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.

Food Safety Training Hand Sanitizes

Food Safety Training and the use of Hand Sanitizers

/0 Comments/in /by

The FDA recently issued a warning letter to the makers of Purell sanitizer asking them to stop claiming their sanitizer kills norovirus, Ebola, influenza and other viruses. If you read the report closely, you’ll find that the FDA never said that sanitizers don’t kill these viruses, there just isn’t the scientific study to back up Purell’s claims. In light of this warning, how should we adjust our food safety training to teach food service employees the proper use of hand sanitizers?

Food Safety Training Hand Sanitizes
Image credit: Anna Earl on Unsplash

Hand Sanitizers and Food Safety Training

When delving into this topic, it’s important to start off with one vital truth:

Hand sanitizers are not a substitute for handwashing.

When discussing food safety protocols with your staff, it’s important that they understand proper handwashing is the most effective way to kill germs and prevent the spread of foodborne, viral and bacterial illness. While hand sanitizers may advertise that they kill viruses and bacteria, they can never take the place of handwashing. So is there any instance where hand sanitizers or antiseptics are allowed in the kitchen?

While the Minnesota food code is adamant that sanitizers are not an effective replacement for handwashing, they do allow for the use of sanitizers in the kitchen.

Foodservice workers can use antiseptic gels or liquids after they have washed their hands properly. This can add an extra layer of protection, but only when used properly after a good handwashing. They should never be used before handwashing, or when timing makes the washing of hands inconvenient. Remember, handwashing should never be inconvenient, and paying close attention to handwashing habits will help prevent the spread of foodborne illness.

When it comes to the norovirus, the flu or Ebola, it’s always good practice to teach proper handwashing techniques that can be used at work or at home.

Will food safety ratings be the defining issue of the 2020 election?

/0 Comments/in /by

In a recent interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon , Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg mentioned health and food safety (3:34) as one of the pressing issues our country needs to address. During the discussion, he referenced New York City’s requirement to post food safety ratings in the entryway so customers can see just how well their favorite local restaurants performed on their last health inspection. New York isn’t the only city to post-inspection grades, as several states and municipalities also require restaurants to post their grades. It makes us wonder, would this requirement improve food safety in our state?

Food Safety Rating near entrance

Public Food Safety Ratings

When assessing the effects of any new regulation, our goal is to assess whether or not it will be effective in keeping food safe. Will an easily viewable public disclosure of health inspection results keep the food served in local restaurants safe and improve the overall risk of foodborne illness?

This is one case where certified food protection managers can use food safety training to not only to prevent foodborne contamination but to bring in more revenue. If your restaurant receives a two out of five stars, a C- or sickly gray face, customers may choose to move on, but if your restaurant is getting an A+, it won’t only be a deciding factor in drawing in guests, it’s probably something they’re going to tell their friends about.

This may also put added pressure on certified food protection managers to ensure that there are no lapses in food safety training. A health inspection usually comes unannounced and unexpected. If your staff is continually following health department protocols to the letter, you should have nothing to worry about. Without publicly posted food safety ratings, there may be less pressure to provide thorough training on every aspect of food safety. One slip could reduce your grade, and even if you take steps to address issues following your health inspection, potential customers will see your low grades until your next review.

How would you feel about having your restaurant’s food safety ratings posted where all of your guests can see?

Food Safety Training for Common 2019 Foodborne Illness Outbreaks

/in /by

At the end of every year, we like to take a look back at the previous year’s foodborne illness outbreaks to assess what food safety training measures need to be emphasized in the New Year to help prevent these outbreaks from spreading in Minnesota. While it’s not 100-percent complete, the CDC has compiled a list of outbreaks over the past several years, and this week we’ll take a look at some of the trends we see on this 2019 Foodborne Illness list.

2019 Outbreak Foodborne Illness Outbreak Report

2019 Outbreak Foodborne Illness Statistics and Food Safety Training

The Foodborne Illness outbreak news of 2019 was dominated by E.coli contaminated romaine and listeria in hard-boiled eggs, and the jury is still out as to the cause of these two contaminates entering the supply chain.

E.coli also reared its ugly head on several different occasions besides romaine lettuce including infected flour, ground beef and bison meat from a specialty supplier. Salmonella was also a frequent offender contaminating fresh fruit on multiple occasions as well as frozen tuna and ground meats.

So what do we do with these reports? Surely the food safety training community can’t prevent all of these outbreaks, can they?

While it may be impossible to stop every foodborne illness case, we feel that vigilant food safety training can go a long way towards reducing the risk to the public. A majority of these outbreaks happen at the packaging and harvesting level of the supply chain, so if your food business involves harvesting, processing or packaging ingredients to be shipped to food preparation outlets, here are a few steps we feel need to take place to help reduce these outbreak events.

  • Frequent food safety training
  • Properly outlined sanitation procedures
  • Inspection of equipment
  • Periodic review of food safety procedures

Food safety training isn’t meant to be a onetime thing. It’s important to provide regularly scheduled training sessions and reinforce safe protocols through periodic reviews with your entire staff.

When tracing the source of contaminates that spread an illness outbreak, investigators usually uncover contaminated equipment that hasn’t been properly maintained or sanitized. Inspect your equipment often and constantly review sanitation procedures. If you need help formulating a sanitation plan, your local health inspector will often be more than happy to help.

Does your facility produce raw ingredients for the use of food service businesses? If so, what steps do you take to keep your product safe?

Recall Effects Certified Food Protection Managers

Another Romaine Recall Affects Certified Food Protection Managers

/in /by

Here we go again. Near the end of November, the CDC reported 40 people in 16 states have fallen ill due to E.coli found in romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas growing region in California. Due to the vast amount of lettuce grown in this region, the FDA strongly urged consumers to dispose of all romaine in any form if there was any uncertainty as to where the lettuce was grown. This means that grocery stores, foodservice suppliers and restaurants were unable to use whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, chopped romaine or salad mixes that contain romaine. This left a multitude of affected certified food protection managers scrambling to find alternatives, especially considering the recall occurred just before a very busy Thanksgiving week.

Recall Effects Certified Food Protection Managers
Image credit: BlackRiv, Bruno Glätsch, Pezibear from Pixabay and Anita Hart from Flickr

Romaine Alternatives for Affected Certified Food Protection Managers During Recall

Romaine is a staple in the food industry. Due to its crisp texture and traditional use in Caesar salads, it’s always heavily in demand, but what can CFPMs do when it’s suddenly unavailable?

First thing certified food protection managers must do is inform guests that romaine lettuce is unavailable. This can be as easy as including a notice in your menus or in a visible location before guests are seated or served. Many guests may not follow the news and may have a negative reaction to being served a different type of product than what is listed on your menu.

Secondly, you may want to find as close of an alternative as possible. With the latest recall happening just before Thanksgiving, we’ve heard stories from foodservice professionals that even other forms of lettuce had become scarce due to demand for a romaine replacement and an abundance of caution concerning all produce from the Salinas growing region. While nothing really has the crunch and flavor of romaine, there are a few potential alternatives:

  • Iceberg Lettuce
  • Butter Lettuce
  • Green Leaf Lettuce
  • Leafy Greens

Of the above alternatives, none will have the crunch factor of a crisp romaine heart, but iceberg, butter and green leaf varieties of lettuce will still have similar flavors and could provide an adequate substitute until romaine once again available. We’ve heard of some certified food managers thinking outside the box and replacing some menu items with different salads containing leafy greens such as kale, bok choy and spinach.

We’re interested in how certified food protection managers have been affected by recent romaine recalls. What alternatives did you use during the latest romaine recall?