New Years Resolutions for Certified Food Managers

Top 10 Certified Food Manager New Year’s Resolutions

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Let’s shift our focus to the new year after cleaning the champagne glasses, wrapping up the college bowl games of New Year’s, and sweeping up the streamers. Hopefully, every certified food manager will resolve to be diligent regarding safety this year, but we have ten specific resolutions that are high on our priority list.

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Specific Resolutions for Certified Food Managers

1: Use your food thermometer in all situations. To ensure that all foods remain safe for consumption, it is important to keep them out of the danger zone regardless of whether they are hot-held, chilled, or ready-to-serve.

2: Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before serving. Potential food-borne illness hazards can still affect raw and room temperature-served foods.

3: Cool hot foods safely and as quickly as possible. Cooling soups, roasts, and other hot foods properly is essential. They need to get below dangerous temperatures as fast as possible.

4: Wash your hands. It is crucial to emphasize that after handling raw food, changing gloves, eating, smoking, or using the bathroom, you must wash your hands for 20 seconds with plenty of soap and hot water.

5. Don’t work while sick. If you are sick, it’s possible to spread your illness to your customers. If you’re exhibiting disease symptoms, take time off, rest, and get better.

6: Make sure your refrigeration is working correctly. Buy and install a thermometer for each unit in your facility. Sometimes, the difference between 39 and 42 degrees is impossible to determine using human senses, but bacteria will undoubtedly know the difference.

7: Rotate your inventory correctly. Don’t let old or expired foods make their way into your preparation areas. Ensure all your stock is labeled and rotated to ensure that potentially spoiled product is never served to your customers.

But Wait There’s More!

8: Make sure cloths are clean and free of contaminants. It’s no use cleaning your workspace with a soiled cleaning cloth. This can have adverse effects and even create hazards. Keep cleaning utensils clean!

9: Be diligent! Don’t ignore potential hazards with the excuse that you’ll “deal with it later.” Take care of them right away.

10: Promote food safety. Be an educator. Train each staff member on the proper routine to ensure safe food handling for their station. A well-taught employee will be a diligent one.

We hope every certified food manager who has completed food safety certification in MN will take these ten resolutions to heart, and strive to make 2024 safe from food-borne illness.

post-holiday season slump secrets can help CFPMs

These Post-Holiday Season Slump Secrets Can Help CFPMs

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The month of December is traditionally the busiest month of the year in the food service industry. But it’s followed by January, which has the notorious reputation of being the slowest. While at first, the post-holiday season slump is a pleasant break from the non-stop holiday pace, MN certified food protection managers – CFPMs soon begin to scratch their heads to find ways to keep their staff productive and happily employed at the same time.

In some cases, it may be necessary to trim labor hours during the slow season. However, there are ways to take advantage of the downtime.

Post-Holiday Season Slump Secrets Can Help CFPMs

Potential Post-Holiday Season Slump Projects For CFPMs

Before cutting hours or letting your staff set up card games in the break room, there are several tasks that you should consider taking care of when you have a seasonal lull in production.

  • Ensure your key managers have up-to-date Minnesota CFPM certification
  • Address potential food safety hazards
  • Clean and organize storage areas
  • Cross-train employees

One of every MN certified food protection manager’s priorities should be to address potential food safety concerns during the post-holiday slump season. That is why January is the perfect month to ensure your staff’s training is current. Instead of taking away valuable production time during the busy months, this slow season is the perfect time for food safety training. It is also a good time to alter and change production methods and organize your storage space to eliminate potential contamination hazards.

Utilizing downtime to cross-train employees is an often overlooked alternative to cutting staff hours. January is a good time of the year to assess your team members for individuals who have the potential to move into other roles within your facility or those who are eager to learn more.

There are slow seasons throughout the year in nearly any industry. Spending your downtime wisely can often prepare your team for success in the new year. The staff at Safe Food Training would like to take this time to wish you a safe, productive, and successful 2024.

Food Product Recall Widget For Certified Food Protection Managers

A New Look At Food Product Recalls for Certified Food Protection Managers

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In the very first “Safe Food for Thought”, a blog for certified food protection managers, published on October 30, 2015, we discussed the importance of keeping up to date on food product recalls. As part of that new platform, we included a US foodsafety.gov fed streaming Food recall alert. This feature provides real-time notices of recalls and public health alerts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which are listed in the widget 24/7.

You no longer have to lose sleep worrying about serving contaminated food supplied by a manufacturer. Instead, quickly check the widget on our blog once daily to ensure your supplies are safe.

Food Product Recall Widget For Certified Food Protection Managers

On full screen, you will see the Food Safety Recall widget on the right side of our blog page. A slide bar on the right allows you to scroll down to see recalls past recalls. If you find a recall that concerns you, click on it, and you’ll get detailed information. (You must scroll past the most recent blogs on your mobile to find the widget.)

Indeed, paying attention to product recalls is crucial, but it’s equally important to know what constitutes a recalled item. Food product recalls are incredibly specific. Questionable products in your inventory must have all of these details:

  • Same brand
  • Product name
  • Use-by or freeze-by date
  • Establishment number
  • And more.

If you’re unsure, your certified food protection manager can always contact the manufacturer with your information and ask if they recalled the food product.

If the product details match, please follow these steps:

  • Do not open or consume the product!
  • Contact your supplier to return the product or dispose of it according to the instructions in the recall notice. This is vital as it ensures no one else could pick it up and consume it.

By all means, keep yourself and those around you safe by staying informed on recalls and taking proper actions when necessary.

How often do you actively check your inventory products for recalls?

Proven ServSafe Guide For Better Shellfish Storage

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The ocean waters are getting colder, which ushers in the prime season for live mussels from Penn Cove, Washington, North Atlantic clams, or fresh Virginia oysters. The import of live and fresh shellfish can raise ServSafe MN questions, such as how to keep shellfish alive during the storage of these seasonal catches.

Proven ServSafe Guide For Better Shellfish Storage
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Fresh Shellfish Storage Tips For ServSafe Managers

In the case of clams and mussels, the best time to cook them is when they are still alive. We recommend that they be cooked, processed, or sold within a day or two of their arrival. This will ensure incredible quality and freshness as well as reduce foodborne illness.

Upon receiving your fresh shellfish and before storage, we first recommend that ServSafe managers inspect them. If they have a pungent odor or you see several open shells, your shipment inevitably has dead clams, mussels, or oysters. The second thing we recommend is that you rinse shellfish under cold, running water. As you do this, be aware that live shellfish will drown if kept under unmoving water.

Once you have rinsed them, ignore your instincts to clean your shellfish, especially mussels. Many times, you will see plant life attached to mussels. This plant life can be attached to the membrane, which holds the shell shut. Removing it will damage and kill your mussels. We suggest that you wait to clean shellfish until just before processing.

ServSafe managers must train staff to keep live shellfish in refrigerated storage under 40oF. They should be stored in a perforated pan and covered with ice. Ensure you place your perforated pan in a deep enough container to accommodate ice melt. Remember that live shellfish will die if submerged.

You should also periodically check your shellfish. A good sign of a dead clam is an open clam while all the other clams are shut firmly. Remove dead shellfish as soon as possible to prevent contamination.

Allergy Concerns

With live shellfish, it is always recommended that you remember that many people can have severe allergic reactions to the slightest contact. To prevent cross-contamination with non-seafood items, ServSafe Managers should store your shellfish as far away as possible from other foods, and never above or below other raw meats. A good suggestion would be to store shellfish on a bottom shelf under packaged foods.