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.

CFPMs Use Freezing

How CFPMs Use Freezing to Slow Bacteria

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In one of our Certified Food Protection Manager training classes during our recent record breaking cold snap, a student asked “whether CFPMs use freezing or refreezing foods to kill bacteria in meat products and ready-to-eat foods? If we store our product outside in the snow at negative 30 degrees, it should be too cold for bacteria to survive, right?”

CFPMs Use Freezing
Image credit: US Department of Agriculture (Flickr Photostream

Freezing product properly does in fact promote food safety and reduce the risk of food-borne illness, but simply freezing everything potentially increases the risk of food-borne illness and gives a false sense of security as to how safe the food we serve really is.

CFPMs Use Freezing for Food Safety

Before we get into our discussion, it’s important to answer the question, “Does freezing proteins kill bacteria?”

There’s a lot of misinformation out there concerning how germs and bacteria react to sub-zero temperatures, but we learn in online Certified Food Protection Manager training, freezing food does not kill bacteria. Freezing food stops the growth of germs and bacteria, so effective use of your freezer to store product that isn’t intended for immediate use keeps bacteria at bay while preserving food for later use. Cooking meats, ready-to-eat foods and other products to the proper temperatures is the only way to actually kill bacteria. Freezing solidly for at least a week will kill parasites but not bacteria.

So, when can CFPMs use freezing to safely store product?

If you don’t plan on using incoming product soon, freeze it as soon as possible. This will add life to your product, and prevent the slow growth of bacteria. Letting your meats sit under refrigeration for a few days and then deciding you’re not going to use it can pose a bacteria risk, depending on what type of product it is. Fish and seafood have a limited shelf life, so while freezing it will slow the growth of contaminates, it will still contain those harmful bacteria when thawed.

Cooked foods need to be cooled properly before freezing them. Cooked product must be chilled in an ice bath or in small portions. For example, a large, warm pot of soup cannot be simply put into a freezer in a large bucket. Bacteria will grow as the soup sits in the danger zone while freezing and wake up when the soup is eventually thawed. The same goes for cooked roasts and large amounts of meat.

Finally, a caution against freezing thawed product. Product thawed in the microwave or under running water cannot be re-frozen. Food properly thawed under refrigeration may be re-frozen if done so in a reasonable time frame, but we recommend against this as thawing and re-freezing can cause quality issues with your product.

Do you have a regulated method to control freezing and thawing of your product?

MN Food Code Fact Sheet

A Guide to the Proper Use of MN Food Code Fact Sheets

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The MN Food Code Fact sheets provided by the health department are a free and easy-to-use guide to nearly any food safety issue. The ServSafe Food Manager controls food safety in their establishment, but there are many training tools available to help them educate their staff, monitor procedures and go the extra mile to keep their guests safe.

MN Food Code Fact Sheet
Image credit: The U.S. National Archives

Using MN Fact Sheets to Promote Food Safety

Fact sheets should be readily accessible to all employees. Our best suggestion is to have them posted visibly in stations where they are relevant. For example, a fact sheet on cooling should be posted near sinks used for ice baths, cooking temperatures should be kept on the line and proper handwashing signage should be posted at all handwashing stations.

There are many different fact sheets, and some of them may be important for your day-to-day operations, but some only need referencing occasionally. For example, a fact sheet on equipment guidelines may be useless posted in your facility, but it’s still valuable information. We recommend keeping an accessible binder with all fact sheets relevant to your operation whether you post them visibly or not. This resource gives ServSafe food managers easy access for training and review of information that isn’t required on a daily basis.

Finally, many of the fact sheets have changed with the recent update of the Minnesota Food Code, we strongly urge you to remove any fact sheets dated before January 1, 2019, and replace them with the most recent updates.

Have you taken the time to review the newest MN food code fact sheets available and print out and post ones that help keep your employees informed on the latest food-safety rules?

staff giving thumbs up to future Servsafe food managers

Identifying Future ServSafe Food Managers

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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?

Resource Guide to the New Minnesota Food Code

A Quick Resource Guide to the New Minnesota Food Code

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The new Minnesota Food Code take effect January 1, 2019.Over the past few months, we’ve covered many of these new changes, and this week we’d like to give food safety managers a quick resource guide to some of the most important changes in the code.

 

Resource Guide to the New Minnesota Food Code

A Food Safety Manager’s Resource Guide to the New Minnesota Food Code Changes

It’s been 20 years since the last revision of the Minnesota Food Code, and we feel a lot of these changes are for the better. Here are some of the top changes that we’ve covered over the past few months:

The first change we’ll highlight is the change to the Certified Food Manager’s title. The Certified Food Manager will now be known as the Certified Food Protection Manager. This change was made in order to clarify the types of business require a CFPM.

Your handwashing stations will now no longer be required to have a nail brush available. The new regulations also outline other changes to handwashing stations including the use or air dryers and required signage.

Sanitation and having a documented plan for certain instances is now required. Going forward, you must have a documented plan for vomit and diarrhea cleanup.

There are new equipment standards in the updated food code that make it easier for food safety managers to choose which equipment to purchase for their kitchen.

Temperature control is a big part of food safety, and the current code now restricts the use of the standard probe thermometer for certain foods in favor of a small-diameter probe.

Speaking of temperatures, you will now be required to monitor the water temperature or your dishwashing machine.

The new code also addresses obtaining wild mushrooms from verified sources. Food safety managers must now source their mushrooms from registered providers.

The writers of the food code have taken the time to address certain unique situations. New sections have been added to code to include regulations for non-continuous cooking, reusable takeout containers and food preparation for susceptible groups.

Go ahead and bookmark this page for quick reference whenever you need it. At Safe Food Training, we’ll continue to update any new changes and how they affect food safety managers in Minnesota.