Certified Food Protection Manager Archives

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019

Certified Food Protection Managers and Meatless Burgers

At Safe Food Training, we like to visit local restaurants and observe current menu trends, and we’ve noticed that more and more establishments are serving meat alternative burgers that are crafted to have a similar taste and texture to that of real beef. Seeing these products trend on menus and in the news got us to thinking, are there any food safety concerns for the certified food protection manager serving meatless burgers?

Meatless Burgers and Certified Food Protection Managers

Vegetarian burger substitutes have existed for ages, but none have come close to simulating beef until now. Two brands in particular, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are easy to find in local restaurants and major chains. Are there any concerns from a food safety standpoint regarding these products?

Never assume that a product is safe just as it is. Even vegetarian products that are served hot must reach the proper temperature of 135 degrees. However, we’re not talking about raw fruit and vegetables that have been pulled from the produce shelf in your walk-in refrigerator, we’re talking about a mixed ingredient product not put together in your facility.

Beyond Meat recommends an internal cooking temperature of 165 degrees for their products, while Impossible Foods labels their product as “well-done” at 160 degrees. In the sales literature for their products, these manufacturers state that their product can be treated as if it were beef, so customers can choose to order their meatless burger undercooked to their liking. If you serve these products, we recommend cooking these product to well done unless a customer requests otherwise. If you choose to serve these burger alternatives at any temperature lower than 160 degrees, we suggest you include the same consumer advisory on your menu as if it were an actual beef burger.

Over time, as food innovations continue to change the landscape of menu options, training for certified food managers in Minnesota will have to be adjusted to incorporate new products. Do you know of any new and exciting food trends we should explore in upcoming articles?

June 4, 2019May 8, 2019

Online Certified Food Protection Manager Exam Study Guide

Whether you’re taking the certified food protection manager- CFPM exam for the first time, or you’re taking the test after your certification has lapsed, it’s always a good idea to review material and subjects that are sure to be on the test. We’ve compiled this CFPM exam study guide to identify the most important material to review before taking the certified food protection manager exam.

Just to be clear none of the MN Department of Health approved test providers allow instructors to provide actual questions for obvious reasons. It’s also impossible to identify the actual questions because the tests have multiple variations of all the questions. It’s likely the person taking the test right next to you will have a different version than yours.

CFPM Exam Study Guide Topics

The certified food protection manager tests are designed to make sure that food service supervisors have the knowledge to keep the food they serve safe and train their staff on how to prevent foodborne illnesses. We can break down study topics to a few categories that should be reviewed before test time:

Preventing cross contamination
The flow of food
Personal hygiene and employee health
Time and temperature control
Active management controls
Facility management and pest prevention
Cleaning and sanitation

This list might look a little daunting, but we’ll simply break it down for you so that you can have a clear plan of action while preparing for your exam.

Cross-contamination occurs when bacteria spreads from one food item to another. This generally occurs when raw food touches ready to eat food, fresh product is prepared on surfaces previously used for raw product and raw food is improperly stored over ready-to-eat foods and food cooked at lower temperatures.

The flow of food deals with what happens with products from the second inventory arrives at your facility up until the moment it is served to guests. In order to get a firm grasp on the flow of food, review how to receive, store, prepare, cook, serve and display food products properly.

Personal hygiene consists of hand washing and the rules for working when sick. Always wash your hands after eating, smoking, using the bathroom and handling raw foods. Also, it’s important to note that sick employees should not handle food.

Time and temperature control will be tested extensively. Review proper cooking and holding times and temperatures.

Active management controls refer to your outlined procedures for ensuring food safety. These can be training, education, action plans or any other food safety management tactics employed to keep your establishment in compliance with the Minnesota food code and prevent food borne illness.

Facility management refers to the cleanliness and maintenance of the physical aspects of the building your business operates out of. Food-borne illness comes from other sources than improperly prepared food. Pests, plumbing problems, deteriorating equipment and other issues with your building’s mechanical elements can pose a food safety risk.

