02/15/2017
Is your food safe to eat?
FOOD SAFETY “IT’S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY”
Every year people suffer from food borne illnesses.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimate that in 2011, 48 MILLION Americans (1 in 6) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized. and 3,000 die! The fact is, most of these cases could have been prevented.
The 5 main causes of food borne illness in restaurants are:
Purchasing food from unsafe sources
Failing to cook food to the proper temperature
Holding food at the incorrect temperature
Using contaminated equipment
Practicing poor personal hygiene
Each of these can be minimized by properly training your employees on the Basics of Food Safety.
FOOD SAFETY TRAINING - WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
My clients often tell me, “I have to get an “A” for the Health Department” or “The Health department is picking on me and want to close me”.
I know at times it may feel like that but let me assure you that is not the case. Think about this. You, the Health Department and myself all want the same thing - to serve safe food to our guests so they don’t become ill.
The inspection form that the SNHD uses concentrates PRIMARILY on the 5 risk factors that cause most foodborne illnesses. By putting systems into place that address these 5 risk factors, you don’t have to worry about your guests getting sick. Consider the SNHD inspection as an “insurance policy”. If they discover an issue BEFORE a guest gets sick, the cost to the restaurant is minimal. If you have an outbreak of a food borne illness, the cost is extremely high and you may or may not recover. So take their advice when they visit your restaurant. Gain the knowledge they provide and TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN!
So, what is an “A”? It is an indicator that you’ve trained your employees well and they are doing all the right things to ensure your guests will have a pleasant and SAFE dining experience.
Remember: regulatory people, operators and consultants are all on the same team.
WASH YOUR HANDS - WASH YOUR HANDS - WASH YOUR HANDS.
This information is from one of my newsletters from 2014. The importance of this information has not changed.