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September 26, 2016September 26, 2016

A Safe Food Training Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

During a break in a recent Safe Food Training class a side discussion on kitchen fire safety “spontaneously ignited”. We decided it would be a good topic to have our friend and nationally recognized fire safety expert, Scott Futrell, blog about. This is the final in a series of blogs that will summarize fire prevention. Don’t let your kitchen, restaurant, and livelihood end up like the one in Figure 1 did, practice fire prevention!

Fire safety in your kitchen and your restaurant.

The Minnesota State Fire Code provides the minimum requirements for the fire prevention and fire protection in eating and drinking establishments. It is up to you to reduce the odds of a fire impacting your business by routinely doing several things.

It is very important that you monitor the work done by contractors hired to clean hoods, ducts, and fans as well as contractors hired to inspect, test, and maintain the fire suppression systems. The services they sell you may not match the objectives required to maintain your systems in a fire safe manner.

What do you need to do to protect your investment or your facility?

Look behind the filters and into the exhaust ductwork and monitor the grease build up prior to scheduled cleaning as well as immediately after cleaning to ensure it is cleaner than shown in Figure 2 where grease and the cleaner’s flashlight remained the day after the professional cleaning. Keep in mind that solid-fuel burning appliances leave creosote and it is harder to clean, but easier to ignite.

Minnesota Food Safety Managers Watch for Grease in Plenum — Grease in Plenum
Figure 2

Get any redesign of appliance floor plans approved

A consultant knowledgeable in the:

Minnesota State Fire Code,
International Mechanical Code
National Fire Protection Association: NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations

should approve planned changes before any appliances are moved or replaced from under existing nozzles or existing hoods.

Be vigilant about fire suppression nozzle caps

Grease gets into the fire suppression nozzles if the caps are off and then when the system needs to operate it can’t flow agent out of the grease plugged nozzles, so a policy that includes ensuring the nozzle caps are always in place protects your investment. See Figure 3 for a nozzle with the cap off and for a nozzle with grease caked inside of it.

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Fire Suppression Monitor Nozzels — Nozzle Missing Cap and Grease in Nozzle
Figure 3

Fire prevention and protection training

Establish as a part of your training program the fire prevention and protection requirements for all kitchen employees highlighting such topics as:

Manual pull station use (always the first thing in a fire if the system hasn’t operated automatically),
Always operate the exhaust system when there is activity in the kitchen
Define cleaning schedule and procedures
Check that nozzle caps are in place daily
Proper fire extinguisher use
And more.

Then have weekly or monthly staff meetings to reinforce the fire prevention, fire protection, and cleaning requirements associated with grease-laden cooking.

If you have any questions about fire safety in the food preparation environment that you would like to discuss contact Scott directly at (763) 425-1001 or scottf@ffcdi.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Scott A. Futrell, PE, FSFPE, CFPS, SET, CFEI, is a fire protection consultant with Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc., in Osseo, Minnesota and has over 40 years’ experience designing, specifying, and investigating fire protection system related losses and can be reached by e-mail at: scottf@ffcdi.com, or visit www.ffcdi.com.

Note from Tim Niles, Safe Food Training, Trainer and Editor-in-Chief, we truly appreciate the knowledge and hints Scott has provided for us in this series of blogs. He has a wealth of experience in fire prevention/protection and he’s regarded as a national expert. We’ve just scratched the surface of his knowledge in these blogs. It’s our hope that this information will stimulate our readers to take steps to make their facility a safer place for customers and employees. Thanks Scott!

September 21, 2016September 26, 2016

The MN Certified Food Managers and a 15-Dollar Minimum Wage

MN Certified Food Manager and a 15-Dollar Minimum Wage

During the course of providing HACCP training certification classes, we hear many MN certified food managers discussing how a rising minimum wage may impact their businesses. This issue potentially affects local companies, especially in light of recent attempts to place a 15 dollar minimum wage initiative on the upcoming November ballot in the city of Minneapolis. Recently, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a minimum wage increase cannot pass by a voter initiative, but control over the issue remains with the city council. Even so, since the food service industry hires a high number of minimum wage workers, we felt it beneficial to briefly explore the issue.

The MN Certified Food Managers and a 15-Dollar Minimum Wage

We hear several concerns from MN certified food managers whenever the topic of a higher minimum wage arises:
• Profit margins will drop
• Labor costs will force them to reduce the workforce
• They will lose tipped employees if customers refuse to tip
• They may have to close or move outside of city limits

The top two concerns that food service managers voice directly involve finances. Anyone who controls the books in a restaurant knows that the margin between cost and profit is extremely tight. While fears of being able to operate a restaurant in a high minimum wage environment are valid, restaurant.org suggests that states such as California, where higher minimum wages exist in cities such as San Francisco, are forecasted to see record growth.

