Get your MN kitchen compliant with our state-approved Certified Food Protection Manager Training. We’re offering headache-free 8-hour initial courses and 4-hour renewals.

Food Safety Certification Exams

The Purpose of Food Safety Certification Exams

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Whether in person or online, we’ve proctored thousands of food safety certification exams and occasionally we have a student raise their hand at a key point and ask: “Will this be on the test?” That’s not a question we can answer, because honestly, the instructors don’t know what will be on the test. This gives us the opportunity to teach our students how to be the best certified food managers they can be.

Food Safety Certification Exams

 

Food Safety Certification Exams Preparation’s Ultimate Goal

While it’s required for food service supervisors to obtain certifications in order to do their job, our aim isn’t to hand out as many certifications as we can. Our focus will be on giving you the tools to keep your guests safe from food-borne illnesses.

When you enroll in our food safety certification classes, we recommend that you come prepared to absorb the material and be ready to engage with your instructor and classmates. We find that students who’s objective is simply to pass the test tend to overlook important information while searching for bullet points and possible answers. Coming to class relaxed and eager to learn will give you a great opportunity to gain your certificate and benefit you in the long term.

The good news is that our method of teaching you how to keep your food safe rather than coaching you how to pass the exam results in an over 90 percent first-time pass rate. If you review the pre-course material and arrive ready to learn, you should achieve successful results.

A good portion of our success rates comes from student input. After you’ve finished our course, let us know how the material not only helped you become certified, but also how our training has improved how your facility handles food safety.

Food Manager Course Guide to Foreign Objects in Prepared Foods

Food Manager Course Guide to Foreign Objects in Prepared Foods

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Occasionally, a news story breaks about a recall for foreign objects in pre-packaged foods. For the most part, the contaminating object breaks off of production equipment or comes from an employee, but recently a producer voluntarily recalled packages of frozen hash browns for containing parts of golf balls. We’re not sure if the company shared packaging facilities with a sporting goods store or if the potato farm doubled as a driving range, but we’re sure that strict oversight and review of food manager course guidelines may have prevented this situation.

Preventing Outside Contaminates in Packaged Food Products

If you’re a certified food manager that oversees a production facility, you need to review your procedures from time to time. Hopefully, your staff understands that items such as golf balls don’t have a place on the production floor, but it may be a good idea to take the time to remind your team about what belongs in your production facility and what does not.

We suggest that you train your team to keep any objects that do not relate to their duties away from preparation areas. Here are a few tips to prevent unnecessary contaminates from ending up in your product:

  • Provide lockers for employees’ personal items
  • Keep uniforms simple without buttons and removable badges
  • Frequently inspect equipment for loose or broken parts

Most cases of foreign items causing food hazards arise from negligence or a lack of control over what is brought to the production floor. If you have a safe place for employees to store personal items such as keys, loose change and sporting goods, there will be less chance of these items falling out of their pockets and into your food. Keeping employee lockers away from the production floor will further decrease the odds that foreign objects will end up of food packages.

Broken and worn out equipment is also a likely culprit when it comes to non-food ingredients falling into packaged foods. Inspect your equipment on a regular basis to ensure that everything is in good working order. This will not only prevent parts from falling off, but will also alert you to any problems that could eventually shut down production.

While food manager courses can give us the guidelines to

Contaminates in Packaged Food

, our continued diligence and training is important to keep our customers safe. What other steps do you take to keep foreign objects out of your food?

New FDA Menu Labeling Guidelines and Food Manager Certification in MN

New FDA Menu Labeling Guidelines and Food Manager Certification in MN

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Effective the first week in May, the FDA requires all chain restaurants with 20 locations or more to post nutritional information for their menu items. This impacts menu design and how customers view the dishes that you serve.

The FDA rules apply to restaurants or businesses that serve restaurant-style items and have similar menus at 20 or more locations with the same name. Some exceptions exist for grocery-style items that require further preparation at home such as salad kits, deli meats and cheeses. The types of items that now require posted nutrition information include:

    • Take out item such as pizza and prepared sandwiches
    • Bakery items served over the counter or in coffee shops
    • Scoops of ice cream intended for immediate consumption
    • Certain alcoholic beverages

Nutrition is not a topic that is required for you to obtain your food manager certification in MN, but it will be necessary for supervisors to make sure that nutritional information is properly displayed. If you’re a supervisor at a chain with over 20 locations, your corporate office should send you all of the information that you need, but the information that the FDA requires on display includes:

        • Suggested total daily calorie consumption
        • Total calories and calories from fat in each menu item
        • Sodium
        • Carbohydrates, fiber and sugars

The FDA also requires food served in vending machines to visibly post nutritional information. This information can be available next to each item in the machine or on a digital display, but it must be visible in a place other than the package of the item.

The FDA suggests that making nutritional information available will help consumers make healthier dietary choices. Would nutritional information change your mind about ordering a double-cheese burger and selecting a fresh salad instead?

Hand Sanitizer and Safe Food Handling Practices

Hand Sanitizer and Safe Food Handling Practices

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During online food safety courses, students learn that hand washing prevents the spread of food-borne illness. From time to time, a student asks what role hand sanitizers play in killing bacteria, and if hand sanitizer benefits food service workers.

Hand Sanitizer and Safe Food Handling Practices

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Safe Food Handling Practices and Hand Sanitizers

The Minnesota Department of Health allows for hand sanitizer use in food production facilities. However, hand sanitizers must not replace proper hand washing in any situation. Effective hand sanitizers kill viruses and bacteria, but only hand washing removes dirt, grime and grease from underneath fingernails or the natural crevices in human skin. Just to review the safe food handling practices, proper hand washing involves:

  • Washing under hot water
  • The use of plenty of soap
  • Scrubbing for at least 20 seconds

If the Department of Health rules state that all food service workers must wash their hands after handling raw meat, using the bathroom or doing anything that contaminates their hands, when can a hand sanitizer be used?

If you feel the need to use a hand sanitizer to kill bacteria, you must wash your hands immediately after use and before handling food. Washing your hands after using a sanitizer will not negate the virus killing effects. In fact, washing your hands removes fragrances and other chemicals that exist in commercially produced hand sanitizers than could make your guests sick.

Finally, the food code allows hand sanitizers in situations where product is not handled by hand. This occurs in retail or grocery situations where food product is sealed or in instances where utensils are the only means of food handling.

The use of hand sanitizers is only one of many concerns that many professionals ask for clarification on food code regulations. If you have any other situations you’d like us to cover, please leave a question in the comments section below.