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Food Training Course Discussion on Sell-By and Use-By Dates

Food Training Course Discussion on Sell-By and Use-By Dates

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While we specialize in food training courses and online HAACP classes, we also monitor food industry news that affects general consumers as well. We recently came across a discussion concerning a USDA suggestion that food should be labeled with a best-by date rather than a sell-by date. According to the USDA, sell-by dates create confusion among consumers, and they estimate that nearly 30 percent of food waste from consumers and retailers arises from products that are labeled with a sell-by date.

Food Training Course Discussion on Sell-By and Use-By Dates

Image credit: Xymena via Flickr

Food Training Courses and Sell-By Dates

During our study on this subject, we found some pros and cons of labeling product with a best-by date rather than a sell-by date. Many foods such as canned items, pasteurized products and dried fruits have a much longer shelf life than many raw or freshly prepared items. If you have ever taken the time to investigate the sell-by dates on canned goods, you will notice dates that are months or even years into the future. With dates so far ahead of the present, predicting exactly when it will no longer be fit for human consumption is nearly impossible.

We do not believe the USDA’s attention to this subject will focus on long-term sell-by dates, but rather that of proteins and packaged foods that spoil in a short period of time. This presents unique difficulties for companies that process meat, seafood and other proteins. If the USDA does recommend that use-by dates be included on labels, butchers, distribution facilities and seafood harvesters must now decide how long the consumer has to eat or cook the product that they buy.

One thing we would like to see if this becomes the standard is some guidelines from the USDA as to how producers of these kinds of foods can accurately predict a date by which a product must be used. There are many factors that go into how fast food spoils. A refrigeration temperature variation of a few degrees changes how long proteins remain safe to eat, especially sensitive seafood items. The way a grocer stores food can affect raw meat and produce and of course there is no way for food manufacturers to guess how a consumer will handle their food once they have purchased their groceries.

This may be a step in the right direction to reduce the amount of food that consumers waste, but it also brings up concerns as to how food training courses can teach producers can accurately label their product. If you have an opinion on this issue, feel free to leave your comments below.

Extreme Weather Closure Tips for Certified Food Managers

Extreme Weather Closure Tips for Certified Food Managers

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The winter months bring colder temperatures and the potential for incredible amounts of snow. Sometimes the winter conditions in our state create a scenario where roads are treacherous until they can be cleared and hazardous travel conditions dissipate. While every business strives to stay open and be available to provide services to a loyal customer base, circumstances inevitably arise where a certified food manager has to make the call to close up shop for the day.

Certified Food Managers and Snow Closures

If serious weather occurs, having a plan helps keep your staff and customers informed. If there is an active warning or alert, the certified food manager should monitor it closely. Employees on shift during a predicted storm should be notified ahead of time, and if you plan on opening but wish to adjust for lower business volume due to weather, cutting a staff member or two’s shift may help save on labor cost if guests stay home.

You need to communicate with potential guests if you plan on closing for the day or shutting down a few hours earlier than normal. In the past this used to be a major challenge, but we live in the age of the internet. Many consumers turn to social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook during winter storms to verify if a restaurant is open, so keeping your guests updated via these outlets will pass the message along to a majority of your potential customers.

Once you reopen, check to see if entryways are safe for guests to enter and leave. Clearing icy surfaces such as sidewalks and stairs can prevent slips and falls and create an inviting appeal to your restaurant. Oftentimes employee entrances can be overlooked in bad weather scenarios, so make sure that your staff has a clear and safe way to access your facility.

Finally, enjoy the weather. Food management is a stressful and time-consuming profession. Build a snowman or drink your favorite warm beverage and relax in front of the fire.

We want to know your extreme weather strategies. Do you feel obliged to open your doors no matter what conditions may be, do you play it safe or is your winter weather plan somewhere in the middle? Leave your thoughts for us in the comment section below.

Food Safe Training Guide to E. coli

Food Safe Training Guide to E. coli

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Over the past few months, we’ve run a series of articles focusing on the most common causes of food-borne illnesses and product recalls. This month, we continue our series with a look at how E. coli and the related STEC bacteria strains are spread and how you can prevent your guests from consuming contaminated food.

Food Safe Training Guide to E. coli

Food Safe Training and E. coli

E. coli poisoning recently garnered national attention with a nationwide outbreak traced to Chipotle restaurants. Even with this high-profile case, E. coli is no longer ranked as a top-five cause of food-borne illness according to the CDC. It is, however, still very important to understand how to reduce the risk of spreading illness due to E. coli because according to this same study, this bacterium causes over 2,000 hospitalizations each year.

