Food Manager Certification MN Archives

October 21, 2024October 28, 2024

Certified Food Manager Advice: How To Prevent Hazardous Slip Injuries

MN Certified Food Manager Preventing Injuries

Not only is it essential to keep the food you supply to your customers safe, but it’s also vital to ensure that your staff has a safe environment to work in. Slip-and-fall injuries are one of the most common reasons food service workers miss time, so we’d like to discuss how a certified food manager can prevent these painful slip injuries.

The Certified Food Manager’s Role in Preventing Slip Injuries

The manager must make it abundantly clear to the staff that their safety is a priority. Staff and certified food managers must work together to effectively prevent injuries from slips and falls. Providing the necessary tools and comprehensive training is a non-negotiable priority to ensure everyone can perform their duties safely.

One common factor in many slip-and-fall injuries is the use of the wrong kind of shoes. Food service workers should wear non-slip shoes specifically designed for the food industry. Many non-slip shoes are available, but we recommend that your staff wear shoes explicitly designed to give the wearer good traction on wet and greasy surfaces.

Just wearing good, non-slip shoes does not entirely prevent a slip accident. A kitchen supervisor must create an environment where these events are rare. A good start is to provide a perforated rubber surface for employees to stand on. These floor mats are readily available through most food service industry providers. We feel that these mats must be perforated in some way to allow grease to slip through to the floor beneath in the event of a spill. This will prevent liquids from pooling on the floor mats, creating a slipping hazard.

Clean Mats For Safety

Another critical step certified food managers must take to reduce slip injuries is to clean the mats and floors beneath daily. Grease and liquids can accumulate on your floor mats, making them nearly as slippery as the hard flooring underneath. Clean the kitchen floors daily with a degreasing agent to prevent mats from slipping. Before replacing the mats after cleaning the floor, we strongly recommend that the floors dry. Water and soap can take longer to dry if covered by your floor mats, increasing the likelihood that they will slide during everyday use.

Finally, clean every spill immediately. Don’t trust your floor mats to prevent a slip after spilling liquid. Being complacent could lead to a painful injury and lost work for one of your valued employees.

August 5, 2024August 12, 2024

Food Sampling Procedures You Need To Know In Food Manager Training

Tasting According to Food Manager Certification MN Training

We discuss product sampling in depth at Safe Food Training during food manager certification MN training. To consistently deliver high-quality food to your guests, it is crucial to taste or sample every dish, sauce, or prepared product to ensure that it meets your high standards. We must emphasize the importance of following the correct procedures when sampling your food product.

Food Sampling According to Food Manager Certification MN Training

Food Sampling According to Food Manager Certification Training

Food on the line must be tasted numerous times per shift to ensure each guest receives a quality meal. It is important to understand that something as simple as tasting can create a food risk. There are a few things that you should never do when tasting your cuisine in the kitchen.

Never use your fingers
Never double-dip a tasting spoon
Never use a stirring spoon to taste
Never lean over a pan or plate while tasting

This ” don’ts” list should be self-explanatory to the experienced food service worker. Touching a guest’s food with a bare hand, reusing a tasting spoon, and creating a scenario where food can drip from your mouth into a prepared product generate the potential for contamination. If you’re a food manager, you need to make sure your staff clearly understands the right and wrong way to taste the food they produce and give them the tools to do it safely.

Sampling Spoon Accessibility

To comply with the MN food code, we recommend that food managers supply your staff with ample food-tasting spoons stored above the food production line. Store them in a clean container to prevent contact with food or potential contaminants before use. Many restaurant workers store tasting spoons in their jacket or apron pockets to be close at hand when needed. We recommend that you train your employees not to store tasting spoons in their pockets. They risk coming into contact with food product or bare hands, and an increased potential of cross-contamination can result.

If you’re preparing a sample of a daily special or new menu food item, your staff should taste it away from the production area. This practice falls under the category of eating in the kitchen in the Minnesota Health Code. The food protection manager should move this process away from the production line.

July 24, 2023July 24, 2023

Practical Advice For The Newly Promoted Food Manager

Congratulations! You’ve put in your time. You’ve worked your hardest. Now you’ve been rewarded by being promoted to supervisor at your establishment. Your first order of business is to get your MN food manager certification online. Then you’ll be officially ready to take over.

Tips for the Newly Promoted Food Manager

Once the excitement dies down from gaining your first food management position dies down, it will be inevitable that you’ll feel some anxiety during the transition. We have a few suggestions that may help you settle into your recently gained role and responsibilities.

Our first suggestion is to consider that, since this is your first management position. It may not be wise to implement changes right away. Hopefully, your company already has a system in place to assist your food production in continuing to run smoothly and effectively during the transition. It would be acceptable to make adjustments to certain procedures where you see room for improvement. However, completely overhauling the way things operate should not be one of your initial objectives.

