Food Safety Certification MN Archives

January 18, 2021January 25, 2021

How To Focus On Food Safety Management Training During COVID-19 Restriction

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

COVID-19 has dominated the news since the beginning of 2020, and many food businesses have struggled to find a way to keep their businesses open and continue serving their guests. While much of the food industry has focused on the balance between keeping their guests safe from the coronavirus and making a profit, it’s important not to let food safety management training take a back seat. Relaxing food safety management during these times can result in overlooking risks that could result in foodborne illness.

Keeping Food Safety Management Training a Priority

We understand that it takes a lot of effort to abide by StaySafeMN guidance for restaurants, and it should be a priority, but that can’t be an excuse to relax on other food safety management procedures.

Food safety managers are responsible for making sure staff understand and follow proper food handling procedures and times of reduced service are a great opportunity to monitor and provide a little extra on-the-job training. Since you’re taking the time to make sure employees understand mask rules, social distancing in dining areas and enforcing COVID-19 reservation-only regulations, you should also incorporate food safety training as well.

It’s quite easy to monitor and guide your staff on a few key issues as you go about monitoring coronavirus prevention protocols. Here’s a brief list of items that can be observed at the same time as StaySafeMN procedures:

Proper sanitation
Handwashing between tasks
Employee health
Hair coverings

Some of these things may look like items your staff should already understand, but during the course of your day, it’s easy to make sure. Food safety managers can enforce and provide training for sanitation procedures since it’s necessary for both coronavirus prevention and food safety. Handwashing can also be reviewed as it can be brought up easily given current circumstances.

When it comes to employee health, sick is sick regardless of whether it’s COVID or not. Daily employee health screenings implant the idea that fever, cough, runny nose, nausea and other symptoms disqualify a food worker from taking their shift. Train your employees to take their temperature before work if not done on-site, be aware of symptoms and call out sick if necessary.

Now that masks are required, kitchen workers must wear two important pieces of protection: a head covering and a mask. When training employees on how to properly wear a mask, you can also teach them the importance of wearing a proper head covering when working with food.

November 30, 2020November 9, 2020

Food Safety Training and Salmonella Linked to MN Juice Bar

Last month, the Minnesota Department of Health announced they were investigating a salmonella outbreak linked to Nektar juice bar in Woodbury. At least nine people were sickened, but due to the nature of salmonella there’s a good chance that more patrons were afflicted. Symptoms of the bacteria can sometimes be either too mild to recognize as food poisoning or require medical attention. It should also be noted, that the nine customers stricken with salmonella symptoms reported ordering a variety of items including bowls, smoothies and juices. With such a variety of menu items attributed to this outbreak, the Department of Health has yet to determine the exact ingredient that spread the illness, What food safety training practices could have helped to prevent the recent salmonella outbreak?

What food safety training practices could help prevent salmonella outbreaks? — Image credit: orentodoros via pixabay

Food Safety Training and Equipment Sanitation

While we’re not familiar with the specifics of the case, we do have a possible scenario that may have led to this outbreak which sickened at least nine and hospitalized two. A gap in food safety training when it comes to sanitizing equipment may have been a factor in this outbreak.

In juice bars, the same blender or preparation surface are often used for many different purposes, so there may have been a lack in sanitation in between serving customers. If an ingredient was unknowingly compromised with salmonella bacteria and this bacteria contaminated any piece of equipment or preparation surface then it could have easily spread to other items containing different ingredients. It’s not necessarily required to sanitize every surface that comes into contact with vegetable matter if that surface is going to be used immediately for another type of fruit or vegetable, but it may be a wise precaution. The same goes for equipment such as wand blenders and mixers. If a contaminated leafy green was prepared on a cutting board which was then immediately used to chop carrots, no food safety training principle was violated, but yet salmonella could have spread to an ingredient that was not previously contaminated.

So how do food safety managers prevent these kinds of contamination? Here’s a few brief tips:

Sanitize all surfaces after use
Invest in more equipment if certain preparation tools are used frequently
Take the time to sanitize equipment after every order

It’s important to note that Nektar Juice Bar did do the right thing after this incident came to light. As soon as the outbreak was traced back to their location, they restocked their ingredient supply and took the time to completely sanitize their establishment. Are you prepared to prevent foodborne illness due to equipment contamination?

