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Food protection managers keep food safe

Expert Ways Food Protection Managers Keep Fresh Baked Goods Safe

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Bakeries and other food businesses that regularly make their bread, desserts, and other baked goods have a unique set of challenges when it comes to food safety. The certified food protection managers in these businesses need to take care to train their staff on safe handling procedures for baked goods throughout every aspect of the business.

Food Protection Managers Keep Fresh Baked Goods Safe
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Tips for Food Protection Managers Handling Fresh Baked Goods

In restaurants and other food businesses, products are made in the kitchen and delivered to a table for near-immediate service. Bakeries, however, prepare most of their treats ahead of time for display or delivery. Some of the challenges certified food protection managers need to overcome include:

  • Cleanliness of Preparation Equipment and Surfaces
  • Shelf-Stable Products vs Temperature Controlled Items
  • Display Cleanliness
  • Common Allergens

Just like in restaurants, all equipment and surfaces used in bakery production should be cleaned and sanitized, but some equipment in bakeries requires a little more attention due to the size of mixing bowls, implements, and other large bakery utensils. All of these should be thoroughly cleaned and dried before use. It takes just a small amount of bacteria growing on wet equipment to infect an entire batch of bread, cakes, cookies, and pastries. Make sure all surfaces are dry and free from sanitizer, water, and other contaminants.

Certain bread products do not require refrigeration after they have been made, however, some baked goods may have elements that must be kept cold. Certified food protection managers in bakeries must be very clear with their staff concerning which baked goods require temperature control.

Display cases must also be cleaned regularly, and not with just a quick spritz of glass cleaner so customers can see your product more clearly. Shelves, display racks, and plateware should all be cleaned and sanitized regularly. Make sure that all cleaning solutions used have had time to dry and do not come in contact with food.

Bakeries have a high risk of contamination from common allergens due to some of the ingredients used in some baked goods. Food protection managers should assure all baked goods with allergens such as peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, soy and dairy are clearly labeled. If possible, display, store and prepare these items away from other baked goods.

Have you taken the time to evaluate procedures in your bakery that are different from standard restaurant food handling routines?

food protection manager fundamentals make serving wild mushrooms safe

Food Protection Manager Fundamentals That Make Serving Wild Mushrooms Safe

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We are well into fall, and that means that wild mushroom season is in full swing. Many certified food protection managers love adding fresh, local ingredients to their menus, and mushrooms are no exception, but with wild mushrooms come some unique food poisoning risks. If you plan on serving wild mushrooms this fall, reviewing these food protection manager fundamentals could prevent serious illness.

Food Protection Manager Fundamentals Make Serving Wild Mushrooms Safe
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Food Protection Managers and Wild Mushrooms

For food protection managers to understand why wild mushrooms present such a high risk, we should look at the symptoms of mushroom poisoning. Unlike in cartoons, poisonous mushroom won’t just make you see funny shapes and colors for a few minutes, eating them poses a real threat to your health. Consuming poisonous mushrooms can result in:

  • Vomiting
  • Fever
  • Kidney failure
  • Irregular Heartbeat
  • Seizures
  • Death

As you can see, the consequences of eating poisonous mushrooms range from mild to the ultimate consequence. So how can certified food managers reduce the risk of accidentally serving bad mushrooms to guests?

The first, and probably most important, step is to only purchase wild mushrooms that have been harvested and inspected by a certified wild mushroom harvester. Certified harvesters receive the training necessary to understand the difference between good and bad wild mushrooms and help ensure that only the edible mushrooms make their way into your food business.

Secondly, food protection managers must make sure that wild mushrooms are washed just before use. Washing mushrooms will remove dirt and contaminants that could sicken guests. However, make sure that you wash them as close to use as possible. Being a fungus, wet mushrooms pose an enormous risk for mold, mildew and other bacteria when wet, so make sure the time between washing and cooking is kept as short as possible.

As with all questionable product, food protection managers must should use your best judgement when serving wild mushrooms. If your wild mushrooms don’t look, smell or feel right, don’t use them. It’s better to lose a little bit of product than sicken your guests.