In order to control the spread of E. coli, we must first know where it comes from. The STEC strains may exist in:

  • Undercooked ground beef
  • Unpasteurized milk and cheese
  • Unpasteurized juices
  • Alfalfa sprouts
  • Unwashed vegetables

If you have worked in the food industry for a length of time, you know that you must cook ground beef thoroughly in order to kill E. coli, but some of the other causes might come as a surprise. We have discussed the dangers of serving raw milk products numerous times in the past, and we can now add the potential for E. coli poisoning to the list of risks involved with consuming unpasteurized dairy products.

Raw fruits and vegetables pose a threat that often goes undetected. While the STEC bacterium does not naturally occur in raw produce, exposure to cross contamination is a real risk. E. coli naturally occurs in the digestive tract of livestock, and it spreads through contact with the animal, its feces or raw milk. Produce can be contaminated simply by a farmer walking through a cow pasture and transferring it to the soil raw vegetables grow in by wearing the same shoes. The same can happen with farm equipment on a much larger scale.

To keep your vegetables safe, especially leafy greens and sprouts, we urge you to wash all produce that you receive before serving it to guests or incorporating it into other menu items.

Next month, our series will continue as we tackle the number-one culprit of food-borne illness, the easily spread norovirus.

A Safe Food Training Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

A Safe Food Training Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

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During a break in a recent Safe Food Training class a side discussion on kitchen fire safety “spontaneously ignited”. We decided it would be a good topic to have our friend and nationally recognized fire safety expert, Scott Futrell, blog about. This is the final in a series of blogs that will summarize fire prevention. Don’t let your kitchen, restaurant, and livelihood end up like the one in Figure 1 did, practice fire prevention!

A Safe Food Training Alert: For Restaurant Fire Hazards

All Image credits: Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc

Fire safety in your kitchen and your restaurant.

The Minnesota State Fire Code provides the minimum requirements for the fire prevention and fire protection in eating and drinking establishments.  It is up to you to reduce the odds of a fire impacting your business by routinely doing several things.

 

It is very important that you monitor the work done by contractors hired to clean hoods, ducts, and fans as well as contractors hired to inspect, test, and maintain the fire suppression systems.  The services they sell you may not match the objectives required to maintain your systems in a fire safe manner.

 

What do you need to do to protect your investment or your facility?

 

Look behind the filters and into the exhaust ductwork and monitor the grease build up prior to scheduled cleaning as well as immediately after cleaning to ensure it is cleaner than shown in Figure 2 where grease and the cleaner’s flashlight remained the day after the professional cleaning.  Keep in mind that solid-fuel burning appliances leave creosote and it is harder to clean, but easier to ignite.

Minnesota Food Safety Managers Watch for Grease in Plenum

Grease in Plenum
Figure 2

Get any redesign of appliance floor plans approved

 

A consultant knowledgeable in the:

  • Minnesota State Fire Code,
  • International Mechanical Code
  • National Fire Protection Association: NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations

should approve planned changes before any appliances are moved or replaced from under existing nozzles or existing hoods.

 

Be vigilant about fire suppression nozzle caps

 

Grease gets into the fire suppression nozzles if the caps are off and then when the system needs to operate it can’t flow agent out of the grease plugged nozzles, so a policy that includes ensuring the nozzle caps are always in place protects your investment.  See Figure 3 for a nozzle with the cap off and for a nozzle with grease caked inside of it.

Minnesota Certified Food Managers Fire Suppression Monitor Nozzels

Nozzle Missing Cap and Grease in Nozzle
Figure 3

Fire prevention and protection training

 

Establish as a part of your training program the fire prevention and protection requirements for all kitchen employees highlighting such topics as:

  • Manual pull station use (always the first thing in a fire if the system hasn’t operated automatically),
  • Always operate the exhaust system when there is activity in the kitchen
  • Define cleaning schedule and procedures
  • Check that nozzle caps are in place daily
  • Proper fire extinguisher use
  • And more.

Then have weekly or monthly staff meetings to reinforce the fire prevention, fire protection, and cleaning requirements associated with grease-laden cooking.

 

If you have any questions about fire safety in the food preparation environment that you would like to discuss contact Scott directly at (763) 425-1001 or scottf@ffcdi.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Scott A. Futrell, PE, FSFPE, CFPS, SET, CFEI, is a fire protection consultant with Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc., in Osseo, Minnesota and has over 40 years’ experience designing, specifying, and investigating fire protection system related losses and can be reached by e-mail at: scottf@ffcdi.com, or visit www.ffcdi.com.

Note from Tim Niles, Safe Food Training, Trainer and Editor-in-Chief, we truly appreciate the knowledge and hints Scott has provided for us in this series of blogs. He has a wealth of experience in fire prevention/protection and he’s regarded as a national expert. We’ve just scratched the surface of his knowledge in these blogs. It’s our hope that this information will stimulate our readers to take steps to make their facility a safer place for customers and employees. Thanks Scott!