Keep your Minnesota kitchen compliant. We track the latest food recalls and safety alerts so you can pull bad products fast and protect your customers.

Certified Food Protection Managers and Sanitizers in Food

/0 Comments/in , /by

With the current health crisis and the efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, certified food protection managers have been required to up the ante on their attention to sanitation procedures in the kitchen and on the dining room floor. While proper sanitation will help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus and keep other contaminants out of the food your serve your guests, frequent sanitation can lead to the risk of chemicals making their way into the food you serve. Since Certified Food Protection Managers are sanitizing more frequently in these times, we should take a look at measures to keep our food free of chemical sanitizers.

Certified Food Protection Managers Guarding Against Sanitizers in Food
Image credit: Dmytro Sidelnikov via 123 photo

Use of Sanitizers in Food Preparation by Certified Food Protection Managers

Sanitizing on a regular basis should not pose any threat to your guests. In fact, proper sanitation procedures should be done as frequently as necessary in order to kill viruses and bacteria in your establishment. The danger in over sanitation doesn’t come from sanitizing too often, it comes from using too much sanitizer product.

There are three types of sanitizer options approved by the Minnesota Food Code for use by Certified Food Managers in restaurants and other food production establishments:

  • Bleach or chlorine solution at 50ppm for 10 seconds
  • Iodine solution at 12.4 to 24ppm for 30 seconds
  • Quaternary ammonia solution at 200 to 400ppm for 30 seconds

Sanitizer solutions at the appropriate dilutions should be enough to keep the Coronavirus at bay. The danger lies is exceeding the amount of sanitizing chemicals in these recommended solutions. At the appropriate levels, bleach, iodine and ammonia will evaporate at room temperature after they have been utilized. If the concentrations are much higher than the recommended dilutions, you run the risk of exposing food that is served or prepared on previously sanitized surfaces. You may have reduced the risk of spreading viruses and bacteria, but you’ve increased the risk of adding unwanted chemicals to your product.

Besides sanitizing our surfaces, we’re also tempted to use sanitizer on our hands more often than before. While the health department allows for the use of antiseptics after hand washing, we must be very careful to remember that bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods is not allowed. Certified food protection managers should take an extra precaution and remind their staff to always wear food-service gloves when handling food and to change them after every task. This will prevent sanitizers on our hands from coming into contact with food product.

Are certified food protection managers in your establishment monitoring your sanitizing procedure to prevent chemical sanitizers from contaminating the food you serve?

Special COVID-19 regulations on HVAC for food protection managers

Certified Food Protection Managers, COVID-19 and HVAC Systems

/0 Comments/in , /by

As we continue to reopen restaurants, bars and other eating establishments, certified food managers now have both the responsibility to keep the food they serve safe and to help prevent the spread of the Corona Virus. We’ve covered protocols such as social distancing, limited capacity and the reservation requirement, but the guidance provided in the Stay Safe MN for food businesses details more than just how to serve your guests. This guidance also involves specific rules regarding the ventilation systems in eateries, we’d like to take the time to outline Minnesota’s guidelines for HVAC systems during COVID-19 restrictions for certified food protection managers in food businesses.

Image credit: 123rf Worawut Kertchot 

Certified Food Protection Manger’s Guide for COVID-19 HVAC Regulations

The Stay Safe MN plan has four basic rules that certified food protection managers should initially consider concerning their current HVAC system:

  • Can the outdoor air percentage be increased to reduce reliance on circulated air?
  • If your establishment relies on recirculated air, are your filters MERV-13 or better?
  • Have my HVAC filters been replaced before reopening?
  • Have I had an HVAC professional evaluate my ventilation?

The theory behind some of these rules is that if we can provide an environment the lowers the risk of COVID-19 circulating through our air, we might be able to greatly reduce the risk of infection. If we limit the amount of recirculated air and introduce air from the outside, the atmosphere in our dining areas are constantly diluted and replaced with fresh air from the outside. In an environment where air is constantly recirculated, we run the risk of simply recirculating contaminated air.

If you must rely on recirculated air, there’s no reason to give up hope of reducing the risk of the spread of COVID-19 in your establishment. The recommends your filters be MERV-14 rated, however, MERV-13 filters are allowed. Your filters also should be replaced before reopening. Not only should filters be replaced, but you must also ensure they’ve been installed properly in order to prevent air from bypassing the filters and entering your dining room potentially contaminated.

Finally, it’s important to have a trained HVAC professional evaluate your system. As a certified food protection manager, Certified Food Protection Managers already have a lot on your plate, especially during COVID-19 restrictions, so bringing in someone who is more prepared to evaluate your HVAC system, change filters and make any adjustments necessary would be prudent.

Have you made sure you’re ventilation system is compliant with the Stay Safe MN plan?

