20 Essential Food Safety Tips

It takes time, dedication, planning and thoughtful, diligent follow through from everyone involved. In this hour-long webcast our panel of foodservice experts will draw on their years of experience as they present 20 tips that will help foodservice operators and their supply chain partners develop and maintain food-safe environments that earn customer trust and loyalty.

1. 20 Food Safety Tips You may download these sides from the green folder in the toolbar below.

2. Today’s Objectives Learn how to get better control over four of the five key risk factors as defined by the Center for Disease Control that could compromise food safety for operators across all segments of the foodservice industry . Refresh your knowledge base and realize you are only as strong as your weakest link. Discover the importance that systems and measurement play in developing and maintaining a food-safe environment . Answer your questions!

3. Meet Our Panelists Bill Daily E&S Sales Manager, Penn Jersey Paper Dan Henroid Director of Nutrition and Food Services and Sustainability Officer, UCSF Medical Center Clay Hosh Instructional Design Manager, National Restaurant Association

4. 20 Food Safety Tips Webcast These slides are from a free webcast from Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine. You may access the archive of the webcast here : http ://www.fesmag.com/ foodsafety2014

5. Thanks to Our Sponsors

6. HELPING FOODSERVICE OPERATORS AROUND THE WORLD SERVE SAFE FOOD PRODUCT SOLUTIONS www.cambro.com/storesafe

7. Tip 1: Knowledge Is Power Stay current to avoid mistakes: You don’t know everything. Keep your knowledge base current. Learn new ways to control your risk factors.

8. Tip 2: Success Through Systems Take a systematic approach to food safety. Goal is to serve quality, safe and tasty food to all customers. Focus on basic metrics and critical control points and track performance. Provide constant feedback. Training should be ongoing.

9. Tip 3: Feedback is Fundamental Embrace feedback It’s easy to get too close to be objective. Seek third party verification. Health inspections are a chance to get better. Learn from your mistakes.

10. Cleaning and Sanitizing

11. Tip 4: Know the Keys to Proper Cleaning and Sanitizing Know what it means to clean and sanitize. Cleaning is more than wiping something down. Follow all of the steps. Understand how your chemicals work and what compromises their effectiveness. Resist the temptation to cut corners.

12. Tip 5: Arm Your Team for Success Make sure cleaning and sanitizing supplies are available to the people actually doing the job. Know how equipment and other items should be cleaned and sanitized. Establish standards for cleaning and sanitizing. Ask questions. Have a plan in place to take corrective action when necessary.

13. Tip 6: Timing is Everything Clean and sanitize as frequently as necessary. This applies to knives, cutting boards and other items Clean your station when you leave it for a period of time Remember that ice is food, so handle it correctly and that includes cleaning the machine and the items used to transport and store it

14. Cross Contamination

15. Tip 7: Store Food Properly Proper and thoughtful food storage can limit the opportunities for cross contamination In the cooler, make sure ready-to-eat food sits above raw items. Use food-grade containers to store ingredients. Verify the food is properly wrapped or covered so it is protected from splashes.

16. Tip 8: Standards Follow Through Make sure staff are following standards and hold them accountable. Standards need to be clear and consistently communicated. Managers regularly check storage areas. Hold your team accountable.

17. Tip 9: Walk-in Decor Make your walk-in cooler or freezer a show place instead of a dungeon. Think square, rectangular and clear when it comes to storage. Know what and how much you have in your cooler. Use accessories such as drain shelves or various lid options to make your cooler more visually appealing and easier to manage.

18. Tip 10: Clean to Combat Cross Contamination Regular cleaning of high touch points and hand washing are essential. Countless factors contribute to cross contamination. How often do you clean high touch points such as refrigerator door handles? Look for ways to improve hand hygiene – nobody is perfect.

19. Time and Temperature

20. Tip 11: Time and Temperature Never Sleep Temperature monitoring starts at the loading dock and goes all the way to the dining room. Know the temperature danger zone. Check the temperature of food when receiving, storing, cooking, holding, cooling, and reheating Use the proper methods. When cooling foods, are you getting them from 135 degrees F to 70 degrees F in 2 hours?

21. Tip 12: Equip for Success Provide your operation with the necessary tools to measure and record temperature. Do you have the right thermometers? Is the staff using them correctly? What do they do with that information?

22. Tip 13: The Rising Importance of Temperatures Take your temperatures seriously Accuracy is important. Digital takes the guess work out. Take your temperatures with you.

23. Tip 14: Don’t Separate Time from Temperature Time and temperature go hand in hand, so track them that way. Track what happens, when. Forms can help. Automate the process when possible. How long before you need to document when something falls out of range. Crunch the numbers.

24. Personal Hygiene

25. Tip 15: Get a Handle on Personal Hygiene Personal hygiene is vast and important. Let common sense rule the day. Don’t be a hero by showing up sick to work. Simple personal hygiene steps can go a long way toward preventing foodborne illnesses.

26. Tip 16: Get a Handle on Hand Washing Don’t take hand washing for granted. Regularly review proper hand washing with staff. Audit hand washing data. Remember that gloves and hygiene go hand in hand. How are you turning sinks on and off? What are you touching from the time you wash your hands until the time you handle food again?

27. Tip 17: Hand Sinks Matter A well-placed and well-stocked hand sink is essential. Keep a hand and nail brush at the ready. Gloves are not the be all, end all. Be aware of your actions.

28. Tip 18: Dress for Success Proper attire is important. Is your clothing clean? Your apron? Where do you store your apron between uses? No jewelry on your hands or arms when prepping food. How are you addressing cuts or wounds?

29. Food Allergies

30. Tip 19: Food Transparency Food transparency is important. Maintain integrity about what’s in each menu item. Share the information with customers and the team. Train and execute to your standards to build confidence. Front and back of the house have to work well together when it comes to allergies.

31. Tip 20: Purple Is the New Black Color coding can help with allergen management. Color-coded kits can help prevent cross contamination. This could extend to food containers, too. Share the information with customers and the team.

32. Questions from the Audience

33. Closing Thoughts Food safety is everyone’s business. Clearly and consistently communicate food safety standards and expectations to staff to ensure they remain top of mind. Measure against those standards. Reinforce proper behaviors consistently. I t starts with the managers: modeling proper behavior is key.

34. Thanks to Our Sponsors

35. HELPING FOODSERVICE OPERATORS AROUND THE WORLD SERVE SAFE FOOD PRODUCT SOLUTIONS www.cambro.com/storesafe

36. Future Webcast Ideas We are listening, too! Send your ideas for future webcasts to: Joe Carbonara [email protected] You may download the slides from the toolbar below. A link to the CEU quiz will be sent when the webcast archive goes live.

37. Thanks for Listening Visit Us Online at: www.fesmag.com and www.rddmag.com Follow Us on Twitter: @FESMagazine, @FES_Editor