Author: Christine Dantz

Posted on

Uncharted Flu Season Warning For MN Food Safety Managers

Uncharted Flue Season for MN food safety managers

Food safety managers in Minnesota and the rest of the world have had to take unprecedented precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now are faced with balancing those precautions as well as monitoring employee health and hygiene as we approach the flu season. Due to the convergence of these two potentially debilitating illnesses, what can MN food safety managers do to protect their staff and their guests?

What can MN food safety managers do to protect their staff and their guests from the convergence of COVID19 and Influenza?
Image credit: Sorin Ciprian Suciu via 123rf

How MN Food Safety Managers can Prepare for Flu Season

While there is some speculation that COVID-19 precautions may help keep flu numbers low, it’s still very important to educate your employees on workplace food safety protocols surrounding influenza. The good news is that there is a great deal of overlap when it comes to influenza prevention and Coronavirus prevention. Food safety managers should remind employees of a few health and hygiene practices:

  • Wash hands often
  • Never work when sick
  • Return home for work if symptoms begin on the job
  • Wait at least 24 hours after symptoms vanish before returning to work

These should be standard practices in any food production business, no matter what the circumstance. MN food safety managers should not just assume that their staff will follow these rules, they should monitor the health and hygiene practices of their staff. Make sure that you post proper handwashing posters at all handwashing stations and monitor these stations often to make sure they are fully stocked with soap and paper towels. You should also take the time to verify that each handwashing station is supplying hot water.

Employees should be reminded that they should never work with symptoms of illness, flu or otherwise. Fevers, headaches, coughs, runny nose and other symptoms are red flags when it comes to influenza. Remind them to be extremely cautious and call in sick should they be displaying symptoms, no matter how mild. If symptoms begin while at work, food safety managers should make sure the potentially ill employee is sent home.

Finally, it’s important to wait at least 24 hours after recovering from flu symptoms before returning to work. Just because an employee wakes up feeling better than they did the night before, it doesn’t mean that they are no longer contagious. Considering the potential for a public health crisis involving both influenza and COVID-19, food safety managers may wish to extend this period to 48 hours before allowing an ill employee to come back to work.

Have you taken the time to remind your staff of good health and hygiene procedures as we roll into the flu season?

Posted on

Urgent Mental Health Resources For Food Safety Professionals During COVID-19

Food Safety Professionals and Mental Health during COVID-19

COVID-19 has taken its toll on the physical, economic and mental health of working professionals in our country, and the foodservice industry has been especially hard hit. Many restaurants have closed forever, workers have lost jobs and many furloughed and isolated food safety professionals have confessed to overwhelming anxiety, depression, or addiction during these times. where can industry professionals turn in these trying times? We’ve created a shortlist of mental health resources for food safety professionals.

Food Safety Professionals and Mental Health during COVID-19
Image credit: inesbazdar via 123rf.com

Free Mental Health Resources For Food Safety Professionals During COVID-19

The National Restaurant Association has compiled a list of free mental health resources in an effort to help industry professionals who are struggling.

Some of these free resources we’d like to highlight include:

While we encourage struggling food industry professionals to check out the full list of resources the NRA recommends, we’d like to highlight four of them.

Sanvello is an app with self-care resources, connections to other members in the hospitality industry, and coaching to help you get through trying times. With a focus on the hospitality industry, the Sanvello community has the potential to help food safety professionals find relatable resources to ward of anxiety and depression.

With anxiety, depression and isolation come increased risk for addiction or relapse from addiction recovery. Ben’s Friends was founded in honor of a lifelong food safety professional, Ben Murray, whose struggle with addiction led him to take his own life. They are currently offering free Zoom meetings to food and beverage personnel who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. With a focus on food industry professionals, they have a first-hand perspective on addiction in the industry.

Psych Hub offers comprehensive mental health resources and education that covers a great number of topics. From anxiety to suicide prevention, Psych Hub has an extensive mental health video library to assist those dealing with mental health problems during trying times.

If you need a real person to talk or text with about a mental health crisis, the Crisis Text Line is available 24/7. Just text 741741 anywhere in the United States to be immediately connected to a trained volunteer who will be instantly ready to provide support.

