Christine Dantz, Author at Safe Food For Thought

August 1, 2017July 7, 2017

Food Safety Certification and Catering Weddings

Food Saftey Certification Guide to Outdoor Weddings

For many caterers, business picks up when summer and wedding season arrives. One of the challenges of a wedding is that many of these events happen off-site and in unfamiliar locations. Some occur in rental halls with limited or no kitchen space and many take place in every caterer’s biggest challenge, the great outdoors. These types of events stretch catering supervisors memory of food safety certification training and require extra careful preparation.

Food Safety Certification Guide to Outdoor Weddings

Knowing your off-site venue helps you prepare for efficient and safe food service. Multiple reconnaissance trips give you insight into your challenges and help you plan accordingly. Whether transporting menu items of monitoring buffet line, you must remember certain rules to prevent food-borne illness from ruining the couple’s big day.

- Food must be handled hands free
- Ample utensils must be available if no dishwashing station is present
- Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold

Any staff members preparing food must follow hand-free regulations. Having food-service gloves or serving utensils present offers a readily available solution. If there are no restroom facilities, a mobile hand washing station may be required.

Keeping hot and cold foods out of the danger zone reduces the risk of spreading contaminates. Chafing dishes or a portable warmer to keep food hot is essential, and frequently replenishing the ice keeping cold food displays below 40 degrees goes a long way towards giving guests an enjoyable experience rather resulting in memories of the sickness of the day after. If there is a passed appetizer reception, food can only be served for any hour before being replaced with fresh items.

When catering an outdoor wedding or any event, notifying guests to potential allergens such as dairy, nuts and shellfish is important. Having a menu placard in front of each dish that contains allergens alerts those who cannot consume these items to their presence.

If you’re a caterer, do you have any tips for preventing the spread of illness at large outdoor gatherings such as weddings? If so, feel free to share.

July 25, 2017July 7, 2017

MN Food Manager Certification Training and Menus

Whether written in chalk on a sandwich board or displayed in elegant fonts in a leather bound folder, menus exist in nearly every restaurant around the world. They also play an important role in food safety and preventing the spread of food-borne illness. In a recent food manager certification training session we engaged in a discussion about what style of menu best promotes food safety, and this week we’d like to share our findings.

Food Manager Certification Training for Keeping Menus Safe

If a restaurant places menus on the table, guests inevitably pick it up. Sometimes food spills on menus and used eating utensils come into contact with the surface. Each of these things potentially transfer bacteria onto these menus that can cause food-borne illness. Different types pose different levels of risk, and some of the menu solutions we’ve looked at include:

Paper
Laminated
Overhead signs
Digital

Some food managers use disposable paper menus to prevent one guest from spreading an illness to the next. This is effective only if the menus are disposed of after each diner uses them. Paper menus come with the added cost of the regular purchase of paper goods and the time it takes to print them before, after and even during service if supply runs low.

Laminated menus last longer than paper menus, but an increased risk of spreading bacteria comes if cleaning is infrequent. We’ve visited restaurants where laminated menus feel slick and greasy and may not have been sanitized. Laminated menus beat paper as far as cost effectiveness goes, but sanitation should occur between guests.

From a food manager certification training perspective, an overhead sign poses no real food safety threat to guests. This or a sandwich board offers a good solution for establishments that take orders at a counter rather than provide table-side service.

Many restaurants experiment with the use of digital menus. These range from a tablet left by a server or a touch screen permanently resting on the table. Using a device as a menu may raise operating costs, but they give your customers a unique experience as games and videos give them extra entertainment while waiting for food to arrive. It helps speed up service during busy times as guests can place an order without a server’s assistance. The screens of these need cleaning often as guests will frequently touch them.

Do you consider the spread of food-borne illness when deciding what type of menu to use in your facility?

July 18, 2017July 7, 2017

Online Food Safety Course Guide to Restaurant Grease Traps

We learn in online food safety courses that grease causes health risks by attracting pests such as rodents, cockroaches and fruit flies, and greasy areas in your restaurant breed bacteria that potentially finds its way into prepared dishes. While wiping down counters and keeping grease traps empty in deep fryers and grills goes a long way towards reducing risk, there is an often overlooked part of grease control that must be taken care of.

Proper Maintenance of Restaurant Grease Traps

Many food production facilities have a grease trap located out of sight that prevents grease from entering the waste water system. It is important to make sure that it is properly cleaned and maintained. Ignoring this safety device can cause hazards such as:

Sewage backups
Slow drainage
Pest infestations

An improperly maintained grease trap eventually prevents wastewater from entering the sewage system. This causes your drain to run slowly, and could cause contaminated water to back up into your facility. A sewage backup digs into your profit margin as a plumber must be called in, product exposed to contaminated wastewater must be disposed of and you might be forced to close your doors while the problem is resolved.

Excess grease increases the risk that insects and other unsanitary pests find their way into your facility, and if your grease trap becomes clogged, fruit flies could propagate in your drainage system before you’re even aware of a problem.

We need to note that grease that collects in these traps must be disposed of properly. Many local sources offer grease collection services. They properly recycle collected grease for you, and some companies may even pay you for the grease you collect over time depending on the amount and quality of your grease.

Grease control is only one topic covered in an online food safety course. Are there any other topic that you’d like us to expand on in the future?

July 11, 2017July 7, 2017

ServSafe Food Manager and Allergy Education

Allergy Action Plans and the ServSafe Food Manager

As a ServSafe Food Manager it’s important that the staff be familiar with your allergy action plan. While most food service workers know about food allergies and feel they can accommodate customers with allergies who visit their establishment, educational gaps occur in some facilities concerning how allergies work and what to do in an emergency situation. The CDC recently conducted a study seeking to find how much restaurant staff actually knew about the topic and came up with some interesting findings.

Allergy Action Plans and the ServSafe Food Manager

One illuminating fact this study shows is that allergies are more common than many ServSafe food managers realize. One in 13 children suffers from some form of food allergy, while one in 25 adults must avoid certain foods. The severity of reaction varies from person to person, but some react by coming into contact with allergens without even ingesting the ingredient.

Since some of these reactions cause severe distress, and possibly death if emergency help does not arrive in time, having a plan in place prepares your staff to deal with guests with allergies. Some things you should teach your employees include:

What common allergens exist in your facility
Some customers cannot consume even small amount of certain items
How to react if a guest has a reaction

Knowledge helps keep your guests safe. Some of your patrons will not be able to consume common items such as nuts, dairy or shellfish. Teaching your cooks and service staff how these ingredients are used can help steer guests away from certain dishes.

If a guest has a reaction, get help immediately. Some reactions happen from minor contact and should not be waited out to see if the guest recovers. Call 911, and if a guest wears an allergy alert bracelet relay that information so that emergency responders can be prepared.

Integrate allergy training to make sure your staff feels confident in serving diners with allergies. Some outlets nominate one or two employees, one of them their designated ServSafe food manager, to receive extra training and pass that knowledge on to staff members and personally handle guests questions about allergens on the menu.

Do you have an allergy action plan? If so, feel free to share in the comment section below.