FOODSERVICE UPDATES
  • Home
  • Trends
    • Commodities
  • Recipes
    • Featured Recipe
    • Appetizers
    • Beef
    • Breakfast
    • Burgers
    • Desserts & Snacks
    • Handhelds
    • Pasta & Rice
    • Pizza
    • Plant Based
    • Pork
    • Poultry
    • Salads
    • Seafood
    • Sides
    • Soups & Sauces
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Safety
  • Management Tips
  • Human Resources
  • Healthcare
  • Marketplace
  • Free Newsletter
  • Contact Us

Name a food safety champion in every shift

7/3/2025

 
food safety
Do you want to make food safety protection feel like a shared responsibility on your team? It may help to designate a food safety champion during every shift. These champions are team members trained to monitor critical practices – handwashing, temperature checks, cross-contamination prevention – and lead by example. By moving the responsibility around, you can embed safety into your culture. Start by rotating the role daily or weekly so every team member gains ownership. Give champions a simple checklist and brief huddle time to reinforce key points. You can have staff wear a color-coded badge when serving as champions, making them easy points of contact. From there, you can recognize good performance – for complete logs or quick corrective action, for example – with small incentives like gift cards or shout-outs during team meetings. When staff see safety as their responsibility and not just management’s, they’re more likely to hold each other accountable.

Managing HACCP in the age of automation

6/20/2025

 
HACCP
Food safety is a moving target. In addition to the growing list of guest dietary requirements foodservice businesses monitor, even changes in staff and shifts can leave room for an oversight that creates a problem. The stakes are especially high in senior living facilities, where weakened immune systems and health challenges leave people more vulnerable.
Fortunately, a wide array of technology is being used to monitor safety in foodservice businesses – wireless sensors for remote monitoring, Bluetooth thermometers, and smart dishwashing machines that automatically log sanitation temperatures and chemical levels are just a few examples. These tools are useful in removing error-prone manual processes and human biases, but they aren’t immune to failure, or a replacement for human knowledge. Yet it’s easy for technology to become a crutch during busy or understaffed shifts.
Taking a few steps can help you strike the right balance between tech-driven accuracy and human oversight. Starting small – say, by automating a single critical control point like cold storage monitoring before expanding to other areas – can help your team adapt to a new tool and pick up on potential issues with it. Of course, ongoing staff training on tech additions is needed to maximize their benefits and maintain compliance. Finally, scheduling periodic reviews of digital records can ensure you’re verifying the accuracy of the tools you implement so you can address any discrepancies promptly.

Ace food safety from the inside out

6/5/2025

 
food safety
An external food safety audit becomes much less of a worry when a facility knows what’s coming – and has prepared for it internally. Internal food safety self-audits are a proactive, essential tool for maintaining high standards in any foodservice operation – especially in environments like senior living facilities, where residents are more vulnerable to foodborne illnesses. According to the FDA Food Code, routine self-inspections can help catch violations early, reducing the risk of costly health department citations and, more importantly, resident illness.
The more interactive and collaborative the process, the more effective it becomes. At Whole Foods Market, for example, they try to embed food safety into team member training, internal and external auditing programs, store design, equipment purchasing, technology development, packaging, and data collection, according to Jeff Edelen, vice president of retail food safety at the company. The culture emphasizes shared successes and shared setbacks, so team members are encouraged to speak up when they see a food safety problem. Looking at every aspect of the operation from a food safety angle can help deepen an organization’s food safety culture.

Improve your food safety transparency with guests

5/22/2025

 
food safety
While times have changed since the pandemic, safety is still a critical pillar supporting the experience you offer guests (and their perceptions of it). Your commitment to food safety sends a clear message about the hospitality you provide. When you find new ways to share your food safety practices openly with guests, you can build trust, boost loyalty and even improve your competitive edge.
Consumers increasingly want to know how their food is sourced, prepared and protected. There are all kinds of ways to offer real-time assurance –QR codes on packaging or signage can link to allergen guides, cleanliness standards, or kitchen certifications. Even simple steps like visible handwashing stations, staff using gloves and sanitizers, or checklists posted near prep areas can reassure guests that you take safety seriously.
Brands like MOD Pizza encourage guests to ask about prep procedures and cleanliness. They also post videos that show how their kitchens maintain sanitation during busy shifts. Panera launched a "No No List" of ingredients it refuses to use and has pushed public commitments on clean eating and sourcing. Its staff are trained to address food safety and allergen concerns directly with guests.
By proactively sharing your safety standards (and by extension, your ingredient sourcing standards), you signal care, professionalism, and respect. Looking at your practices, are there ways you can use transparency as not simply a regulatory necessity, but also a marketing advantage?

