CFPMs can reinforce Approved use of Sanitizing Solutions

How CFPMs Can Reinforce Approved Use Of Sanitation Solutions

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Sanitizer solutions are essential in reducing the risk of sickening guests, but when used improperly, they can actually increase foodborne illness hazards. So how can certified food protection managers ensure that the staff is using the sanitation solution properly?

Proper Sanitation Solution Use for Certified Food Protection Managers

There are four things CFPMs should be aware of when it comes to properly using sanitizer solutions:

  • Approved Solutions
  • Strength
  • Effective Time Lapse
  • Cloths Soaked in Solution
CFPMs Can Reinforce Approved Use Of Sanitation Solutions
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Your sanitizer solution must be a solution approved by the Minnesota food code. Common approved solutions include bleach, quat sanitizers and iodine. These solutions must be mixed to the appropriate strength, so follow the directions closely and use test strips from your sanitizer supplier to ensure proper strength. If it’s too strong, you risk contaminating food with the chemicals involved, and weak solutions will not properly sanitize your surfaces and equipment. Many restaurant suppliers offer automated dispensers that will mix sanitizers and water at the appropriate strength, just make sure to test from time to time to ensure that your solutions are in acceptable ranges.

Sanitizer solutions don’t remain effective forever, so certified food protection managers should instruct their staff to dispose of old sanitizer at regular intervals. If used often, these solutions may become less effective sooner than indicated on the bottle’s label, so be aware that solutions may need to be rotated frequently.

Finally, be aware that your solutions don’t necessarily completely sanitize cleaning rags. If you have an extremely dirty cloth and continue to use it, you’re not exactly sanitizing anything. In fact, you could be spreading grease and bacteria all over your kitchen no matter how long a dirty rag has sat in your sanitizer solution. The best plan is to keep a damp sanitizer rag available rather than soaking it in sanitizer buckets and use clean cloths after old ones become soiled.

Do you take the time to test your sanitizer solutions from time to time to ensure their effectiveness?

What Minnesota Food Managers Need to Know About Listeria

What Minnesota Food Managers Need to Know About Listeria

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With recent national listeria outbreaks linked to soft cheeses and packaged deli meats, we’ve been asked what Minnesota food managers can do to prevent listeria from becoming an issue in their facility. To understand how to prevent a listeria outbreak, it’s important to take a look at how they get started.

What Minnesota Food Managers Need to Know About Listeria
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How Minnesota Food Managers can Reduce Listeria Risks

The most common causes of listeria poisonings come from soft cheese, processed meats, ice cream and raw vegetables at the mass production level. Due to some of these items being prepared in large batches, the danger exists for ingredients to be held at temperatures conducive to listeria bacterial growth. This is why we tend to see widespread recalls rather than smaller outbreaks on local levels since many of these items are produced in large facilities.

Minnesota food managers at production facilities that generate mass quantities of any product need to take extra precautions to prevent listeria risks. Keep large batches of ingredients out of danger zone temperatures and ensure that your heating and cooling procedures are fast enough to reduce the risk of bacteria and other pathogens from growing as your product moves through the danger zone.

Most Minnesota food mangers work with food at smaller volumes in restaurants, cafeterias and other service industries rather than at the mass production level, so what can they do to reduce listeria risk? If you work with processed meats and soft cheese, make sure that they are always stored under 41 degrees Fahrenheit. This will prevent bacteria from forming during storage.

Secondly, pay close attention to CDC/FDA recalls and safety alerts. This is the best way to stay up to date on the latest recalls concerning potentially contaminated product.

Do you have a handle on storage for deli meats and soft cheeses to keep them safe?

Informative Food Safety Training Targeted At Rubber Floor Mats

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Floor mats in kitchens are essential for the physical health of employees that are on their feet for extended periods, but did you know that they can also become a foodborne illness hazard if not properly maintained? Since you’re not serving food on your floor mats, unless you’re designing a new concept restaurant that probably won’t fly with your local health inspector, you may not see the connection between foodborne illness and rubber floor mats, so let’s take a look at food safety training for rubber floor mats.

Informative Food Safety Training Targeted At Rubber Floor Mats
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Food Safety Training Tips for Floor Mat Cleaning

From an employee safety standpoint, dirty floor mats can be a slip hazard, so making sure they are clean prevents potential injury. Ripped or torn mats can catch the toes and heels of shoes causing staff to drop food or utensils, or even trip and fall. If your mats are in a condition that causes staff to fall into deep fryers, replace them immediately.

Dirty and torn mats also present a likely habitat for bacteria and pests. If your mats aren’t washed and cleaned on a regular basis, you’ll breed pathogens that can be stirred up by fans or even staff walking on them. Good food safety training should include regular maintenance of your floor mats to prevent this from happening.

Pests like fruit flies, ground bugs and even mice can be attracted to the smell of debris and grease left on dirty rubber mats. Cracked and torn portions can be an ideal spot for flies to lay eggs, harbor fruit fly nests and provide snacks for cockroaches and other small ground insects.

Making sure your floor mats are in good shape is not only good for the physical well-being of your staff but can also result in improved food safety training. Do you regularly sanitize your rubber floor mats?

Professional ServSafe Food Managers Can Immediately Improve Grease Trap Safety

Professional ServSafe Food Managers Can Immediately Improve Grease Trap Safety

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Nearly every restaurant or food processing facility that prepares hot food deals with grease and other liquids that are a byproduct of creating their product. Most ServSafe managers ensure that the waste from this process goes into grease traps or some other receptacle rather than leaving it on preparation surfaces to contaminate food cooked later. This grease will often settle into traps, and if ServSafe food managers do not properly take care it could pose a food safety risk or even a fire hazard.

Professional ServSafe Food Managers Can Immediately Improve Grease Trap Safety
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The Importance of ServSafe Food Managers Cleaning Grease Traps in Kitchens

Grease traps are commonplace in nearly every kitchen, so make sure you inspect, empty and clean grease traps that are located:

  • Under good vents
  • In ovens
  • Under grills and fryers

Every employee who works in your kitchen should be aware of your grease trap locations and how to remove the drainage receptacle. Some, such as traps under grills and flat cooking surfaces, slide in an out like a drawer while others, like under hood vents, are pans held in place under drainage areas. ServSafe food managers should take the time to train their staff how to remove these grease traps safely without spilling their contents or burning themselves on hot oil.

In ServSafe food manager training when we talk about clean grease traps, we don’t simply mean empty ones. Grease traps should be emptied on a regular basis and cleaned thoroughly. If the trap is completely removable, take the time to clean and dry it before replacing it. It’s also important to clean the areas around the traps to ensure all grease and oil is removed. Leaving grease behind can attract insects or even large pests such as rats if ignored for long periods of time.

Finally, don’t pour grease down your sink drains. This can cause buildup in your pipes, become a breeding ground for insects and damage your plumbing system. Check with your local waste disposal company for options on recycling your leftover grease.

Has you taken the time to thoroughly clean your grease traps lately?