Christine Dantz, Author at Safe Food For Thought

September 26, 2017September 7, 2017

Giving Your Staff a MN Food Training Checkup

One of the main goals of a food service supervisor should be to make sure that their staff is fully trained and growing stronger as a unit. Oftentimes, employees complete their Minnesota food training, gain their certifications then just stop. They put off reviewing what they’ve learned until the time comes for renewal. September has been set aside as National Food Safety Month, and we think a food training checkup goes along with the spirit of the month.

Food Training Checkup Tools

There are many resources available to bring attention to important food safety procedures during this month. ServSafe has developed a questionnaire to gauge how food service workers view the training that occurs at their place of employment. Using this as a guide could help you assess how your staff views food safety.

Along with this questionnaire, you may want to ask some questions tailored to your operation. Supervisors sometimes assume their staff understands food handling procedures and neglect certain aspects of their training. This lack of education can lead to an unhealthy situation for your customer base.

Whether it’s during cooling procedures, storage of product or cross contamination prevention, the slightest misstep could create a situation where your products sickens a guest. When you engage in a food training checkup activity, don’t overlook the small things. Familiarize each member on staff with proper procedures. It may help to discuss the risks that occur when they ignore food handling rules. Teaching your staff the problems that consuming tainted food causes will hopefully help them keep food safety as their top priority.

Once you’ve completed your checkup, you may find the need to consult a professional to run a training session. At Safe Food Training, we can help you with this process.

Do you engage in any kind of food safety checkup with your crew? If you have any great ideas to help your fellow certified food managers accomplish this task, leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

September 19, 2017September 9, 2017

Certified Food Manager Training For Multiple Employees

Benefits of More than One Certified Food Manager

Minnesota food code requires food service businesses to have at least one ServSafe manager on staff. If you own a restaurant or any other type of food preparation facility, you may wish to consider the benefits of having more than one supervisor or staff member undergo online certified food manager training.

Benefits of More than One with Certified Food Manager Training — Copyright: kurhan / 123RF Stock Photo

The Benefits of More than One Certified Food Manager

We see many positives when it comes to going beyond the minimum and having multiple ServSafe trained employees. Some of these positives include:

Greater food safety coverage
Scheduling flexibility
Trained staff available for promotions
Protection of your financial bottom line

Having extra employees with the knowledge that online Certified Food Manager training provides will go a long way towards keeping your guests safe from food-borne illness. The knowledge of how bacteria spreads and infects those who consume tainted food is key to stopping it from happening in the first place.

Hedging your bets with several certified food managers gives your business more flexibility when it comes to staffing. If your head chef or top supervisor takes an extended vacation, another team member can be ready to step up. This also makes it easier to fill any vacancies. If you encounter a situation where your manager has to vacate his position for any reason, you have key personnel ready to take their place without the need for training, certification or going through the long process of hiring a new supervisor from an outside source.

Finally, the more knowledgeable your staff the better they can protect your bottom line. Trained personnel will know how to prevent waste and how to store food properly. They will also make fewer food handling mistakes, preventing cross-contamination and the loss of food that has not been handled in a safe manner. When you’re serving food that is fresh and free of pathogens, you’re patrons will know the difference and you’ll gain more returning customers.

Does your food service business have enough coverage? If not, we gladly offer online ServSafe training and can create instructor led courses tailored to your needs.

September 12, 2017September 7, 2017

Food Safety Training Review of Proper Temperature Control

Temperature Control and Food Safe Training

It’s September, and we’re in the midst of National Food Safety Month. National Food Safety Month gives us the opportunity to look at some of the most important rules that keep our food safe. It also gives restaurateurs and food service supervisors the chance to pass on the knowledge they’ve learned during food safe training to their customers.

Temperature Control and Food Safety Training

Before we talk about ways to introduce food safe cooking practices to your guests, it’s important to quickly review proper temperature control procedures. All food must spend as little time in the danger zone as possible. This means all hot foods must remain over 140 degrees and all chilled foods must remain below 41 degrees. Raw proteins and reheated foods must be fully cooked before serving.

Reheated cooked product: 165 degrees
Raw poultry: 165 degrees
Ground meats and pork: 155 degrees
Eggs that will be held: 155 degrees
Eggs for immediate service: 145 degrees
Beef, fish and game: 145 degrees

When we talk to people who have never worked in the food industry, we find some interesting misconceptions about how temperature affects food safety. Many people know the common pathogens that cause food-borne illness due to media coverage of outbreaks, but they don’t consider how their cooking habits at home can have the same consequences on a smaller scale. While food business operators are not responsible for how their patrons handle food at home, Food Safety Month offers a way to share food safe training practices with their guests.

Including an insert in your menu that explains what Food Safety Month is about is an easy way to pass on food safe training practices. Educating your patrons on proper cooking temperatures for proteins can give them an at home guide to doing it themselves. The Minnesota Food Code provides fact sheets that can be easily adapted to produce a simple instruction guide to enlighten your guests on this key food safety issue.

We think it’s a great idea to pass on food safety tips to those not in the industry. Do you have any ways that you educate your guests?

September 5, 2017August 9, 2017

Food Training and Tracking a Food-Borne Illness Outbreak

As food safety professionals, we often play Monday morning quarterback whenever we read a news story about a major food-borne illness outbreak. We wonder what NFSRP standards were violated or if the certified food manager neglected some aspect of safe food training when bringing on new staff. Fortunately, the CDC tracks the vital statistics of an outbreak to bring a clearer picture of how they get started.

Food Training Guide to the Source of Food-Borne-Illness Outbreaks

One glaring statistic in the CDC’s collection of data that drew our attention is that 88-percent of outbreaks begin at a restaurant rather than a food packaging facility. This means that restaurant supervisors must implement quality food training methods that will enforce the importance of diligence in sanitation, prevention of cross contamination and proper temperature control. There is a very slim margin of error when it comes to keeping food safe, and in the fast paced atmosphere of a restaurant kitchen, the consequences multiply when food handling mistakes occur.

A second statistic that jumps out at us is the method of contamination. The top factors for food becoming contaminated are attributed to an employee handling food in some manner while infected with an illness. We think that this speaks volumes as to what a restaurant’s policy should be about working sick. Employees must not handle food while infectious.

The last statistic we’d like to point out is that over 45-percent of food poisoning outbreaks come from multi-ingredient dishes. Second and third place weren’t even close with vine vegetables at eight-percent and fish at seven-percent. There is no real trend to point to one protein or vegetable that is more likely to cause an outbreak than another. This means that all food needs to be handled with care, no matter what type of cuisine in on your menu.

If you’re a restaurateur, do these statistics surprise you? Let us know in the comments section.