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 Managers Need Efficient Gas Burners

Important New Research On Why Food Managers Need Efficient Gas Burners

/0 Comments/in /by

In early January, several news organizations published articles about the hazards of household gas-burning stoves. Numerous studies indicate that gas stoves in our homes may be emitting several harmful pollutants that could affect the health of our families. Both state and federal agencies are now considering action to limit or ban gas stoves in new building projects. This news generated some lively discussion about gas burners during a break at one of our food protection manager certification classes.

The current news attention has focused on household stoves. But, should we be concerned about standing next to the huge gas-burning stoves in our commercial kitchens? The obvious answer is yes. Certified food protection managers should be concerned about all kitchen employee safety issues and should monitor gas burner studies to gather more information.

But a couple of information points should be highlighted before we start worrying about completely changing our kitchen operations:

  • The study results have not even mentioned commercial kitchens
  • Ventilation in our kitchens is much different than what is found in a household kitchen
  • As professionals we have the knowledge to properly clean and maintain our stoves to make them more efficient and reduce harmful pollutants

This week we’d like to share how a food protection manager can solve the problem of inefficient gas burners.

Keeping Your Gas Burners Clean and Efficient

A Food Protection Managers Guide To Keeping Your Gas Burners Clean and Efficient


If you’re noticing that the burners that you use most frequently aren’t as efficient as they once were, the problem may be easily resolved with a thorough cleaning. Three sure signs food protection managers can use to determine if gas burners may be in need of a little care include:

  • Uneven heat distribution
  • Flames at one or two burners aren’t as hot as they once were
  • Yellow flames mixed with blue

All three of these signs indicate that your gas distribution is being interrupted somewhere in the cap and head of your gas burner assembly. Your gas burner head is the round portion where the gas meets the flame from the pilot light and ignites. If you take a close look at this assembly, you will notice small, pin-point holes circling the head. These holes are where the flame comes from. If they become clogged, the gas cannot escape as quickly. This altered flow causes a lose of heat and release of additional pollutants from your gas burner. This will cause weak yellow flames as spilled debris chars into carbon.

How To Clean Gas Burners

These assemblies are generally easy to remove and clean. Check for clogged burner holes. Often a simple toothpick can break free the debris that was interrupting the gas flow and producing a weak, yellow flame. Keeping burners in top shape may take a little more than clearing clogs occasionally. Food protection managers should schedule regular gas burner cleaning. The process should remove and thoroughly clean the entire burner head. This will remove grease, spilled food product, and dirt from your burner.

If you’re experiencing poor performance in your entire range, the issue may take more than a simple cleaning to resolve. We strongly recommend that you consult a professional rather than attempt to fix the problem yourself.

At Safe Food Training, we endeavor to help our customers with much more than food manager certification in MN. We’d like to know if you have any kitchen equipment topics that you’d like to see us cover in the future. We appreciate all of your comments, and would love to see them below.

Smoking meats by ServSafe MN Standards

ServSafe MN Standards For Authentic Smoked Meat And Cheese

/0 Comments/in /by

Smoked meats and cheeses are delicious on their own and can add flavor to any menu item your facility prepares. If you smoke your own product in-house, there are some precautions that you should take to ensure that it will be safe for your customers to enjoy. This week, we’ll share a few tips that will help you smoke your meats and cheeses according to ServSafe MN safety standards.

Smoking meats by ServSafe MN Standards
Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Keeping Smoked Product Pathogen Free Using ServSafe MN Standards

Smoking adds flavor and cures foods at relatively low temperature. This means that you must be aware of the temperature of your process throughout the smoking process. The Minnesota Food Code states that foods cannot be in the danger zone for more than two hours. Which means your product should be smoked at over 140 degrees or be in your smoker for a short amount of time.

Since there is the potential for bacteria to grow while you are smoking meat. We have a few tips to ensure that your product will not become a breeding ground for food-borne pathogens.

  • Never smoke partially cooked or partially frozen product
  • Never baste your product in the same brine your raw product marinated in
  • Always smoke reasonable sized portions

Placing partially thawed or cooked product in your smoker will almost always guarantee that its internal temperature will be in the danger zone during all steps of the smoking process. This will increase bacteria growth and pose a health risk to anyone who consumes the final result. Make sure that you always allow adequate time for thawing should you desire to smoke previously frozen product.

It is also a good idea to assess the size of the portions of food you are placing in your smokers. Small smokers may not be able to safely cure large chunks of meat. This will leave a raw interior that has been in the danger zone far too long and increase the chances of spreading food-borne illness.