Knowing proper cleaning and sanitation methods is also key to passing the food safety certification exams. Make sure you understand which sanitizing solutions and cleaning methods are approved for food service.

Safe Food Training instructors spend the last portion of every class reviewing each one of these points in detail. Students often comment that, “the review at the end was the best part of the class!” Well over 90% of our students pass the exam the first time they take it.

Click proper here to find a class scheduled at a place and time near you.

May 6, 2019March 12, 2023

Minnesota Certified Food Protection Manager Training Options

The state of Minnesota requires most businesses that handle food to have a certified food protection manager(CFPM) on staff. There is no one-size-fits all solution, so this week, we’d like to take a look at what types of training options are available to become a MN Certified Food Protection Manager.

Qualifying Certified Food Protection Manager Training Programs

There are two ways to gain proper certification to become a certified food protection manager. You can take a course led by an instructor where you have the ability to ask questions, and discuss issues with a leading professional in the industry or you can choose an online version of the course.

There are advantages and disadvantages to either choice. Online food safety training offers convenience taking the training when and where you want, but deprives the student of the ability to participate in discussions with fellow food service professionals and ask questions concerning the material. Instructor led courses as well as all certification testing must be taken at the locations and times scheduled, so there is less flexibility in the timing of the training.

There are also a couple programs that you can choose from. You can take a standard certified food protection manager course which meets the requirements of the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin, or if you wish further education on food safety, you may elect to take the nationally and internationally recognized HAACP training. HAACP provides education targeting the identification and management of food safety risks.

Finally, certification must be renewed every three years. Recertification must occur within six months of the expiration date of your current certification. Recertification requires a minimum of four hours of approved continuing education but does not require you to retake the exam. Most CFPMs retake the standard training once again as a refresher. As with the initial certification training, the recertification can be done either on-line or at one of the scheduled instructor led courses.

Do you or any of your staff need food safety certification? At Safe Food Training, we offer instructor led and online food safety certification classes and exams. We can help with HAACP or even design a specialized class to meet the needs of your business.

April 29, 2019May 13, 2019

CFPMs and Self-Service Touchscreens

Advances in technology in the restaurant industry offers numerous opportunities for business owners to run their establishment in a more efficient and cost effective manner. Self-service touchscreen kiosks are one of the newest trends for major restaurants, especially fast food chains. A study in the UK, however, shows this new technology is creating major headaches for CFPMs and self-service touchscreens are proving to be a huge contamination risk .

CFPMs and Self-Service Touchscreens Contamination Problems

Researchers in Britain tested numerous McDonalds’ self-ordering touchscreens and discovered traces of fecal matter on every single one.

Let’s think about that closely for one second. They didn’t find fecal matter on a few, half or even 90 percent. They found traces of human feces on every single one. The list of specific bacteria found is fairly extensive, but it included the potential for hospital-grade illness from pathogens like Staphylococcus, listeria and Bacillus as well as standard food-borne illness outbreak culprits.

If that isn’t bad enough, the study also looked into the immediate hygiene habits of patrons using the machine. Customers would walk in, get in line and order. There was no sanitizing or washing of hands from the point of entry to the time of order. Many would order, take their seat, wait for their food and begin eating without washing their hands at all. This recipe for disaster should make food safety managers cringe.

With these screens infiltrating the dining rooms and lobbies in many different types of food service establishments, what can we do to keep our customers safe from potential infection?

The key is sanitation. The touch screen must be sanitized at regular intervals. If they’re the table top variety, sanitizing after each guest will remove all traces of bacteria that may have found their way to the surface from previous guests. But, lobby self-ordering systems are much harder to keep an eye on.

In this case, it’s unlikely you can enforce proper hygiene on all of your guests, but you can give them a nudge in the right direction. Attach a sanitizer dispenser to your touchscreen kiosk or have one readily available. We’d recommend having a sanitizer dispenser where the line begins and one at the machine itself. This will promote sanitation before and after ordering. Also, signage directing guests to the nearest washroom will also put the thought into their heads that maybe they should wash their hands before and after ordering.

Do you have touch screens available for your guest to use for ordering convenience?