If you or a food safety professional friend are feeling too overwhelmed with anxiety, depression, addiction or any other form of mental health issue that these free resources don’t cover, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional rather than self-diagnose and self-treat. Mental health is an issue that should never be ignored and neglected.

Posted on

Should Certified Food Protection Managers Worry About COVID-19 In Food?

Certified Food Protection Managers COVID-19 in Food

The science behind understanding how COVID-19 spreads is ever-evolving and even though we don’t know everything about this virus, we have a general picture of how to prevent its spread. We’ve been told that masks, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings can slow the spread, but should Certified Food Protection Managers be doing anything to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 through the food we produce in restaurants and other food production businesses?

Certified Food Protection Managers Worry About COVID-19 In Food
Image credit: pickpik.com

Certified Food Protection Managers and COVID-19 Spread Via Food

In the early days of the pandemic, researchers had suggested that the risk of transmission through food was small, and a more recent study completed by the International Commission for Microbiological Specification for Foods seems to finally give us some good news on the COVID-19 front by claiming that there may not be a food safety hazard when it comes to the Coronavirus.

These findings are great news for certified food protection managers. As restaurants reopen, they now have the added responsibility of enforcing local health guidelines on top of their other duties, so it takes some pressure off knowing there’s very little chance of the spread of COVID through their food product.

The ICMSF’s study shows that since food enters the human body through the gastrointestinal tract, COVID-19 shouldn’t be considered a food safety hazard since the coronavirus’ method of infection involves contaminated air entering the lungs. According to the study, there has been no substantial evidence of cases of COVID-19 that can be traced back to food. The current theory is that traces of COVID-19 on food and food packaging will lose viability over time and even if the virus were to be consumed with food, it would be destroyed in the digestive process before reaching the bloodstream.

These findings don’t mean CFPMs can relax when it comes to food safety in the kitchen or coronavirus prevention measures. We should still be vigilant in keeping our food safe from all pathogens and providing a healthy dining environment for our guests.

Are you concerned that food may contain a hidden COVID-19 risk?

Posted on

How Strict New Romaine Growing Standards Help CFPMs

Over the course of the past several years, we’ve seen numerous recalls on romaine lettuce and other leafy greens due to foodborne illness outbreaks. These recalls have caused headaches for Certified Food Protection Managers (CFPMs) as they’ve had to pull popular items like Caesar salads off of menus and scramble for replacement greens with every recall. The good news for CFPMs, the romaine lettuce growing industry is adapting and large growing regions in California and Arizona are adopting stricter regulations to prevent contaminated greens from being shipped to restaurants and grocery stores around the country.

Strict New Romaine Growing Standards Help CFPMs
Image credits: PxHere

CFPMs Benefit FromTougher Romaine Growing Standards

CFPMs should be able to rely on the quality of produce they receive in order to keep their customers safe. When they receive romaine or other greens that are tainted with E.coli, salmonella, listeria or other bacteria, there is often little they can do to prevent this contamination from spreading to their guests. In many cases, even rinsed and cleaned lettuce still contains traces of contaminates that are only killed at high temperatures.

The instability of the safety of the greens for major growing regions has forced CFPMs to reconsider where they source their produce. Some source it from outside California and Arizona, and others rely on indoor hydroponic farms to ensure the safety of their fresh greens. This has put pressure on major growers to adopt new standards to keep their greens safe. Some new rules going into effect in Arizona and California growing regions include:

  • Stringent treatment of water sources to remove pathogens
  • Enhanced water testing methods
  • Rewritten protocols to prevent groundwater from contacting edible parts of plants
  • Updated regulations for equipment storage and sanitation
  • Outlined practices to prevent the edible portion of greens from contacting soil during harvest

As you can see, the studies that have linked contaminated water and pathogens in Romaine lettuce have led to changes in the testing and treatment of water. Growers are also recognizing the connection between soil contact and contamination and taking steps to prevent contamination through contact with the ground, tools that have touched the soil and other possible contacts that could contaminate lettuce during harvesting.

While there’s very little CFPMs can do with some contaminates, it’s important to be aware of changes in the lettuce growing industry that could make volatile ingredients such as leafy greens safer to consumers.

Do you feel large growers are doing enough to keep the greens they ship safe for consumption?