production environment.

Food-Borne Illness Continues To Plague The US Hospitality Industry

According to the CDC, “Each year in the United States, Salmonella, STEC, and Listeria cause an estimated 1.49 million illnesses, 28,000 hospitalizations, and 700 deaths, at an estimated cost of more than $6 billion.” These are scary numbers; no restaurant wants to be associated with a food-borne outbreak. However, there is a continuous struggle within every restaurant about how much prevention is enough. What is the cost/benefit of our spending on food safety is.

A Resource For ServSafe Managers To Help Measure The Cost/Benefit Of Food-borne OutBreaks

Don’t worry; we just found an academic peer-reviewed study that provides ServSafe managers answers to that exact question. “Estimated Cost to a Restaurant of a Foodborne Illness Outbreak” was published online in April 2018 in Sage Journal. The article’s purpose was “Although outbreaks of restaurant-associated foodborne illness occur periodically and make the news, a restaurant may not know the cost of an outbreak. We estimated this cost under varying circumstances.”

Attention, this document is an academic paper and hard to read. You can just scan the article to understand the complexity of the research and then go to the conclusions. The range of the cost numbers is due to a variance from a [5-person outbreak, with no lost revenue, lawsuits, legal fees, or fines}; spanning to a [250-person outbreak, with high lost revenue (100 meals lost per illness), and a high amount of lawsuits and legal fees ($1,656,569) and fines ($100,000)]. But here is the bottom line:

Type of Restaurant	Cost of a single foodborne illness outbreak
Fast-food restaurant	$3,968 to $1.9 million
Fast-casual restaurant	$6,330 to $2.1 million
Casual-dining restaurant	$8,030 to $2.2 million
Fine-dining restaurant	$8,273 to $2.6 million

Advocate For Proper Funding

This data highlights the substantial cost of a single foodborne illness outbreak to a restaurant. The illness cost can outweigh the typical expenses of prevention and control measures. ServSafe managers must advocate for proper funding to keep the operation safe and minimize the probability of a devastating food-borne outbreak. You can use this data:

when talking with decision-makers (owners) to justify additional funding
in conversations with managers to recommend changes in other parts of the operation, such as in front-of-house
to motivate your own staff

Certified ServSafe managers are critical in upholding the highest food safety standards and preventing foodborne outbreaks in their kitchens. Certainly, there are challenges in convincing others of the importance of strict adherence to these rules. This study sheds light on the staggering costs associated with foodborne illnesses. It underscores the urgent need for adequate funding to ensure operational safety and mitigate the risk of devastating outbreaks. ServSafe managers can leverage this data to advocate for increased funding, recommend operational improvements, and motivate staff, ultimately safeguarding both public health and your restaurant’s reputation.

February 20, 2024March 4, 2024

Food Safety Certification Tested Refrigeration Maintenance Best Practices

Food safety certification refrigerator maintenance

For a manager with Food Safety Certification who deals with food products, properly running refrigeration units is key to maintaining food safety and quality. We thought it important to share a few food safety certification tips to help keep your refrigeration well-maintained and avoid repairs due to malfunctioning equipment.

4 Keys To Refrigeration Maintenance For Food Safety Certified Managers

There are four things that we feel are important to examine regularly in each refrigeration unit.

Door seals
Cleanliness of drains and coils
Temperature
Excess condensation

It is important to occasionally inspect the gaskets on your refrigerator door to ensure a tight seal. It is imperative to ensure that your refrigerator seals properly when shut; failure to do so will lead to increased energy consumption as it has to work harder to maintain low temperatures. This can lead to an overworked unit and shorten its lifespan.

The cleanliness of your refrigeration units can be a factor in its performance. You should examine condensation drain pipes and outlets to ensure they are clear of debris and grime. For units with external coils, it is important to inspect and clean them regularly. Most units have coils underneath or on the back of the unit. These are two areas where dust can build up and cause your units to work harder than necessary.

One of the first signs you may have a problem with your refrigeration unit is when you notice temperature fluctuations. Another important thing to take note of is if you have had to turn down your temperature control multiple times in order to maintain proper temperature, this may be a sign that your refrigerator compressor is overtaxed.

If you notice excess condensation or dripping water coming from your refrigeration unit, it may be time to examine it. These issues can lead to larger, harder-to-repair problems.

Certified Maintenance Service

The first two issues are easily recognizable and can often be handled in-house without calling a repair service. The second two, however, may require a certified maintenance service to repair properly. It is important to keep in mind that repairing a minor problem is easier, and less costly, than a major repair or replacing an entire unit.

In the case of refrigeration malfunction, it is important to keep Food Safety Certification MN guidelines in mind if you must find an alternative storage solution.