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Food Safety Training for Cooking Whole Turkeys

Online Food Safety Training for Cooking Whole Turkeys

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Thanksgiving is here and that means it’s time to overindulge on turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie, but the last thing you want to include in your festivities is a salmonella outbreak. Whole turkeys can take quite some time to cook and it may be difficult to achieve safe temperatures while keeping the meat moist and flavorful. This week, we’ll look into what food safety training recommends to cook a tasty turkey without a side of foodborne illness.

Food Safety Training for Cooking Whole Turkeys
Image credit: US Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point

Food Safety Training tips for Properly Cooking Whole Turkeys

Whole turkeys can be tricky to cook properly because of the thickness of the breast. One part of the turkey can be cooked perfectly, but the center can be left an undercooked breeding ground for bacteria. In order to prevent this scenario, we have three food safety training tips for a properly cooked turkey:

  • Use fresh or fully thawed birds
  • Check internal temperature properly
  • Prepare stuffing separately

Partially thawed turkeys are a food safety nightmare. While the outer layers may feel thawed and ready to cook, the center of the thickest parts of the bird may still be frozen. This can add to the cooking time of larger turkeys. It can also result in vastly overcooked outer layers while still leaving the thickest section undercooked. Half-thawed birds may also cause complications when attempting to gauge the internal temperature. Outer layers may reach the proper temperature of 165-degrees well before the center, throwing off your thermometer’s readings for the innermost layers.

Many commercially sold turkeys come with a small probe that will supposedly let you know when your bird has reached a safe serving temperature. Our advice to you would be to remove this probe before cooking and place in the nearest garbage receptacle. The only accurate way to assess the internal temperature of large turkeys is to use a bi-metallic stem thermometer. Insert your probe thermometer into the thickest part of the turkey breast as deep as possible without touching any bones. If your thermometer reads 165 degrees for at least 15 seconds, you can be confident that your turkey has been fully cooked.

One final note concerning food safety training for turkey stuffing. Stuffing your turkey before cooking will increase the amount of time that it takes to fully cook your turkey and pose a salmonella risk. There is a very real possibility that your stuffing will not reach a high enough temperature to kill any bacteria at the same time as the rest of your turkey, so we strongly suggest you cook your stuffing separately.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at !

Becoming Certified Food Protection Manager

Steps to Becoming a Certified Food Protection Manager

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According to the Minnesota Food Code, all facilities that prepare food for the public must employ a certified food protection manager (CFPM). The role of any CFPM in Minnesota is to ensure that all food is being stored, prepared and served in a safe manner. They are required to train staff, inspect their facility for safety hazards and correct procedures as necessary to keep food safe. How does one become a certified food protection manager? This week, we’ll clearly outline all the steps for becoming a Certified Food Protection Manager in Minnesota.

Becoming Minnesota Certified Food Protection Manager Registration

The first step to becoming a CFPM in Minnesota is taking a qualifying food safety course and passing the exam. There are a few ways this can be done:

  • Instructor-led training
  • Online courses
  • Group training at your facility
  • Customized classes

There are benefits to each of these options, and there’s enough flexibility to choose which course works best for you and your business. Instructor-led training offers the opportunity to delve deeper into food safety topics and ask questions, while online food safety certification courses can be taken at your leisure. If the standard training at an offsite location isn’t convenient, and you’d prefer a real-life food safety expert over an online course, Safe Food Training can come to you and offer group training or customized training that fits your specific needs.

So you’ve passed your food safety training course exam. Congratulations! Does that mean you’re ready to go and officially a Minnesota CFPM? Not quite yet. Just passing the exam doesn’t officially make you a certified food protection manager in Minnesota. There’s one more step, and fortunately it’s an easy one. After passing your food safety certification exam, you must fill out an application in order to register with the state.

To find information concerning current fees and the appropriate mailing address to submit an application, the Minnesota Department of Health CFPM website will have the most up-to-date information.

Do you need assistance with training options? At Safe Food Training, we can provide the perfect food safety training course for your needs.

