Safe Food Training MN Archives

April 29, 2018April 29, 2018

Certified Food Managers and Touch Screen Devices

With modern advances in technology, certified food managers and touch screen devices are becoming inseparable.Managers rely more and more on handheld and mobile devices for everything from scanning and checking in deliveries to giving servers the ability to place an order directly from a guest’s table. These devices make our jobs easier, but are they creating a new risk that could possibly spread food-borne illnesses?

Sanitation, Certified Food Managers and Touch Screen Devices

While these touch screens may look clean, over the course of a workday, or even with one use, bacteria and other potential contaminates will transfer from the user’s fingers onto the surface. These contaminates can then be transferred to the hands of anyone else handling the device and make their way onto plates, serving utensils and prepared food.

Current trends show that these touch screens are not only utilized by front-of-the-house staff, they are becoming more popular in the back of the house as well. Some kitchens have replaced the receipt ticker with a screen where filled orders can be swiped away with the flick of the finger and tablets are being used for everything from inventory control to time clocks. The back of the house presents the greatest risk of cross contamination, so extra care must be taken when handling these devices in food preparation areas.

Handwashing and training will be key to keeping your food safe. Certified food managers need to remind every member of their staff that they must wash their hands after using one of these devices for any reason. It may not occur to them that a simple swipe with one finger could result in a contaminated product. It may also be wise to ask your janitorial or food service provider if they have a product that will safely sanitize your touch screens without damaging them.

Do you utilize touch screens in your operation? If so, let us know how in the comments section below.

April 16, 2018April 11, 2018

What does HACCP mean for ServSafe Food Managers?

Every so often, ServSafe food managers will come across literature from the FDA or other sources that refer to HACCP procedures. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) is a common system for reducing the risk of spreading food-borne illness and keeping the food supply safe. While HACCP standards and action plans are not commonly required in restaurants, many food-producing outlets and raw ingredient suppliers must follow these guidelines.

What is HACCP?

HACCP is not quite as complicated as it may sound. The intent of this system is to identify potential food-safety hazards and then take steps to keep food production safe. The basic outline of a Hazard Analysis Critical Contol Point plan looks something like the following:

Evaluate and identify potential hazards in production
Identify critical points and establish controls to prevent hazards
Establish procedures to monitor and measure
Correct hazards
Keep records of hazards and correction procedures

Whether your facility follows the FDA’s HACCP system or not, these are still steps ServSafe food managers should take. Every facility has its potential hazards whether they come from hot holding, chilling of cooked product or the risks of cross-contamination in storage or prep stations. Once these potential risks are identified and assessed, it is important to monitor them to ensure food safety. This monitoring can come in the form of routine measurement of temperatures, verifying that proper storage and sanitation procedures are followed or any other step that helps keep food safe at these critical points of production.

March 12, 2018March 10, 2018

A Lesson in Improper Food Safety Training from South Africa

While we usually focus on food safety training in Minnesota and food-handling issues in the United States, the listeria outbreak in South Africa is too big of a news story to ignore. With a death toll around 200, this outbreak breaks records as the largest listeria case in the world.

A Food Safety Training Case Study and a South African Outbreak

Investigators have traced the source of this outbreak to a South African processed meat product called polony. The listeria bacterium found on the exterior casing of this meat product poses an incredibly high probability that other products have also become contaminated. The risk of cross-contamination from this outbreak prompted health officials to recommend that the residents of South Africa avoid consuming any ready-to-eat processed meat products. Between January and March, nearly 700 cases of infection from this strain have been confirmed, and this outbreak has a staggering 27-percent fatality rate.

It’s vital that we don’t simply write this outbreak off as happening in another country because it doesn’t affect food producers in Minnesota and the United States. This product may never be sold in our stores, but it should serve as a dire warning as to the consequences of a lack of food safety training, especially with something as preventable as listeria poisoning. Now could be a good time to review hand washing and equipment sanitation procedures with your staff since many cases of listeria begin with improper sanitation procedures.

Have you been following this major food safety story and has it impacted how you look at basic food handling training?

February 19, 2018February 8, 2018

Spanish Online Food Safety Certification Courses

For a great number of innovative restaurateurs, food service managers and employees that work in food production, English is not their first spoken language. This often leads to challenges when it comes time to become food safety certified. Many courses are led by a talented instructor who may have a rudimentary knowledge of the Spanish language, but might not be fully able to converse with a native Spanish speaker. If you have a Spanish speaking employee in need of certification, a Spanish online food safety certification course can help them gain the knowledge they need and take the test in a familiar language.

Benefits of Online Food Safety Certification Courses for Spanish Speakers

Even if a student has a good grip on the English language, they may be more comfortable studying in the language that comes naturally to them. There are certain nuances in both English and Spanish that could cause a teacher to have trouble explaining a concept to a Spanish speaker and have the student misunderstand the information. This can be especially true for food service workers who recently immigrated to the United States.

An online food safety certification course will also help by placing a non-English speaker in a comfortable environment. Online classes can be taken from the student’s home at their own pace. After the student has finished their online training, all that will be left for them is to register for a testing date. Many times this test must be taken at a specific location away from home where they have the advantage of taking it in their own language.

At Safe Food Training, we can set up online courses in both English and Spanish, as well as provide any specialized training you may require.