With business returning to normal in the foodservice industry, we’re seeing an influx of certified food manager candidates taking the training courses for the first time. Whether you took an online food manager training course during COVID-19 and have yet to experience in-person training or are a fresh face, it’s sometimes a stress reliever to know what to expect when you attend certified food manager training and prepare for the certification exam. As a precursor to your upcoming class, we’d like to break down what you should expect from certified food manager training and testing.
Image credit: Safe Food Training
A Certified Food Manager Training and Testing Prep Guide
Our certified food manager training sessions are not like your typical class. In fact, our goal is to make sure that you absorb the material and have a good time while doing it. We don’t expect students to just sit quietly and listen while taking frantic notes for hours on end. Our classes are meant to be engaging and enlightening. We realize there’s a lot of information to learn in one day, that’s why we promote discussion, questions and conversations with your fellow future certified food managers. Here are a few tips that can help you be ready for success when you take a certified food manager class and exam:
Review the pre-study material ahead of time
Get a good night’s sleep the night before
Make notes of specific questions and topics you would like more information about
Don’t be afraid to engage in discussions or ask for clarification
If you do these things, you should be relaxed, prepared, and set up for success when it comes time to take the exam. During the exam, don’t rush because you’ll have plenty of time. Remember, if you’ve reviewed the materials, engaged in the discussion and taken quality notes all the information you need to pass should be in your head.
Are you preparing to take the certified food manager training and testing for the first time?
2020 has certainly presented challenges for all of us trying to run a business. It has been the same here at Safe Food Training. We have done our best to navigate through all of the changing regulations and shut downs. I truly appreciate everyone’s flexibility as we have had to continually rearrange things. We have decided to suspend classroom trainings for food protection manager certification and re-certification in December and January with COVID-19 infections at such high levels.
Background On The Decision To Cancel Of Our In-Class Training For Food Protection Manager Certification
As the highest rated in-person Certified Food Protection Manager training organization in Minnesota, this decision has a dramatic impact our hospitality industry customers who are required to have this certification and are more comfortable with classroom training. It also has a serious impact on our business.
We know you have had to make similarly tough decisions as the pandemic has evolved. We all have been forced to weigh the health risks to staff and customers, legal exposure, the viability of our businesses, the livelihood of staff, and/or contributing to the further spread of this deadly virus . There are no correct answers!
After careful consideration of the current data and projections of infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths caused by COVID-19 here in Minnesota, we have decided not to hold any Food Protection Manager Certification classroom trainings in December and January.
We do have our online recertification course for those of you who need that training. Sign up for that by clicking here:
For those who are seeking initial certification, we are holding exam-only sessions at several convenient locations around the Twin Cities and central MN. You can sign up for the online certification course and exam by clicking here:
We are hoping to resume our in-person training for food protection manager certification starting February 1st and beyond. You may register for any of those options currently on safefoodtraining.com.
Thank you all for your continued business and I hope you all are finding ways to get by this year.
During a break in a recent Safe Food Training class a side discussion on kitchen fire safety “spontaneously ignited”. We decided it would be a good topic to have our friend and nationally recognized fire safety expert, Scott Futrell, blog about. This is the final in a series of blogs that will summarize fire prevention. Don’t let your kitchen, restaurant, and livelihood end up like the one in Figure 1 did, practice fire prevention!
All Image credits: Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc
Fire safety in your kitchen and your restaurant.
The Minnesota State Fire Code provides the minimum requirements for the fire prevention and fire protection in eating and drinking establishments. It is up to you to reduce the odds of a fire impacting your business by routinely doing several things.
It is very important that you monitor the work done by contractors hired to clean hoods, ducts, and fans as well as contractors hired to inspect, test, and maintain the fire suppression systems. The services they sell you may not match the objectives required to maintain your systems in a fire safe manner.
What do you need to do to protect your investment or your facility?
Look behind the filters and into the exhaust ductwork and monitor the grease build up prior to scheduled cleaning as well as immediately after cleaning to ensure it is cleaner than shown in Figure 2 where grease and the cleaner’s flashlight remained the day after the professional cleaning. Keep in mind that solid-fuel burning appliances leave creosote and it is harder to clean, but easier to ignite.
Grease in Plenum Figure 2
Get any redesign of appliance floor plans approved
A consultant knowledgeable in the:
Minnesota State Fire Code,
International Mechanical Code
National Fire Protection Association: NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations
should approve planned changes before any appliances are moved or replaced from under existing nozzles or existing hoods.
Be vigilant about fire suppression nozzle caps
Grease gets into the fire suppression nozzles if the caps are off and then when the system needs to operate it can’t flow agent out of the grease plugged nozzles, so a policy that includes ensuring the nozzle caps are always in place protects your investment. See Figure 3 for a nozzle with the cap off and for a nozzle with grease caked inside of it.
Nozzle Missing Cap and Grease in Nozzle Figure 3
Fire prevention and protection training
Establish as a part of your training program the fire prevention and protection requirements for all kitchen employees highlighting such topics as:
Manual pull station use (always the first thing in a fire if the system hasn’t operated automatically),
Always operate the exhaust system when there is activity in the kitchen
Define cleaning schedule and procedures
Check that nozzle caps are in place daily
Proper fire extinguisher use
And more.
Then have weekly or monthly staff meetings to reinforce the fire prevention, fire protection, and cleaning requirements associated with grease-laden cooking.
If you have any questions about fire safety in the food preparation environment that you would like to discuss contact Scott directly at (763) 425-1001 or scottf@ffcdi.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Scott A. Futrell, PE, FSFPE, CFPS, SET, CFEI, is a fire protection consultant with Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc., in Osseo, Minnesota and has over 40 years’ experience designing, specifying, and investigating fire protection system related losses and can be reached by e-mail at: scottf@ffcdi.com, or visit www.ffcdi.com.
Note from Tim Niles, Safe Food Training, Trainer and Editor-in-Chief, we truly appreciate the knowledge and hints Scott has provided for us in this series of blogs. He has a wealth of experience in fire prevention/protection and he’s regarded as a national expert. We’ve just scratched the surface of his knowledge in these blogs. It’s our hope that this information will stimulate our readers to take steps to make their facility a safer place for customers and employees. Thanks Scott!