Manage allergen risks in real time

5/9/2025

 
Picture
Approximately 32 million Americans have food allergies, according to the organization Food Allergy and Research Education (FARE). That amounts to about one in 10 adults, or two children in every classroom. As a result of the risks, real-time allergen tracking has become indispensable for foodservice operators. Even one oversight can lead to severe health consequences, legal challenges, and damage to a brand's reputation.
Fortunately, real-time allergen tracking tools are helping businesses at every level of the supply chain monitor allergens and manage their risks. Within foodservice, digital menu management systems, kitchen display systems with allergen alerts, and centralized training platforms are making it possible for businesses to update ingredient information in the moment and maintain consistent staff education. Here are some examples of how a range of food industry brands are managing the risk of allergens:
• Cracker Barrel, Wayback Burgers and TGI Fridays are among the brands using EveryBite’s SmartMenu technology across their locations. It lets diners filter menu items by allergen categories, including the top nine allergens. Every time a guest uses the digital platform, their SmartMenu allergen choices are collected as insights for the restaurant.
• Volanté Systems offers a POS platform tailored for foodservice operations. It integrates allergen alerts and dietary filters to assist in managing allergies, particularly in healthcare and senior living environments.
• Menutech automatically detects allergens using AI, allowing for real-time menu updates and compliance with food safety regulations.
• FoodNotify is a cloud-based tool that helps restaurants manage recipes with automatic allergen, nutrient, and additive labeling, ensuring compliance and real-time updates across menus.
• AllerGenius is an allergen detection technology that uses advanced molecular techniques to identify allergenic proteins with high sensitivity. It can screen raw ingredients for the presence of allergens before they are incorporated into food products. It’s helping food producers and foodservice businesses alike to understand what’s going into their food.
Across your operation – and up and down your supply chain – how is technology currently helping you mitigate allergy risks? Effectively containing these risks can help you foster guest confidence: Food allergy sufferers are a loyal group when they find brands who protect them from exposure.

Manage beverage contamination risks in warm weather

4/25/2025

 
Picture
In foodservice, beverages are high-volume menu items that can generate a number of contamination risks – especially as the weather heats up. Here are a few that may need some extra attention in the months ahead: The equipment involved in preparing cold beverages – like your blenders, shakers, scoops, and beverage dispensers – can become contaminated when not stored and/or cleaned properly. Ice contamination is another silent risk – moldy or slimy machines or improper scooping methods can taint drinks. Poor storage practices, like leaving milk or fruit garnishes unrefrigerated – can lead to spoilage and foodborne illness. Lastly, garnishes and toppings, if handled hastily or stored uncovered, can carry bacteria from hands or surfaces straight into a customer’s drink. Minimizing these risks requires staff training, strict cleaning protocols, and proper ingredient handling. It may also help to schedule professional servicing/cleaning of ice machines and beverage dispensers ahead of the summer season, when guests will be looking to refresh with cool drinks.

Contain foodborne illness risks that spike in warmer weather

4/11/2025

 
outdoor
Planning to serve food outdoors this season? Warmer weather boosts the risk of foodborne illnesses like Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and Campylobacter, which thrive in heat and humidity. These bacteria are often linked to undercooked meats, improperly stored cold foods, and contaminated produce – common foodservice challenges during warm-weather events. To prevent outbreaks, keep cold foods below 40°F, cook meats to safe internal temperatures, and take precautions to avoid cross-contamination. Rinse all produce, even if pre-washed, and train staff on how to ensure food hygiene when serving and holding food in warm temperatures.
In senior care settings, where residents are more vulnerable, food safety oversights can lead to particularly serious outcomes. Residents often have chronic health conditions, reduced stomach acidity, or take medications that suppress immunity. Even simple practices like offering more hydrating foods (like fruit or popsicles) and minimizing buffet-style service in the heat can reduce risk.