Waiter demonstrating Servsafe sanitation post COVD-19 shutdown

COVID-19 and ServSafe Sanitation

/0 Comments/in , /by

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way foodservice businesses operate and will continue to change food safety procedures for the foreseeable future. Once eating establishments are finally permitted to seat guests in their dining rooms, ServSafe food managers will have to change their sanitation procedures and the way they enforce certain food handling rules after the COVID-19 shutdown. This week, we’d like to take a look at what these new sanitation procedures could look like.

ServSafe sanitation post COVID-19 shutdown

Post COVID-19 Shutdown ServSafe Sanitation Guide for Restaurant Reopening

At this time, there is no recommendation to deviate from the types of sanitizer solutions recommended in Minnesota Food Code sanitation procedures, so it’s not necessary to increase the concentration of bleach, iodine or quaternary ammonia compounds in sanitizing solutions. In fact, using a solution with higher concentrations than recommended could pose a health risk to staff and guests should excess sanitizer chemicals end up in customers’ food or create a toxic atmosphere when working in close contact with these over-powered solutions.

Whether you’re open for business as usual or your establishment is still only providing takeout service, it’s important to sanitize all surfaces regularly. The most touched surfaces should be sanitized many times a day. Make sure these frequently used surfaces are sanitized often:

  • Countertops
  • Door knobs and handles
  • Guest tables
  • Chair backs and high chairs
  • Handrails

Once we return to in-house service, we’ll have to consider many more items for sanitation to help stop a resurgence of the COVID-19 virus. While every establishment will be different, we’ve come up with a few items that aren’t normally sanitized that you may wish to include in your ServSafe sanitation training:

  • Credit cardholders
  • Touchscreens in ordering kiosks, tablets and wait stations
  • Pens used by customers to sign credit card receipts
  • Seatbacks and chair arms
  • Light switches
  • Soap dispensers
  • Other implements that may be handled or breathed on by staff or customers

We must also remember that out of the way areas should be sanitized regularly as well. Some locations may not need hourly cleaning, but regular sanitation should occur everywhere in your facility. Think of surfaces such as doors, equipment such as mixers, exteriors of refrigeration units and any other surface than may not be touched too often, but still potentially come into contact with the breath of employees and customers.

It may seem overboard to some, but ServSafe sanitation will have to take on a higher level of vigilance in the coming days once we begin to reopen our restaurants. What steps will you be taking to help prevent a resurgence of COVID-19?

COVID-19 Resources for CFPM's

COVID-19 Resources for CFPMs

/0 Comments/in , /by

Many small businesses across the country have been hit hard by measures put into place to slow the COVID-19 outbreak, but restaurants, in particular, have taken a huge financial hit since social distancing protocols have been enacted. If you’re a small-business restaurant owner or the certified food protection manager(CFPMs ) of a small to medium sized establishment, you should familiarize yourself with some COVID-19 related resources that can help your business survive until it’s time to open up for more than just takeout service.

COVID-19 Resources for CFPMs-SBA Payment Protection Plan
Image credit: shealah_craighead via Flickr

COVID-19 Related Financial Aids for CFPMs and owners of Small Restaurants

One of the most talked about financial programs for small-businesses is the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP is a loan set up by the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) to not only help small businesses stay afloat but be able to pay their employees during these hard times. While there are some rules to follow, the SBA may forgive some or all of your loan balance if you keep employees on payroll for eight weeks, use the money to pay utilities, rent, mortgage interest and keep payroll funded.

There are also Non-government COVID-19 related resources for restaurant owners and CFPMs. Several companies that are making it easier, and free, for restaurants to take to-go and delivery orders as well as provide ways for potential customers to know that you’re still open for take-out and delivery.

The Ordering App is waving it’s 1.5% ordering fee until July 1.

Google is offering ad credits for small and medium-sized businesses.

Yelp is offering numerous incentives. They are offering free access to Yelp Reservations and Yelp Waitlist for three months to help smaller restaurants facilitate orders. Yelp is also offering several different options for relief from restaurateurs who either utilize Yelp Ads or are considering doing so during current stay-at-home regulations.

Chowly, a system that streamlines online ordering and POS systems, is waving all set-up fees during the pandemic.

Presto has a program to provide kiosk ordering systems free of charge. These range from tablets to table-top ordering systems and can reduce direct contact with customers ordering takeout at your facility.

Finally, the National Restaurant Association has started the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. If you’re a certified food protection manager who has been forced to reduce employee hours or in drastic cases furlough some of your staff, you may want to point staff members who have been financially impacted to this fund. Rather than providing support to businesses, the RERF is focused on the individual hospitality workers who have sustained financial hardships.

Are there any other COVID-19 relief programs for CFPMs you think we should share with other readers?