Do you serve wild mushrooms in your business?

The Truth About Food Protection Managers Moving Product Safely

The Truth About Food Protection Managers Moving Product Safely

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In food businesses with multiple locations, there are often situations when one location runs out of a certain product and must borrow some from another outlet some distance away. Foodborne illness risks result if food protection managers don’t take the appropriate steps to ensure food is transported safely. To keep food safe when moving ingredients from one location to another, let’s outline the steps that food protection managers must take to keep food safe in transit.

The Truth About Food Protection Managers Moving Product Safely
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Food Protection Manager Tips for Transporting Product to Secondary Facilities

When we’re talking about food or ingredients that are at risk during transport, we’re mostly discussing raw ingredients or chilled ready-to-eat foods. Ingredients that come in cans, plastic containers or in sealed boxes that are shelf-stable at room temperature pose little to no risk at all when moved from one facility to another. If any of these products are open, however, pathogens and debris could enter the containers and cause a risk, so it’s a good idea for the food protection manager to ensure all shelf-stable products remain sealed during transit.

The real risk comes from moving raw food from one place to another. Items such as fish, meats, dairy and cut fruits and vegetables need to remain out of the danger zone during transportation. Smaller items can be kept in a cold storage bag or even a cooler with plenty of ice to ensure that product remains under 41 degrees.

Larger items, however, pose more of a challenge. Let’s say a location 45 minutes away runs out of fresh halibut. Transporting a whole fish may not be possible. It’s hard to find a sealed storage vessel large enough, and the size makes it much harder to keep cool. One solution would be to keep the windows down on an exceptionally cold morning and keep the inside vehicle under 41 degrees, but the resulting pneumonia may not be worth the tradeoff. In these cases, food protection managers should find a solution to prepare the product in manageable portions before packing.

Frozen food should be assessed based on distance and whether or not it will start to thaw before reaching its destination. Partially thawed product poses a quality and food safety risk, and in these cases, food protection managers must use their best judgment to make sure the trip won’t cause the product to thaw during delivery.

Do you have a solution for moving raw ingredients from one restaurant to another?

New Food Safety Training For The Dish Pit

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We all know that dishwashing machines are an important piece of equipment in keeping serving ware and the utensils we use to prepare food clean, but do we take the time to ensure that our dishwasher is kept in sanitary condition? Beyond sanitizing the clean side of the dishwasher and making sure drying areas are kept in proper condition, how can we promote food safety training to keep the “dirty” side of our mechanical dishwashers from creating foodborne illness hazards?

Food Safety Training for the Dish Pit
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Food Safety Training tips for Dish Pit Cleanliness

It’s easy to understand why the clean side of the dish pit needs to remain clean. All of the dishes that end up over there are sanitized and ready for service, but ignoring the dirty side of the dish area creates scenarios that can be a food safety risk. When providing food safety training to dish machine operators, make sure you cover:

  • Garbage Disposal
  • Machine Filters
  • Doors and Seals
  • Dirty Washing Surfaces

We tend to assume that the garbage disposal churns up waste and sends it into the sewage system, but a lot of the residue remains in the drain, on the blades and in your pipes. This food residue attracts pests such as fruit flies. While it’s not necessary or even prudent to take apart your garbage disposal, there are liquid solutions available that can clean and sanitize garbage disposals and pipes. If you have the need to reach into the garbage disposal for any reason, make sure that it has been unplugged to prevent catastrophic injury.

Most mechanical dish washers have filters to prevent waste from ending up in the drainage system. Make locating and cleaning these filters a part of your basic food safety training. Don’t forget that grease and grime can build up on the inside of the doors and transfer to clean items during the rinse cycle.

Finally, the areas where plate ware and production tools wait to be washed can also attract pests and transfer contaminated materials to employees who touch them and work near these areas. The food safety training best practice is take the time to often clean washing surfaces and dirty dish storage areas.

Does your food safety training cover the whole dish pit area?