Author: Christine Dantz

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Important Food Safety Training for Off-Site Catering

Important Food Safety Training for Off-Site Catering

The food and beverage industry has suffered greatly over the past year, but the catering industry has taken a substantial hit due to the limits on social gatherings. Now that the StaySafe MN guidance is beginning to allow more participants at social events, the demand for catering services is beginning to increase. With the pressure to maintain COVID-19 prevention protocols and adhere to food safety training in order to keep guests safe at catered events, it may be useful to take a look at the safe way to cater an off-site event.

Important Food Safety Training for Off-Site Catering
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Food Safety Training for Remote Catering Events

Coronavirus occupancy rules cause the biggest confusion for caterers providing services away from their kitchen. The proprietor of the venue should be accountable for capacity limits, but your catering staff must also be included in the numbers in order to remain in compliance. At the time of writing, there are two capacity standards; indoor and outdoor. Up to 50 attendees can occupy an outdoor event, while indoor events are limited to 15. This means that you may be required to limit the staff on hand in order for the venue to meet these numbers. When planning a catering event, make sure that you consult current StaySafeMN guidelines and coordinate with the venue to ensure you can adequately schedule your staff.

Besides COVID protocols, caterers must follow proper catering food safety guidelines. Many of these guidelines line up with what you’ve learned during food safety training. All food at catered events must:

Time and temperature control go a long way to preventing a foodborne illness outbreak, so make sure that you check your equipment to make sure it is capable of keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Also, take the time to check the internal temperature of all cooked foods to verify they’ve been cooked properly.

There may be times when an off-site catering client suggests they will supply the food product for the event as a cost-saving measure. Unfortunately, you may not be able to verify whether or not they are purchasing ingredients from an approved source. We suggest working with catering clients to purchase all ingredients from your normal suppliers.

Do you have a catering business that’s finally starting to see more clients? Have you taken time to refresh your staff food safety training for off-site catering?

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Important Differences Between A Certified Food Protection Manager And A Person In Charge

Differences Between Certified Food Protection Manager and Person In Charge

Certified food protection managers play a very important role in keeping the Minnesota dining community safe from foodborne illness through food safety training, monitoring cooking procedures and ensuring the Minnesota food code is properly followed. Because this is such an important role, all establishments serving food are required to employ a certified food protection manager. The food code also outlines the rules for a designated person in charge (PIC). We’re sometimes asked if these two roles are the same, or if they are two completely separate management figures.

Important Differences Between A Certified Food Protection Manager And A Person In Charge
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The Differences between a Certified Food Protection Manager and a Designated Person in Charge

In order to understand the difference between a certified food protection manager and a designated PIC, we should take a close look at the two food code rules that address these positions. While every establishment is required to employ at least one CFPM, a PIC is required to be responsible for safe food handling practices “during all hours of operation.” If your establishment only has one certified food protection manager on staff, they would have to be on the clock every single second your business is open if they were also the designated person in charge. If your establishment is open more than 40 hours a week, you may want to make sure that there is plenty of hot coffee on hand for your CFPM if they are on the job for hundreds of hours a week.

Fortunately, your PIC doesn’t always have to be a certified food protection manager. While you should designate your CFPM as a person in charge when they’re on the clock, you should identify and schedule a qualified staff member as the PIC for shifts when the certified food protection manager is not in the building. Some likely candidates include:

  • Sous Chef
  • Lead Cook
  • Front-of-the-House Supervisor
  • Assistant Kitchen Manager

Your designated PIC doesn’t necessarily have to be a management figure, but they should be knowledgeable, willing to be responsible for monitoring food safety standards and be available should the local health inspector arrive for an inspection.

How do you designate your PIC?

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Suggestions Food Safety Managers Can Use To Make Takeouts Greener

Suggestions food safety managers can use to make takeouts Greener

Takeout and delivery services have become very popular over the course of the past year, and with this increased demand, comes an increase in the amount of takeout-related materials on hand in every restaurant. With so many elements involved in takeout orders, food safety managers should take a few steps to reduce the amount of waste involved when packing takeouts and delivery orders.

Suggestions Food Safety Managers Can Use To Make Takeouts Greener
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Waste Reduction Hints for Food Safety ManagersTo Improve Takeouts and Delivery

When you consider all the elements that go into to-go orders, there is a great potential for waste. Clamshell containers, individually packaged utensils, sauce packets and lids all have the potential to be wasted. Many customers prefer to use their own silverware at home, may have no need for the tiny packet of ketchup or simply toss excess containers in the trash. Sending these items with every takeout order eats into your food safety manager’s bottom line, creates waste and may have a negative impact on the environment.

In order to reduce waste, you may wish to ask customers who place a takeout order if they require silverware, sauces or other optional items. You may find that more of your customers are concerned about waste than you think.

Takeout and delivery don’t just create more waste, many to-go containers, utensils and sauce packets are cmposed of plastics that are harmful to the environment. Here are a few things food safety managers should consider when planning takeout service:

  • Stock biodegradable containers
  • Use small recyclable containers rather than prepackaged sauces
  • Consider compostable straws and utensils over plastic
  • Utilize reusable bags

Current innovations in recyclable and biodegradable restaurant supplies have made it possible to reduce your environmental impact without sacrificing the quality of your service. While paper-based takeout containers may not last forever, they’ll retain their integrity long enough for guests to enjoy their meals. The same goes for paper straws and biodegradable utensils. By making a few small changes food safety managers can go a long way in reducing waste and being environmentally focused with your delivery and takeout supplies.

Have you looked into how you can be more environmentally conscious with the way you provide delivery services?

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Revealing New Studies On Foodborne Illness Prevention

Foodborne Illness Prevention

With an increased emphasis on sanitation due to the global pandemic, many have speculated that these regulations have had an impact on other types of illness. We recently came across an article stipulating that foodborne illnesses are down due to coronavirus countermeasures. While the studies referenced were performed in Australia and Europe, we see a direct correlation between food safety training, COVID-19 measures and foodborne illness prevention.

Revealing New Studies On Foodborne Illness Prevention
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How Coronavirus Measures have Impacted Foodborne Illness Prevention

The study conducted by the Australian Government is rather extensive, so we’ll briefly break down their findings.

The Australian study showed a rather large reduction of foodborne illness cases, especially when it came to the norovirus. Norovirus outbreaks are among the most common foodborne illness issues worldwide. This study shows norovirus cases were drastically reduced, almost 80-percent less than the previous year when compared to e.Coli and salmonella, which were reduced by approximately 50 percent. European studies have also suggested that norovirus rates lowered significantly over the past year.

We can speculate that reduced restaurant patronage contributed to the reduction of foodborne illness cases, but when you consider that the spread of norovirus is easily controlled through a food safety training emphasis on sanitation and handwashing, we can account for the vastly differing percentage when compared to e.Coli and salmonella, two bacteria that can also be spread through contaminated product.

We hope to be out of the water soon when it comes to dealing with COVID-19, but if we continue to emphasize good handwashing and sanitation, maybe we can keep the momentum going on preventing other illnesses that can be stopped by good food safety training.