Consider Cold Smoking Fish and Cheese

If you are smoking fish or cheese, heating your smoker to over 140 may produce unsatisfactory results. There is a solution, however, that can allow you to obtain flavorful product without sacrificing food safety. If your smoker has multiple racks, your best option may be to utilize a cold smoking method. This method involves placing a metal container full of ice above and below your cheese or fish product. It will circulate smoke as well as cold air inside of your smoker. Hopefully keeping the temperature as low as possible. This method may take some troubleshooting since many smokers operate differently. However, once you have mastered cold smoking, your product will not only be safe to eat by ServSafe MN standards. It will also be able to produce more consistent results.

How a MN Certified Food Manager Deals with Conflict

Certified Food Managers Dealing With Surging Conflict In The Industry

/in /by

While you always strive for harmony in the workplace, every once in a while MN certified food managers will have to deal with employee conflict. This week we’d like to take a look at how to prevent dissension in the work place, and deal with issues as they arise.

Image credit: caftor via 123rf

How a MN Certified Food Manager Deals with Conflict

It’s impossible to completely eliminate employee conflict, especially in stressful environments such as the food industry, but with the right approach you can build a staff that not only gets along but enjoys working together. Talking with human resource managers and food service supervisors, we’ve come up with a few common themes concerning conflict resolution.

  • Prevent conflict before it starts
  • Don’t let conflict fester
  • Involve your HR representative

Our first tip may be hard to do sometimes, but there are ways certified food managers can prevent many conflicts from occurring. Many conflicts in the workplace stem from an individual not being satisfied with their role. Sometimes if an employee isn’t satisfied with their role, they may turn their frustrations towards their fellow employees. If you can identify individuals who are unhappy with their role, you may be able to give them an opportunity express their frustrations to you before they take it out on their coworkers.

The food industry is a stressful place by nature. Another way certified food managers can keep conflict at a minimum is to keep morale high. This can vary from facility to facility, but there are ways to keep morale high under stressful circumstances. Some ways include social interactions such as company events that don’t involve job duties and making sure that breaks are always taken at regular intervals.

Even with the highest morale, it is inevitable that conflict will arise. These are times when you must decide whether to address the issue or let your employees work things out for themselves. It’s not necessary to intervene in every circumstance, but you must use your best discretion. If there is a conflict that you feel will be detrimental to your operation, you need to address it. Sometimes, letting your staff work things out for themselves will lead to further problems. If there are situations which you feel that you’re unable to handle, it may be necessary to bring in a representative from human resources that has been trained to resolve employee conflict.

We know that there is no cut and dry solution to resolving conflicts among your staff, so we’d like you to leave us a comment as to how you or other certified food managers have dealt with these situations.

Certified Food Protection Manager Approved Snow Removal Hack

Certified Food Protection Manager Approved Snow Removal Hack

/0 Comments/in /by

As most Minnesotans are aware, it frequently snows in our state. Businesses need to take steps to clean the snow on their properties in order to allow guests to visit. While businesses that don’t serve food have numerous options. Food businesses need to be extra careful when cleaning the snow around their buildings. Let’s take a quick look at how a certified food protection manager can prevent foodborne illness hazards that might arise from snow cleanup.

Certified Food Protection Manager Approved Snow Removal Hack
Image credit: rilueda via 123rf

The Connection Between Snow Removal and a Certified Food Protection Manager

Food protection managers should recognize that the potential for contamination in their facility may not come from the snow itself. It comes from the methods used to remove it. Salt, sand, chemical deicers and other non-shovel methods have the potential to make their way back into your facility after use on sidewalks and parking lots. Shoes, pants, long coats and even on staffs’ hands after building a snowman on their lunch break track in these snow removal contaminants. So how can we keep these chemicals out? The answer is, we can’t, at least not 100 percent of the time, but we can reduce the risks associated with them when it comes to food.

Non-Mechanical Snow Removal Solutions

Most snow removal techniques leave a residue that sticks to the bottom of shoes. Food protection managers should focus on items that are stored near ground level. Food product, utensils, plates or production implements should be stored in racks off the floor. Even boxes of to-go containers should at least be on a bottom shelf.

Deliveries can be a problem, since many food service suppliers simply drop off their shipments in a loading area in the back of the kitchen. If this is the case with your supplier, designate a place away from foot traffic and store all items as soon as possible.

If you have the opportunity to designate an employee entrance that does not open into the kitchen itself, you may wish to ask kitchen staff to use a different entrance to prevent tracking in sand or salt.

Do not wait until the end of the night to sweep and mop up high-trafficked areas. After the snow removal product has been tracked in to take care of it all at once. Direct staff to mop frequently to prevent buildup, create safer walkways and keep food safe.

How to you clear your parking lot and sidewalks for your guests in the winter?