Minnesota Football Season and Certified Food Managers

Minnesota Football Season and Certified Food Managers

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It’s football time, and that means it’s time to pull the jerseys out of the closet, cook up some tailgating cuisine and root on our favorite teams. Many local restaurants will offer game day specials, buffets on weekends and pull out all the stops while their guests enjoy some pigskin action. Whether you bleed maroon and gold or purple and gold, we have some tips for certified food managers to draw in additional Minnesota football season fans and provide exciting service that will keep customers coming back week after week.

Minnesota Football Season and Certified Food Managers
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Certified Food Managers and Football Specials

Sports fans look for two things when considering places to enjoy games: excitement and value. No true football fan wants to sit in an empty lounge and pay regular price for nachos and beer, so we have some tips to help you attract guests looking to get the most out of their pigskin viewing experience.

  • Value-priced food specials
  • All-you-can-eat menu items
  • Contests, games and prizes
  • A lively environment

Football fans are looking for a deal, and a certified food manager can provide it without taking a hit in profit margins. Ingredients for menu items such as nachos or chips and dip don’t take a huge food cost hit, and can even be offered as an all-you-can-eat item without killing profit margin. You may even want to consider affordable and refillable items like French fries, and discounted menu items whenever the home team is on top. Remember, the goal is to get people in the door. Offer upgrades such as handmade guacamole, meat, dips or other toppings at an additional cost. Be creative, you know what your food costs look like, and certified food managers can use their intimate knowledge of their menu to find value items that customers will enjoy and lead them to make additional purchases.

This may be an idea more suited for the front of the house managers, but if you’re a certified food manager than runs both front and back of the house operations, consider running contests and games rewarding patrons for various activities. Consider some sort of football bingo for a free appetizer, reward the best-dressed fan with a two-for-one special or create a random fantasy or knockout pool that runs the entire season. This will keep guests coming back to see their fellow contestants week after week.

Finally, football fans want an environment where they can be loud and have fun. Having several televisions playing various games is a plus and will draw out of town guests.

Do you use football season to market your restaurant? What’s the best promotion you’ve seen a certified food manager use during football season?

Foodborne Illness Incubation

Certified Food Protection Managers and Foodborne Illness Incubation

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Foodborne Illness Incubation
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Certified food protection manager training teaches food management professionals the causes and prevention of foodborne illness, but sometimes the tracing of foodborne illness sources doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. Foodborne illness incubation refers to the time that lapses between when contaminates are ingested and an infected consumer begins showing symptoms. We find foodborne illness incubation useful when trying to identify the type of illness and the product that caused outbreaks.

Using Foodborne Illness Incubation As A Forensic Tool

When people get sick from eating contaminated food, they’ll either call the local health department or the eating establishment they feel sickened them. When they do, there are three important questions that need to be asked:

  • What did you eat?
  • When did you begin feeling symptoms
  • How long did your symptoms last?

The what is important, but you’ll need more information besides what the guest thought sickened them. They could experience salmonella symptoms and assume chicken or eggs, but in reality, a shipment of tomatoes that had been recalled after they were served could have been the culprit. It’s vital to get as much information as possible, not just ask what they assume caused their illness.

Incubation times can also be an indicator. Here are some common times for frequent illness offenders:

  • E.coli: 1 – 10 days; most commonly 3 – 4
  • Salmonella: 3 – 60 days; most frequently 7 – 10
  • Norovirus: 12 – 24 hours
  • Marine toxins: 1 minute – 48 hours

As you can see, many common culprits have very different incubation times, so if you work with the health department you should be able to determine if the illness actually came from your establishment, or if the guest consumed tainted product at home or elsewhere. This is just a partial list, but the CDC has compiled an extensive table exploring incubation times for many foodborne illnesses.

You should remember that as a certified food manager, you may not be able to diagnose the source of foodborne illness from your restaurant or elsewhere. If you have guests call, especially if it’s several with similar symptoms, we strongly urge you to contact your local health department for help with the situation. They’re there to help protect the public from illness and help foodservice operators keep their food safe.