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The Top Food-Borne Illnesses and the ServSafe Food Manager

The Top Food-Borne Illnesses and the ServSafe Food Manager

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There have been several outbreaks of food-borne illnesses that received national attention in the past year, but are the pathogens that receive the most media attention the biggest culprits that sicken consumers? This week, we take a look back at the top causes of food-borne illness.

Common Food-Borne Illnesses and the ServSafe Food Manager

Now that the data from 2016 has been compiled, we’ve learned some interesting things about food-borne illness trends. The top four causes of illnesses in 2016 included:

  • Campylobacter
  • Salmonella
  • Shigella
  • E. coli

While Salmonella and E. coli dominate the news cycle whenever there an outbreak happens, the number one cause of food-borne illness generally goes unreported. Campylobacter causes fever, nausea and abdominal pain and most commonly effect small children and young adults. We hear very little about this bacterium because serious cases rarely happen and only a few long-term complications can occur. Although rare, some of the more serious cases of infection have been linked to appendicitis and arthritic-like symptoms. Campylobacter contaminates food that has come into contact with animal or human fecal matter and commonly comes from chicken and poultry products. It also exists on unwashed fruits and vegetables that grow where a chicken manure based fertilizer is used or food product that is handled by unclean hands.

Shigella bacterium sometimes causes serious symptoms and is closely related to dysentery. Studies show that as little as 100 ingested bacteria can lead to symptoms, making Shigella the easiest contracted food-borne illness when present in food. ServSafe food managers must train their staff diligently to prevent the spread of Shigella since severe cases can cause seizures, intense abdominal pain and a risk of death in the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. Proper hand washing reduces the risk of the spread of Shigella, and those that contract it should be aware that it spreads for weeks after symptoms have dissipated.

Modern data collection and the reporting of illness statistics gives us a wider view of health concerns that result from improper food handling. Are there any rarely covered issues that you’d like us to address in a future article?

Coffee Pot Sanitation and Safe Food Handling Practices

Coffee Pot Sanitation and Safe Food Handling Practices

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There’s a story floating around the food service community of a thermal coffee pot in which a server one day discovered the badly stained skeleton of a small rodent that had crawled in and died months or even years earlier. While we hope that this story is nothing more than a myth, it does bring to light

Safe Food Handling Practices and Coffee Pot Sanitation

One of the advantages a thermal coffee pot has over the glass variety is that it keeps beverages warm long after they are brewed without the aid of a heat source. The major disadvantage to these convenient containers is that most of them cannot be run through the industrial dishwasher.

We’ve seen firsthand that coffee pots may not be properly cleaned in many outlets. Once the coffee is dumped, an employee will often simply rinse out the vessel and leave to dry. While this makes the pot look clean on the surface, over time coffee deposits can turn rancid and potentially cause an illness.

To keep these pots clean use plenty of hot water when cleaning. Be careful not to use too harsh of a soap or sanitizer, because these can potentially eat away at the interior surface causing pockets where bacteria can thrive. Also be sure to never use a hard brush as this can also scratch the surface.

Over time, it will be necessary to descale your coffee pot to remove the stains of constant use. There are many different products on the market to accomplish this. Just make sure to rinse thoroughly to remove any trace of chemicals from the pot.

We like to cover many different scenarios and items in your kitchen to keep you aware of safe food handling practices when it comes to your utensils and equipment. Are there any items in your facility you’d like us to cover?

Food Safety Training and Raw Chicken Labels

Food Safety Training and Raw Chicken Labels

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When food service managers order chicken for their facilities, they come across many different labels and distinctions. The labeling of chickens can be confusing with tags such as organic, cage-free and non-GMO floating around. This week, we’d like to briefly discuss the rules behind chicken labels and hopefully clear up some of the confusion.

Food Safety Training Guide to Chicken Labels

Before we begin our discussion, we’d like to mention a few labels that cause the most confusion. From time to time a provider labels their raw chicken as natural, free-range or cage free. Unfortunately, no official inspected or verified class of natural, cage free or free-range chicken actually exists. A free-range or cage-free label simply infers that the farmer raises the chickens outdoor or uncaged. A label of natural gives no guarantee that the product is antibiotic free, organic or GMO free. For all intents and purposes, the natural label is meaningless.

Several chicken labeling standards require inspections and verification that the product meets specific guidelines. The most common include:

  • Organic
  • Certified humane
  • Non-GMO

If your chicken is labeled with one of these designations, you can rest assured that some form of inspection takes place. When you order organic chicken, you should receive raw product that has been fed a vegetarian diet free of antibiotics. However, the egg the chicken hatched from could have been treated with some form of antibiotic before the chick’s first day of life. Live chickens receive some outdoor access, but no minimum requirement is enforced. In order for raw chicken product to gain an organic label, an annual inspection of the facility must take place.

Non-GMO chickens also must pass a verification process in order to achieve permission for the non-GMO label. In order to gain this label, the chickens’ feed must contain less than one-percent GMO ingredients.

Finally, a chicken that has been verified as humanely raised or receives an American Humane Certified label must pass an inspection that stress on the bird’s daily life is minimal.

During food safety training, we occasionally have a question concerning hormones. You can rest assured that hormone use is prohibited in domestically raised chickens.

Decoding labeling standards helps food service managers keep informed about the quality of their product. Are there any confusing labels that you’d like us to look into?

ServSafe MN news- Norovirus outbreak at Minnehaha Academy

Breaking ServSafe MN News: The Norovirus Strikes Local School

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ServSafe MN News: According to a report on MPR Radio an outbreak of the Norovirus caused Minnehaha Academy to close its doors for several days after dozens of students and faculty members fell victim to the illness. With such a large outbreak, the facility felt it necessary shut its doors in order to prevent further spread of the virus and ensure the safety of its students.

ServSafe MN news- Norovirus outbreak at Minnehaha Academy

Photo credit:Ed Kohler via Flickr.com

Cleaning Up After a Norovirus Event

The Norovirus is one of the most contagious food-borne illnesses. We recently covered this topic in a previous article, but, just to review, some of the Norovirus symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. While rarely life threatening, we cannot ignore the severity of any Norovirus outbreak.

In cases such as the one which occurred at Minnehaha recently, a major outbreak requires major cleanup. The Norovirus spreads from unwashed hands, saliva and contact with other bodily fluids that have been infected. It can live on utensils, hard surfaces and contaminated food for an extended period of time. That means that after an outbreak nearly anything can be affected.

If your facility experiences outbreak of the Norovirus, we urge you to take the following steps:

  • Clean and sanitize all food preparation surfaces
  • Dispose of potentially contaminated food product
  • Wash and sanitize all utensils and serving wear
  • Work with your local health department to facilitate cleanup

Remember, that the best way to prevent an outbreak of any type of food-borne illness is diligence. Remind your staff not to work while sick, and if they have had Norovirus symptoms to refrain from working for several days after symptoms have disappeared. The Norovirus can still be active after a victim has appeared to have recovered. Use good sense and sanitize preparation surfaces frequently, and review proper hand washing procedures with your team.

If you would like to schedule a ServSafe MN review of how to prevent food-borne illness, we can help with both instructor led and online courses tailored to your specific facility.