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Minnesota Food Training and Hepatitis A

Minnesota Food Training and Hepatitis A

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Late in the month of September, customers of a grocery store in Michigan were warned about the potential of consuming food that had been handled by an employee who tested positive for Hepatitis A. Hepatitis A isn’t one of the most discussed pathogens, but the subject occasionally comes up in product recall notices and articles such as this one, so we think it prudent to discuss its causes and symptoms.

Minnesota Food Training and Hepatitis A

Image credit: Czarina Alegre via flickr

Minnesota Food Training Guide to Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A can be spread when an infected person handles prepared food. Hepatitis A outbreaks also come from shellfish harvested in infected waters. Some of the symptoms of Hepatitis A include:

  • Diarrhea
  • Jaundice
  • Fever
  • Abdominal pain
  • Loss of appetite

Our Minnesota food training courses tell us that the best way to prevent the spread of food-borne illness is to properly wash our hands and to never handle prepared food with bare hands. This rule applies to preventing the spread of Hepatitis A as well.

Hepatitis A is one of the few food-borne illness culprits that can be prevented via vaccination. If you plan to travel to exotic locations or you routinely care for the sick or potentially infected, you should ask your doctor about being vaccinated. If you come into contact with the bacteria or become exposed to someone who has it, seek out vaccination as soon as possible.

Finally, know where your shellfish comes from and keep an eye out for contamination information if you serve it in your restaurant. If you have a potentially infected batch, contact your local health department to request information as to what steps must be taken next.

Are there any other pathogens that aren’t discussed regularly in food training classes that you’d like us to cover in an upcoming blog entry?

The ServSafe Food Manager and Fall Pests

The ServSafe Food Manager and Fall Pests

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Fall brings the changing colors of the leaves to the great outdoors and the aroma of pumpkin spice food products to local restaurants and cafes. The colder temperatures and dying vegetation also brings an increased risk of certain types of pests that may pose a threat to the food prepared in local establishments.

The ServSafe Food Manager and Fall Pests

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and dinner plate

ServSafe Food Manger’s Guide to Fall Pest Control

During the fall season, certain rodents move to warmer habitats, and places where food is cooked can seem warm and inviting. To prevent rodents from seeking out your facility as a fall home, keep your dumpster and garbage areas clean. Rodents may be attracted to the smells outside of your building before making the attempt to move inside. It’s also a good time to take a close look at your dry storage inventory. ServSafe food managers should have a system in place to keep storage areas clean and product off of the floor to prevent rodents from gaining access to your food supply.

Fall also brings an increase in the beetle population. These insects can not only gain access to you facility from nearby areas, they can also be brought in with fresh produce deliveries. Keeping your property free of dying tree leaves and other natural matter will remove some of these insect’s available breeding grounds, and inspecting all fresh produce on arrival will stop them from infiltrating the rest of your fruits and vegetables.

Finally, if you do encounter rat droppings or notice an increase in insects inside your facility, your ServSafe food manager should consider consulting a pest expert that has experience in dealing with food production facilities. The unique nature of our business requires us to be careful to keep our product safe, and pest control can often involve substances that should never come into contact with food. While pests can cause problems, we want to be very careful not to compromise food safety while solving these kinds of dilemmas.

Now that we’ve discussed keeping fall pests away, we’d like to hear about the challenges your facility faces with the turning of the seasons. Leave your comments in the section below.

Benefits of More than One Certified Food Manager

Certified Food Manager Training For Multiple Employees

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Minnesota food code requires food service businesses to have at least one ServSafe manager on staff. If you own a restaurant or any other type of food preparation facility, you may wish to consider the benefits of having more than one supervisor or staff member undergo online certified food manager training.

The Benefits of More than One Certified Food Manager

We see many positives when it comes to going beyond the minimum and having multiple ServSafe trained employees. Some of these positives include:

  • Greater food safety coverage
  • Scheduling flexibility
  • Trained staff available for promotions
  • Protection of your financial bottom line

Having extra employees with the knowledge that online Certified Food Manager training provides will go a long way towards keeping your guests safe from food-borne illness. The knowledge of how bacteria spreads and infects those who consume tainted food is key to stopping it from happening in the first place.

Hedging your bets with several certified food managers gives your business more flexibility when it comes to staffing. If your head chef or top supervisor takes an extended vacation, another team member can be ready to step up. This also makes it easier to fill any vacancies. If you encounter a situation where your manager has to vacate his position for any reason, you have key personnel ready to take their place without the need for training, certification or going through the long process of hiring a new supervisor from an outside source.

Finally, the more knowledgeable your staff the better they can protect your bottom line. Trained personnel will know how to prevent waste and how to store food properly. They will also make fewer food handling mistakes, preventing cross-contamination and the loss of food that has not been handled in a safe manner. When you’re serving food that is fresh and free of pathogens, you’re patrons will know the difference and you’ll gain more returning customers.

Does your food service business have enough coverage? If not, we gladly offer online ServSafe training and can create instructor led courses tailored to your needs.

ServSafe Manager Certification and Public Health

ServSafe Food Manager Certification and Public Health

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Gaining your ServSafe food manager certification qualifies you to oversee food preparation in a restaurant or production facility and it comes with an obligation to ensure that your product is safe for the consumption of the public. This responsibility to the health of your customers is unique to the food industry and at many times requires supervisors and food service workers to make sacrifices that adversely affect them in order to protect public health.

ServSafe Food Manager Certification and Public Health

Image credit: Wikipedia

The requirement to stay home from work when sick often puts food service workers in a bind. Many other professions don’t have this restriction, allowing professionals outside of the food industry to go to work when under the weather. Food service employees must use up sick days, vacation time or forgo a day or two of pay to prevent the spread of their illness.

Evidence of food workers ignoring their health symptoms and working anyway becomes evident in news reports of Norovirus outbreaks. The Norovirus is easily spread by infected workers or exposed workers who fail to wash their hands properly. Whether it’s only one guest or several, diners who contract the Norovirus take that out into the world once they leave the eating establishment. This results in putting their friends, family and co-workers at risk of second-hand contamination.

The good news is that most supervisors take pride in their responsibilities and follow what they’ve learned during ServSafe food manager certification training. Many of them sacrifice for the greater good and stay home when ill and even days after to recover. An important key is to take care of yourself in order to reduce the chances of becoming ill and staying healthy enough to work every day.

Working with food comes with many challenges that don’t exist for most of the workforce. Are there any issues you’d like us to discuss in the future?