Finding suppliers with high-quality ingredients is the first step in keeping your guests safe from foodborne illnesses. In fact, it’s such an important stage in the foodborne illness prevention process, that the Minnesota food code has outlined rules defining exactly what approved food sources look like. The code outlines a few different rules based on the type of ingredient you’re bringing in to your establishment, so let’s take a closer look at how food safety managers can identify approved food sources in the state of Minnesota.
A Breakdown of Approved Product Sources for Food Safety Managers
Food safety managers should source their inventory from approved commercial sources under the jurisdiction of some sort of regulatory control. These sources generally fall into three categories:
- Local, regional or international growers
- Food manufacturing plants
- Food distributors
Most restaurants and other eating establishments use nationally or regionally recognized distributors. As a food safety manager, you can be fairly confident that these distribution services are relying on regulated suppliers to fill their warehouses. However, some confusion can come into play when purchasing ingredients from smaller providers. If you’re dealing with suppliers directly rather than using a major distributor, how can you tell if it’s an approved source?
The Minnesota food code outlines a few special requirements for specific scenarios to be used by food safety managers.
- Milk products must meet Grade A pasteurized standards.
- Meat, poultry and game animals must pass USDA or Minnesota Department of Agriculture inspection.
- Shell eggs must be clean, intact and meet grade B or better standards.
- Liquid, frozen, dry or other egg products must be pasteurized.
- Canned or bag sealed product must come from a licensed vendor
- Molluscan shellfish must originate from a source on the Interstate Certified Shellfish List.
- Wild mushrooms can only be sourced from a forager who has completed an approved mushroom identification course.
This may seem like a lot of different rules to follow, but with some common sense food safety managers should be able to source any ingredient from an appropriate source. If you’re buying wild game out of the back of a pickup truck, purchasing fish from hobbyist fishermen or sourcing wild mushrooms out of the trunk of a car in a back alley, you may not be getting your ingredients from an approved source.
Don’t be afraid to ask for proof of regulatory standards when purchasing products from smaller suppliers. Many of them will gladly share the appropriate certifications and in many cases make you aware of them on their order sheets or product guides.
Do you source all of your ingredients from approved sources?
