The food and beverage industry has suffered greatly over the past year, but the catering industry has taken a substantial hit due to the limits on social gatherings. Now that the StaySafe MN guidance is beginning to allow more participants at social events, the demand for catering services is beginning to increase. With the pressure to maintain COVID-19 prevention protocols and adhere to food safety training in order to keep guests safe at catered events, it may be useful to take a look at the safe way to cater an off-site event.
Food Safety Training for Remote Catering Events
Coronavirus occupancy rules cause the biggest confusion for caterers providing services away from their kitchen. The proprietor of the venue should be accountable for capacity limits, but your catering staff must also be included in the numbers in order to remain in compliance. At the time of writing, there are two capacity standards; indoor and outdoor. Up to 50 attendees can occupy an outdoor event, while indoor events are limited to 15. This means that you may be required to limit the staff on hand in order for the venue to meet these numbers. When planning a catering event, make sure that you consult current StaySafeMN guidelines and coordinate with the venue to ensure you can adequately schedule your staff.
Besides COVID protocols, caterers must follow proper catering food safety guidelines. Many of these guidelines line up with what you’ve learned during food safety training. All food at catered events must:
- Be cooked to proper temperatures
- Be held according to time and temperature control rules
- Come from appropriate sources
- Be held and transported in a manner that prevents cross contamination
Time and temperature control go a long way to preventing a foodborne illness outbreak, so make sure that you check your equipment to make sure it is capable of keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Also, take the time to check the internal temperature of all cooked foods to verify they’ve been cooked properly.
There may be times when an off-site catering client suggests they will supply the food product for the event as a cost-saving measure. Unfortunately, you may not be able to verify whether or not they are purchasing ingredients from an approved source. We suggest working with catering clients to purchase all ingredients from your normal suppliers.
Do you have a catering business that’s finally starting to see more clients? Have you taken time to refresh your staff food safety training for off-site catering?
