staff giving thumbs up to future Servsafe food managers

Identifying Future ServSafe Food Managers

/0 Comments/in /by

The busy holiday season has ended, and down time in January provides the perfect opportunity to assess the talent in your organization. During this assessment, taking note of potential leaders on staff prepares you for the future and gives you a chance to offer training to key members interested in becoming a future ServSafe food manager. It also allows you to identify weak spots or gaps in employee training.

staff giving thumbs up to future Servsafe food managers

Image credit: 123 RF- 18117932 (S)

Future ServSafe Food Managers and Talent Assessment

Before you begin any talent assessment, it’s important to remember that any assessment based on finding weaknesses may be detrimental to your staff’s moral. Weaknesses and training gaps are important to identify and correct, but nobody likes to be constantly told what aspects of their job need improving. Focusing on identifying the positives and encouraging beneficial traits greatly impacts the effectiveness of your employees and the success of your business.

While you’re in the process of looking at your staff’s strengths, now’s the time to sit down with key members that have the ability to take on bigger roles. Run through all of the things you’ve noticed in their performance and discuss the possibilities of taking some extra training and possibly becoming one of your future ServSafe food managers. If this is something that appeals to them, point them in the direction of online food manager training or check out the schedule of upcoming instructor-led classes. It would also be a good idea to schedule some time for interested employees to shadow your current food safety manager so that they have an idea of what to expect if they agree to take on more responsibility.

We realize that not every facility has the budget for multiple certified food protection managers, but providing food safety training to exceptional staff will always be beneficial in the long run. Do you take the time to assess your staff’s talents and strengths from time to time?

The MN ServSafe Certified Food Manager and Contaminated Product

The MN ServSafe Certified Food Manager and Contaminated Product

/0 Comments/in /by

As a MN ServSafe certified food manager, you take care to ensure the food you serve is safe for your customers, but there may be occasions when certain things beyond your control could potentially endanger your customers. Your shipment of fresh spinach may look clean or your case of micro greens may be labeled ready to serve, but microscopic particles of E.coli and fertilizer from the soil may be hiding on the surface. Ground beef shows no signs if it has been handled by an infected production worker during packaging, and farm fresh eggs do not come with a warning flag that their surface has come into contact with salmonella. This week, we’d like to offer a few tips to help you keep items commonly contaminated during production safe for your guests.

The MN ServSafe Certified Food Manager and Contaminated Product

Image credit: Altus Air Force Base

MN ServSafe Certified Food Manager and Product Unknowingly Contaminated During Production

There are many cases where contaminated product is only discovered after an outbreak of food-borne illness has begun. A lot of outbreaks trace back to a certain ingredient’s origin rather than the food service provider who prepared the final product. So if the initial contamination comes from outside of your facility, is there anything a MN ServSafe certified food manager can do to prevent a guest from consuming contaminated product?

Even if a raw product contains undetectable pathogens, there are steps you can take to keep it safe, even if the contamination has not come to light. Here are a few pointers for commonly infected items:

  • Wash all fresh produce, even if the label reads “ready to eat”
  • Keep an eye on refrigerated storage temperatures to ensure product is always out of the danger zone
  • Always cook product to the appropriate cooking temperatures
  • Avoid loose storage of eggs

While a fresh vegetable product may be labeled as “ready to eat,” we have seen incidents where these pre-washed products have caused food-borne illnesses. A few seconds of prevention will always be worth the effort.

We’ve also seen facilities that unpack whole eggs and store them loose in the same bin. While this may not be a health violation, it does increase the risk that salmonella on the shells or from broken egg can be passed from one egg to another and multiply. With recent outbreaks of salmonella from shell eggs, we feel that taking steps to prevent eggs from coming into contact with each other could help prevent the spread of illness in the event your eggs have arrived unknowingly contaminated.

Do you take extra precautions with ingredients that are commonly recalled, or do you take extra precautions with every ingredient you bring in?

ServSafe Manager Certification and Protection from Food Tampering

ServSafe Manager Certification and Protection from Food Tampering

/0 Comments/in /by

Most of the food-borne illness threats that we look at usually come from inadvertent contamination due to either a lack of training, negligence or an infected food source, but the threat of intentional contamination exists and steps should be taken to prevent this kind of scenario.

Food Terrorism and ServSafe Manager Certification

55830618 – cardboard egg tray with chicken eggs. social concept: stop terrorism. angle view.

Food Terrorism and ServSafe Manager Certification

Few ServSafe manager certification courses cover the prevention of intentional food tampering, but according to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), certain food production facilities must take steps to prevent hazards from being intentionally introduced into the food production process that could cause wide-spread effects.

In a recent interview, advisors from the FDA’s Food Defense and Emergency Coordination staff provided some insight into the rule and how to keep food safe.

One key component of this rule is the identification and protection of areas of vulnerability. The article discusses open storage containers and mixing vats as potential targets for someone trying to tamper with your food. Other vulnerable sites in food production facilities could include outdoor gardens, unattended receiving areas or unsupervised areas of the kitchen after hours.

ServSafe Manager Certification and Protection from Food Tampering

Image credit: ANDRII POPRAVKA,123

Food defense has long been voluntary, and many facilities do have safety standards in place to prevent malicious tampering with their product. The food defense requirement of the FSMA for large businesses takes effect July 26, 2019 and July 26, 2020 for small businesses with under 500 employees. Very small businesses may be exempt from these rules, but they must provide documentation that they are exempt by July of 2021.

Thankfully, the chances of an intentional food-poisoning outbreak are miniscule whether on a mass scale or at a smaller level. Do you do anything to prevent tampering with the product you prepare and serve at your facility?

Blogs and the ServSafe Food Manager

Blogs and the ServSafe Food Manager

/0 Comments/in /by

We cover all sorts of food safety topics in our ServSafe food manager training courses, but occasionally we come across a topic that strays from our standard instruction. We already know that businesses rely on social media for free marketing opportunities, and we recently discussed how using a regular blog can help keep your business on potential customers’ minds.

Blogs and the ServSafe Food Manager

Image credit: 123rf -32751463

How a Blog can Help the ServSafe Food Manager

Facebook and Twitter hold people’s attention numerous times a day, and as they scroll through their feeds posts from your business will appear. Getting them to click on your post and look further into what your food preparation outlet has to offer can be accomplished, but you need to have something to offer them.

When considering a blog, make sure that you don’t attempt to use it as a sales pitch. Yes, the purpose of a marketing blog is to help the ServSafe food manager attract customers, but consumers are bombarded with online ads and suggested posts that are nothing more than thinly veiled advertisements. While you benefit from informing potential customers about your restaurant, it is key to expand your blog beyond what is on your menu or what product you sell.

It’s also important to keep you material fresh. If your blog covers the same material time after time, potential customers will keep scrolling or even unlike your business’ page. Expand beyond your niche. purpose of a marketing blogon the fringe of your industry, or display your involvement in community events. Whatever direction you take, keep it interesting and engaging for your readers.

Finally, make sure that you regularly update your material. Readers may check in from time to time to see if you have any new articles available. There is no set rule, but keeping your site updated weekly, bi-weekly or monthly reminds readers that you’re still out there.

We feel that blogs work as a marketing tool. Do you have any special marketing tools to keep your social media fresh?