Image credit: bowie15 via 123rf

Once you begin your new food manager duties, it’s important to find a comfortable management style. Many newly promoted managers often make the mistake of attempting to run their facility with an authoritarian style. When you assume your new role, it’s important to remember that you can lead your staff by working with them rather than attempting to manage every aspect of their jobs. Most employees perform better when they feel that they are trusted. There are also dangers if you choose to be too lax once you take over your supervisory role. Allowing your staff too much freedom can lead to production problems and the neglect of proper procedure. Our advice is to work closely with your staff and assess who is trustworthy and who needs more supervision.

Mold Your Operation To Reflect Your Managerial Style

As we advised earlier, it may not be appropriate to make huge changes as soon as you assume your new food manager role. However, once you have fully learned the current procedures and regulations and have become a leader of your staff, the time may be right. You can begin molding your operation to reflect your managerial style. When making changes, we suggest you always consult with whoever you report to before proceeding. You may have earned their trust enough to gain your position. However, they may not be comfortable if you make major changes to the way their business works without their consent.

We hear many stories from experienced professionals about their first supervisor job. We’re wondering if any of those seasoned veterans want to share some advice for those who are just now beginning their careers as a certified food manager.

July 10, 2023August 17, 2025

Helpful Tips For Food Managers On Sanitation Of The Overlooked Ice Machine

As one of the many dedicated certified food managers in Minnesota, you devote countless hours to training your staff on the critical points of food safety. You drill them on handling raw proteins, maintaining the cold chain, and cooking foods to precise temperatures. Yet, a universal ingredient, one that cools drinks and preserves buffet displays, often gets overlooked: ice. Proper ice machine sanitation is not a minor detail—it’s a fundamental component of a safe kitchen that every food manager should regularly review with their team.

The Hidden Risks: Why Ice Is a Food

It’s easy to forget, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially classifies ice as food. This means it is subject to the same strict handling and sanitation requirements as any other ready-to-eat product. When standards slip, the dark, damp interior of an ice machine becomes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, biofilm, and mold. The problem isn’t just theoretical.

Health Hazards: Contaminated ice can introduce harmful pathogens, such as norovirus and E. coli, to your customers, leading to serious foodborne illness outbreaks.
Allergen Concerns: Mold spores that proliferate in a poorly maintained machine can trigger allergic reactions or asthma attacks in sensitive individuals.

Compliance Violations: A dirty ice machine is a clear red flag for health inspectors and can cause costly violations that damage your establishment’s reputation.

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Mastering Proper Handling and Ice Machine Sanitation

Simply having an ice machine doesn’t guarantee the production of safe ice. The daily procedures your kitchen and bar staff follow are critical for preventing cross-contamination. Reinforcing these two key handling protocols is essential for everyday safety.

Eliminate Bare-Hand Contact: The Minnesota food code clearly states that ready-to-eat foods must not be handled with bare hands. Staff should always use a dedicated, sanitized scoop to retrieve ice. For best practice, wearing single-use gloves adds another layer of protection, preventing hands from inadvertently touching the ice supply, even when using a scoop.
Sanitary Scoop Storage: Do not leave an ice scoop on top of the machine, where it can collect dust, or store it inside the ice bin, where the handle can become contaminated. The only acceptable method is to store the scoop in a dedicated, clean, and sanitized container, or on a sanitized tray, ensuring it is not exposed to environmental contaminants between uses.

Maintaining a Clean Zone: Inside and Out

Ice in a drink-Ice machine sanitation — Are you serving safe drinks? Learn about Ice machine sanitation!

The safety of your ice depends on the cleanliness of both the machine’s interior and its surrounding environment. You must treat the ice machine as food-contact equipment and maintain the surrounding area to prevent pests and external contaminants from compromising your ice supply.

The machine is for ice only: It may seem convenient, but you should never use the ice bin as a refrigerator to chill canned beverages, bottles of wine, or other food products. The exterior of these containers is not sanitary and will introduce bacteria and dirt directly into your ice.
Keep the surrounding area clean: The warmth and moisture from an ice machine’s condenser can create an attractive environment for pests. Clean and remove all debris from the floor and drains under and around the machine. Keep the top of the machine clear and never use it as a storage shelf for boxes, dirty dishes, or other items.

Protecting your customers requires a comprehensive approach to food safety that accounts for every ingredient, including the ice. At Safe Food Training, we focus on the real-world challenges that certified food managers in Minnesota face on a daily basis. Our training goes beyond the basics to cover these often-overlooked hazards that can impact your operation.

Don’t let poor ice machine sanitation undermine your hard work. If you and your team are ready to deepen your understanding of Minnesota’s food safety standards, our expert-led, instructor-led options provide the convenient and comprehensive training you need.

Visit Safe Food Training today to schedule your next session and ensure your establishment is a model of safety, from the first ingredient to the last ice cube.