Safe Food Training MN Archives

February 24, 2020

How MN Certified Food Managers Deal with a Rising Minimum Wage

Later this year, the minimum wage in Minnesota is going up to 10 dollars an hour for high-grossing businesses and 8.15 for businesses that bring in less than $500,000 annually, and the minimum wage in Minneapolis is set to rise to 11.75 for small businesses and 12.25 an hour for businesses with over 100 employees. The majority of our local restaurants and food producers tend to be smaller, one-outlet operations, so they may have to adjust more than larger corporations. Just how will rising minimum wage affect the food industry, and is there anything MN certified food managers can do about it?

The New Minimum Wage and MN Certified Food Managers

If you’ve ever calculated food and labor cost, you know the profit margin in the food industry is already razor-thin, in some cases as low as pennies on the gross dollar. Under the circumstances, how is it possible for MN certified food managers to retain the same amount of staff yet still continue to make a profit?

Some theorize that with a rising minimum wage, the general populace will have more money to spend on luxuries such as eating out. If this theory holds true, then many restaurants could see extra revenue due to increased business or have the option of raising their prices. While it would take time to see if this theory holds out, it will be interesting to monitor if Minnesota restaurants will see an uptick in business due to the higher minimum wage rate.

Restaurateurs in areas with a higher than average minimum wage have suggested implementing a tip credit as an option for offsetting labor costs. A tip credit essentially involves a lower hourly wage than the minimum for workers who receive tips as a portion of their income. If their tips don’t raise their income per hour to equal or exceed Minnesota’s minimum wage, their employer would be required to compensate them to ensure they made the state-required wage per hour for their shift.

Finally, many larger restaurants see automation as a way to control labor costs. Using touchscreen kiosks or screens at individual tables allows them to reduce labor by cutting jobs. As technology becomes more advanced and cheaper to acquire, we may see some form of automation trickle down to lower-volume businesses. We don’t see this as an ideal solution, as we feel a thriving food industry should involve human staff wherever possible.

Does your MN certified food managers have a strategy for dealing with rising minimum wage?

February 9, 2020

How ServSafe Food Managers Keep Food Safe During High Volume

Once February 14th hits, ServSafe food managers can expect their business double, triple or even quadruple for a few days compared to the norm. We believe food safety protocols should be followed to the letter no matter how busy it is, so this week we’ll take a look at common lapses during high volume and how ServSafe food managers can keep food safe

ServSafe Food Manager Certification Standards for Food Safety While The Kitchen Is At Capacity

When we get busy, we sometimes tend to focus on our main goal, and when it’s food service on one of the busiest days of the year we’re talking about getting food to guests as quickly as possible so we can move on to the next order. It doesn’t matter if your receipt printer has spit tickets out in a string that reaches the floor or if you have a VIP at table three, food safety should be a high priority. Here are the two biggest neglected issues we see when restaurants get busier than average.

Handwashing
Barehand contact

Every ServSafe manager and food service employee should have it engrained in their mind to wash their hands frequently, and during exceptionally busy nights, handwashing can be neglected or just improperly performed. Handwashing needs to happen often, and it needs to be done right. We’re not talking about a quick rinse in lukewarm water with a dab of soap, we’re talking about proper 20-second handwashing with plenty of soap and hot water. We get it, 20 seconds seems like an eternity with servers pestering cooks looking for an ETA on their favorite guests’ meals or when the ding of the order printer ceaselessly calls you back to the line, but 20 seconds could be the difference between safe food and a sick guest.

Barehand contact rules can also be easily forgotten under duress. Tongs or gloves must be used when handling ready-to-eat foods and hands must be washed when changing gloves. To keep this freshly in your staff’s mind, make preparations to stock extra boxes of single-use food-service gloves anywhere in the kitchen where they’ll be used. Remind your employees that gloves are no substitute for handwashing after using the restroom, eating or handling raw ingredients.

Do you have any other tips to help fellow ServSafe food managers keep their food products safe this Valentine’s Day?

January 14, 2020January 27, 2020

Food Safety Training for Common 2019 Foodborne Illness Outbreaks

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?

December 30, 2019December 19, 2019

Another Romaine Recall Affects Certified Food Protection Managers

Recall Effects Certified Food Protection Managers

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.

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?