While a high minimum wage directly affects labor cost, one theory suggests that adding more money into the economy will bring more customers into local restaurants. Younger workers tend to benefit the most from a higher minimum wage, and some economists feel that if the younger workforce receives more money on their weekly paycheck, they are more apt to spring for luxuries such as dining out. This unproven theory makes sense, but many business owners hesitate to risk their livelihood on something that has yet to be studied.

Finally, many tipped employees worry they will earn less due to customers not tipping in high minimum wage cities. Some restaurateurs suggest that a guest will be less likely to tip if they know that their server is making 15 dollars an hour. This can take a big portion out of a server’s paycheck, and we have heard that many servers feel that a high minimum wage will reduce the amount of money they make if they choose to stay employed in restaurants in Minneapolis should they raise the minimum wage.

Both advocates and opponents of higher minimum wages passionately argue their sides of this issue. If any changes to our states minimum wage laws take place, we will cover the ramifications and new regulations in deeper detail.

September 13, 2016September 13, 2016

Food Training Certification and Reducing Sugar

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Food training certification often overlooks the benefits of proper nutrition, but nutrition impacts many aspects of the food service industry. A recent report from the American Heart Association recommends children between the ages of two and 18 only consume 25 grams of sugar per day. We visit many different local restaurants, and we see that many kid’s menus contain options that potentially exceed the AMA’s guidelines.

Food Training Certification and Sugar Consumption in Children

by duplass – yayimages.com

Eating too much sugar will not create a food-borne illness risk for children, but certain health conditions such as hyperactivity, heart disease and obesity have been linked to sweetened foods and drinks. Should this concern kitchen managers and restaurant supervisors? Some feel that parents make choices for their children, so some feel that restaurants are not responsible for how much sugar their meals contain. That can be true to a certain extent, but with parents searching for health conscious choices for their children’s lunches and dinners it is advantageous to at least provide some low-sugar alternatives.

Finding a substitute for high-sugar ingredients can be a challenge, but replacing a few canned or prepackaged items with fresh ingredients will go a long way. Preservatives in canned items increase sugar content, especially in canned fruit that is a common side served to children. Providing fresh fruit or vegetables as a side offers a healthy and low sugar option.

Sauces also contain added sugars. Just by reading the label of readily available canned pasta sauce, you can learn that many of these sauces contain nearly half of the AMA’s recommended amount of sugar in as little as one serving. If you are considering reducing the amount of sugar you serve to children, we suggest you take the time to assess all of your prepackaged ingredient items and consider whether or not it would be beneficial to make these ingredients from scratch or find a fresh food alternative.

Finally, soda and other sweetened beverages contain plenty of sugar. We understand children love their soda and you cannot remove soda completely from your menus, but offering milk and fresh juices as an alternative will please parents looking for low sugar choices.

We love to explore health issues beyond food-borne illnesses and food training certification. If there is something that you would like to us explore that isn’t covered in an online food safety course, feel free to suggest a topic in the comment section below.

August 20, 2016August 20, 2016

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert Regarding Restaurant Fire Hazards

As Minnesota certified food managers we are trained to create a safe eating experience for our guests. But owners and food service managers must bear in mind more than just food safety to protect employees and customers. This is the fourth in a series of blogs that look specifically at the hazards that Scott Futrell, a local fire protection consultant, has provided to assist you in protecting your customers, business and employees.

What can Owners and Minnesota Certified Food Managers do to protect your investment or your facility?

The Minnesota State Fire Code requires you to maintain your fire protection equipment in working condition. There are procedures you should establish for you and your staff in addition to hiring competent contractors to clean and inspect and test your systems and equipment.

Basically the Codes and Standards require you to inspect, test, and maintain your kitchen hood, duct, fan, and suppression systems in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements. Thus it is essential you obtain from the contractor the minimum requirements for inspection, testing, and maintenance and then understand your responsibilities and the very limited, or minimal, portions of these requirements that the contractor will actually perform.

Checklist for Kitchen Fire Safety

The owner’s responsibility for inspection and maintenance of wet chemical systems on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis should include the following at a minimum:

It is very important to note that often the fusible links are wired shut during the cleaning process to prevent accidental activation preventing the system from operating automatically. It’s also possible that your system might have been disconnected, damaged, or has accumulated excessive deposits of grease causing your system to become inoperative, see Figure 1.

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards — Figure 1 – Post Grease
All Image credits: Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc

Both of these pictures were taken post-fire, where the suppression system did not operate because the expellant was disconnected. Note that the grease cleaning was not performed thoroughly. The fire occurred the day after the cleaning!

The bottom line is this:

Contractors that you hire for inspection, testing and maintenance do not perform all of the safety checks that need to be done on your systems on a daily, weekly, or periodic basis;
your responsibilities include staff education as well as performing daily, weekly, and periodic inspections;
your responsibilities include observing the hoods, ducts, and fire protection devices after the contractor’s complete their work; and
schedule the fire suppression six-month inspection, test, and maintenance immediately after the hood, duct, and fan cleaning.

If you want more information or have any questions about fire safety in the food preparation environment that you would like Scott to discuss leave a comment.