November 23, 2020November 9, 2020

Food Safety Manager Secrets Using Task Scheduling When Understaffed

Food safety manager using task scheduling to maintain food safety

Due to lower seating capacity, reduced business other COVID-19 restaurant restrictions in Minnesota, food safety managers have at times been forced to run their businesses with fewer staff members than usual. While keeping an eye on labor costs will help keep Minnesota restaurants in business during trying times, we shouldn’t sacrifice routine food safety tasks in the process. By incorporating task scheduling into administrative duties, the food safety manager can provide an efficient means of keeping up with food safety concerns while protecting the business’s labor bottom line.

Task Scheduling Tips for Short Staffed Food Safety Managers

In our interactions with food safety managers, we’ve heard a few common themes as to struggles finding time for some major aspects of their food safety duties. Some of the most common concerns deal with:

Inventory Control
Receiving and Evaluating Incoming Shipments
Employee Training

Food managers are taking more time on the line or in the dining room to compensate for a reduced payroll, and this might cut into the amount of time they have for inventory control and receiving shipments. Creating a detailed schedule involving tasks rather than simply shifts could help alleviate the pressure on food safety managers to complete certain tasks. A clearly defined task schedule will allow you to gain a full view of what needs to be done and give you the opportunity to adjust your schedules accordingly.

A defined task schedule can be as easy as scheduling a staff member 15 to 20 minutes a day to complete food safety maintenance tasks. For example, scheduling a food safety manager to inspect date markings on prepared product to ensure they are still safe to serve will ensure the task is accomplished much easier than if you simply leave it up to chance or hope for a slow moment in service. The same goes for receiving shipments and evaluating inventory. You almost always know what days your food suppliers drop off a delivery to your establishment. Keeping that in mind, make sure that your task schedule includes an extra employee on shipment days to ensure the order can be inspected and properly stored in a timely manner.

Employee training has also become an issue with limited time and sometimes limited restaurant capacity for staff. Training tasks can be scheduled outside of normal business hours in order to be in compliance with COVID-19 occupancy and social distancing rules. A better solution would be to use online tools and apps to handle training remotely when possible.

Do you use task scheduling to improve efficiency when understaffed?

November 2, 2020October 15, 2020

Highlights From New Consumer Food Safety Confidence Survey

Highlights from New consumer Food Safety Confidence Study

As a supply chain innovator, Zebra Technologies manufactures high-tech products that help businesses manage and monitor their supply chain. Some of their products include technology related to food quality monitoring and supply chain tracking. They recently conducted an extensive survey and study about consumer food safety confidence. This lengthy study brings to the forefront many issues ServSafe food managers should pay attention to, so let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

Highlights From New Consumer Food Safety Confidence Survey — Image credit: nicoletaionescu via 123rf.com

ServSafe Food Managers and Consumer Food Safety Concerns

In conducting this study, Zebra surveyed 4,957 consumers and 462 food and beverage firms worldwide. While each region had its share of diverse concerns, the results of those surveyed in the U.S. and the rest of North America shed some light on how our customers view food safety. Some consumer food safety stats that should concern ServSafe food managers include:

60% would never return to a business where they consumed tainted product
More than 80% believe all businesses have an ethical responsibility to enforce strict safety standards
Approximately 70% feel it’s important to know how their food is handled and prepared
69% would like to know how their food is sourced

As you can see from the first two statistics, consumers believe in strong food safety standards and trust will be easily lost, even after just one incident. That’s why it’s vital that your food business has clearly outlined safety standards and there are no training gaps when it comes to food safety.

It may come as a surprise that more restaurant-goers feel the need to know where their food comes from and how it’s handled. It’s no longer enough just to trust that restaurants have strict food handling procedures.

To respond to consumers who are looking to know every detail of food production, ServSafe food managers should be prepared to answer questions as to the source of their ingredients, especially potentially vulnerable items such as seafood. Customers will eat much more confidently if their concerns about sourcing and handling can be quickly addressed.

On a final note, consumers were asked what they perceived to be the biggest issues when it comes to food safety. The top answers include:

Kitchen staff hygiene
Foodborne illness outbreaks
Contaminated product
Consuming recalled ingredients

As you can see, three out of four issues all concern the state of product before it reaches your facility. Do you feel it’s important to know where your ingredients come from?