Keep your MN kitchen running smoothly. We’re sharing real-world ServSafe & NEHA Best Practices to help you train staff and ace your next health inspection.

Tested Approach to food service utensils for ServSafe managers

Tested Approach To Food Service Utensils For ServSafe Managers

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Keeping food out of the danger zone and utilizing proper temperature and time control keeps bacteria from growing in food and greatly reduces foodborne illness. When we take about the danger zone, we usually focus on food product, but can serving utensils left in the danger zone after touching product pose a food safety risk? ServSafe managers should take steps to ensure that food poisoning hazards don’t develop with mishandled food service utensils.

Tested Approach To Food Service Utensils For ServSafe Managers
Image credit: Helder Ribeiro via Wikimedia

ServSafe Managers Guide to Temperature Control of Food Service Utensils

You may never think about it, but some service items should be treated like food to prevent foodborne illness. We’re not suggesting storing your utensils outside the danger zone, but once you begin using them for service you should make sure they follow nearly the same protocols as the food they touch. Some items to be wary of include:

  • Salad Bowls and Tongs
  • Ladles
  • Spatulas
  • Cold Preparation Utensils

ServSafe managers wouldn’t leave a Caesar salad on a counter top for hours and then serve it to a guest, so why leave a used bowl and set of tongs at the same temperature. Salad remnants will decay in a danger zone environment over time increasing risk. Washing every mixing bowl after every use just simply isn’t an option, but there are solutions. Keep mixing bowls for cold items in a reach-in refrigerator or rotate out of service regularly. Time as public health control rules allow for up to four hours, but quality of product will greatly suffer even over a short period of time, so we suggest more frequent rotation of these cold service items. The same should go for any other item used to prepare cold items for service. Tongs, spatulas and ladles could be the most overlooked offenders.

Hot items may be easier to maintain than cold items due to the nature of food served. Soup and sauce ladles can potentially remain in heated sauces and metal tongs and other serving utensils can remain with hot foods if stored properly. Some items such as grill tools, should follow time control procedures as they may not always be out of danger zone temperatures.

Have you thought about risks coming from the temperatures of your regular use utensils?

Minnesota Food Community At The Astonishing 2022 State Fair

Our Astonishing MN Food Community At The State Fair

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The end of Summer Break is nearly here, and that means it’s time for our annual trip to the Minnesota State Fair. Whether it’s surveying prize-winning livestock, taking in a show at the Grandstands or simply wandering and sightseeing, there’s something for everyone; making it one of the most looked forward to events of the summer. One thing Safe Food Training is really excited about is what the Minnesota food community comes up with. Each year talented chefs seem to push the envelope further and further.

Minnesota Food Community At The Astonishing 2022 State Fair
Image Credit: Joe Passe via Flickr

A Preview of the Minnesota Food Community at this Year’s State Fair

Judging from a preview of Minnesota food community vendors, we’ll have quite the challenge of deciding which new foods from the mn food community to sample. With everything from Venezuelan pulled pork to breakfast gnocchi, we may actually need to take several days off of teaching food safety training classes to get our fill. Some highlights we’ve seen include:

  • Pickle Pizza
  • Tandoori Rolls
  • French Vegan Sliders
  • Sweet Potato Poutine

And that’s just a brief drive-by. We’re definitely going to have to loosen our belts this year. We’re also looking forward to all of the standard fair desserts from the Minnesota food Community. Deep fried ice cream, cotton candy floats and many more selections will tempt fair goers even further.

JUST RELEASED – “The Minnesota State Fair announces 47 brand-new beverages premiering or found only at the 2022 fair. In addition, there will be 43 returning beverages found only at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. In all, the fair features 300+ brews and beverages”. We’re sure that Minnesotan craft brewers will be bringing their best to compliment all of the great foods as we wander from vendor to vendor.

Are you planning on taking in the sights, sound and cuisine of this year’s Minnesota State Fair? We hope we see you there either in front or behind the counter!

A Practical Way Food Safety Managers Can Keep Lines Stocked

A Practical Way Food Safety Managers Can Keep Lines Stocked

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Food safety managers like to keep their production lines fully stocked so that all ingredients for every dish are readily available and in abundant supply, but there are foodborne illness hazards that can occur if you stock your lines improperly. Whether you call it rotating product, flipping your lines or simply stocking a quick access station, you should make sure that you’re doing it properly to reduce the risk of spreading illness.

A Practical Way Food Safety Managers Can Keep Lines Stocked

How Food Safety Managers Reducing Foodborne Illness while Stocking Production Lines

The most important thing to consider when stocking your production lines is that the oldest ingredients should be used first. Whatever method you use to stock your lines must take this into consideration. If you simply refill or top off storage containers, the oldest product will remain on the bottom and eventually begin to go bad contaminating all other product in the same container. When keeping your lines stocked, a first-in-first-out (FIFO) philosophy must be employed.

During food safety manager training classes, we’ve had a few discussions on stocking production lines, and it’s been asked if topping off containers and rotating product into clean containers is an acceptable method. While it sounds like a good idea to have a clean storage container every shift, you’re still running the risk of old product contaminating fresh ingredients. Imagine a pan filled with cheese that is one-third empty when you rotate it, and then you use one-third before the next time you rotate it, how fresh is the middle third? If you simply top off product and rotate it into a clean container, you may need an archeologist to date the product that has been trapped in the middle of your storage container every time you flip your lines.

Our suggestion is to have backup containers readily available rather than fill old containers with new product or rotate mixed-date products into new storage vessels. This will guarantee that fresh product doesn’t mix with older product that could be in danger of spoilage.

Do you have an effective strategy for keeping your ingredients stocked without mixing old and new product?

Guide For Retail ServSafe Food Managers To Safely Sample Product

A How To Guide For Retail ServSafe Food Managers To Safely Sample Product

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Many retail food businesses offer samples as a way to boost their sales, but before retail ServSafe food managers begin loading up trays of their product, they should be careful to ensure that they’re providing their potential customers with samples that are low-risk for foodborne illness. Observing common sense food-handling procedures will go a long way towards keeping samples safe, but there are some special steps that should be taken when sampling your product to the public.

How To Guide For Retail ServSafe Food Managers To Safely Sample Product
Image credit: leaf via 123rf

How Retail ServSafe Food Managers can Safely Sample Product

A quick look at Minnesota food code guidelines regarding retail sampling shows us five things retail ServSafe food managers should monitor when offering samples:

  • Handwashing
  • Bare-hand Contact
  • Holding Temperature
  • Warewashing and Sanitation Procedures
  • Employee Hygiene

Clean hands and proper food handling with food-grade gloves or utensils is one of the most proven ways to prevent food contamination from dirty hands, so any employee monitoring a sample station should have nearby access to a handwashing station. Be aware that bathroom sinks are not approved handwashing stations, so ensure access to a properly stocked handwashing station. Also, be aware that any sample touched by a customer and put back should be discarded since it has been handled by unclean hands.

If food is served hot or cold retail ServSafe food managers must make sure it remains out of the danger zone when stored at sampling stations. When sampling foods that cannot be stored at room temperature, make sure that you limit the amount of product on sampling surfaces to keep them as fresh as possible. This will reduce foodborne illness risk and also make your product more appealing.

All utensils used in service must be properly washed using an approved warewashing machine or triple sink method. Sampling stations should have a properly mixed sanitizer solution available in order to keep surfaces clean and germ-free.

Finally, retail ServSafe food managers should not allow ill employees to monitor sampling stations or work in other areas of the business. If you have a sick employee, send them home and make sure they are symptom-free before they return to work.

Are you a retail ServSafe food manager who offers samples to boost product sales?