Archive for category: ServSafe & NEHA Best Practices

In the food service industry, inventory control is a vital tool to keep waste down and control food costs. One of the key elements to proper inventory control occurs before you properly store items. Implementing effective receiving procedures ensures that you can use your product and reduce waste. It also keeps your product safe according to food safety certification regulations in Minnesota.

How to Properly Receive Food Shipments

Don’t delay shipment inspection.  Always check goods immediately on delivery. In fact, we suggest that you wait to sign for your deliveries until you have inspected the entire shipment. We know that this can be a hassle as deliveries can arrive at inconvenient times and drivers may be in a hurry to move on, but spotting damaged or contaminated goods right away reduces your risk of losing money by signing for unusable product.

Some signs that your food might be contaminated or damaged include:

• Wet or torn boxes
• Dented, rusty or bulging cans
• Raw animal product stacked on top of ready to eat foods or produce
• Chilled foods at improper temperature

Most indications of unusable product will be obvious. Cardboard boxes that are torn or soiled or sealed packages that have been opened obviously should not be accepted. Other signs may be harder to find and require detailed examination.

If your shipment contains products that require refrigeration such as dairy, proteins and frozen items, check the temperature of each product to ensure that it has remained out of the danger zone during delivery. Shipped product must follow food safety certification regulations, even during transport from a warehouse to your facility. Product shipped in the danger zone grows bacteria that can sicken your customers.

Canned goods often go unchecked, because many assume that canned goods are safe, no matter what the outside of the can looks like. A rusty can may indicate that it was stored under wet conditions. This can compromise the integrity of the metal and allow bacteria to grow on the surface of the can or potentially make its way inside. A bulging can indicates that the contents are contaminated, especially if you order canned meat products or ready to eat foods. To ensure the safety of your guests, you should never accept canned goods that are questionable.

Do you have receiving procedure in place for quality control purposes?

Whenever the health inspector arrives at your establishment for a routine inspection, they’ll more than likely pull out a clipboard with a kitchen inspection checklist of common violations to look for. We think that creating your own checklist is an important tool for certified food managers, and regularly scheduled self-checks of your kitchen will ensure you’ve maintained an environment that prevents the spread of food-borne illnesses.

 

Creating a Commercial Kitchen Inspection Checklist

Your checklist should resemble that of your local health inspector’s list. An inspector checks these common things shortly after they walk into your establishment:

• • The availability of soap, hot water and paper towels at handwashing stations
  • Cold storage refrigeration temperatures
  • The availability of probe thermometers
  • The availability of properly mixed sanitizer solutions
  • Hands free food-handling compliance
  • Proper posting of food handling certificates

Your local health department prioritizes these six things during an inspection, so you should make sure that your facility has these items covered on a daily basis. During an inspection, an official checks cooked and hot-held foods for proper temperatures. Include a review session with your staff to make sure they know their holding temperatures for all products.

Also, your staff’s handwashing technique will be observed. Posting a handwashing procedure chart helps remind your team to be diligent

Your checklist should not only include routine checks of your refrigeration temperature, but a reminder to make sure food is stored properly. Stocking raw proteins above produce or ready to eat foods results in a violation and increases the risk of cross contamination. Rules require proteins to be stored in descending order of final cooking temperatures. Raw chicken and poultry must remain on the bottom shelf. We recommend that you section off your cold storage so that raw meat and fresh produce have very little chance of coming into contact with each other.

Finally, your commercial kitchen inspection checklist should include a review of the maintenance of your equipment. Regularly inspecting equipment lets you know if any mechanical issues exist that could possibly cause problems in the future. This reduces waste in the event of a refrigerator malfunction, and prevents shutdowns due to faulty cooking equipment.

Tailoring your inspection checklist to your establishment’s specific needs is important. No two food production facilities are the same. What things do you regularly look for when inspecting your facility?