Keep it clean

3/28/2025

 
cleaning
For people who are new to foodservice work, the terms cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting can sound almost interchangeable. But knowing the difference between them – and which to do where and when – plays a key role in preventing contamination and foodborne illness. It can also ensure your business complies with health codes during its next inspection. Is your team clear about the distinctions?
Cleaning is the first step. Using soap or detergent and water, it removes visible dirt, grease and food particles from floors, walls, equipment exteriors and non-food contact surfaces. This process makes surfaces look tidy but does not eliminate bacteria or viruses.
Sanitizing follows cleaning for food-contact surfaces like prep tables, cutting boards and utensils. Using food-safe chemical sanitizers or heat, this process reduces bacteria to safe levels, preventing cross-contamination. Items should always be cleaned before sanitizing.
Disinfecting is needed for high-touch, non-food areas such as restrooms, garbage bins, doorknobs and employee break rooms. Disinfectants kill most bacteria and viruses but are typically too strong for food-contact surfaces and shouldn’t be used on them.
To maintain food safety, clean first, then sanitize or disinfect where needed using clearly labeled solutions.

Mind these food safety hotspots

3/14/2025

 
safety
​Foodborne illness can be especially harmful to older adults. According to Foodsafety.gov, adults aged 65 and older are more likely to be hospitalized or to die from foodborne illness. In fact, more than half of Listeria infections occur in this age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The body’s immune response to disease becomes weaker with age, which makes it especially important to take good care when cleaning certain areas of the kitchen if you’re serving people in this demographic. Here are a few key hotspots that can be breeding ground for bacteria and mold if not managed carefully: Equipment that traps moisture – including ice machines, beverage dispensers, and refrigerator and freezer gaskets – can harbor bacteria and mold. Other areas where water and food particles are apt to collect, like floor drains and sinks, are culprits too. Regular scrubbing and maintenance to prevent clogs can help ensure these areas don’t trap food or liquid that can harbor pathogens. Cutting boards and prep surfaces can collect bacteria, particularly in cracks or cuts. In addition to cleaning and sanitizing them after use, these items should be replaced when damaged. Finally, ventilation hoods and grease traps can encourage mold growth through the accumulation of grease and moisture. These areas need frequent deep cleaning to maintain a safe kitchen environment.

​Manage the food safety pitfalls of ghost kitchens

2/28/2025

 
Picture
Ghost kitchens represent a small but growing segment of the foodservice industry. While Euromonitor research indicates there are currently about 1,500 ghost kitchens in the U.S., by 2030 these facilities are forecast to hold a 50 percent share of the drive-thru and takeout foodservice markets worldwide, according to Statista. Ghost kitchens have promise because of their ability to accommodate consumer demand for food variety, customized dishes and convenience in ways that preserve margins.
But the food safety challenges that ghost kitchens face can be steeper than those of their conventional counterparts. Sharing a kitchen can make cross-contamination harder to prevent and food safety consistency more difficult. Understaffing and high staff turnover can compound the problem – and the nonstandard working hours of the businesses operating these kitchens can make inspections inconsistent. Ghost kitchens rely on delivery drivers, which makes it challenging for operators to monitor quality and safety once food leaves the premises. They also rely on online platforms for communicating about allergens and ingredients, so any delays in updating those systems can put consumers at risk.
What’s the best way to manage these hazards? Recently, Food Safety Magazine published results from an online survey, focus groups and interviews with environmental health offers and ghost kitchen operators. Respondents said formal food safety training for staff and delivery drivers would help, as well as more frequent inspections to encourage better adherence to food safety standards. Finding ways to ensure consistent practices was also a theme, with respondents suggesting comprehensive and specific guidelines for evaluating hygiene practices, allergen control and structural standards for all of the businesses sharing a kitchen. If you operate a kitchen alongside other businesses, what practices do you use to ensure food safety consistency?
<<Previous

    subscribe to our newsletter

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Accidents
    Agriculture
    Air-circulation
    Alcohol
    Alerts
    Allergy
    Angry-customers
    Antibiotics
    Apple
    Appliance
    Assessment
    Audit
    Automation
    Back-of-the-house
    Bacteria
    Barcode
    Bbq
    Behavior
    Bending
    Benefit
    Beverages
    Blackout
    Bread
    Break
    Breakfast
    Budget
    Buffet
    Buildup
    Burns
    Centralized
    Certification
    Champion
    Checklist
    Chemicals
    Chicken
    Cleaning
    Climate-change
    Cold
    Communication
    Complaint
    Condiments
    Connections
    Contactless
    Contanmination
    Convenience
    Cooking-times
    Cooling
    Coronavirus
    Cost
    Covid
    Cross-contact
    Cross Contamination
    Crosscontamination
    Culture
    Cutting-board
    Cutting Boards
    Cybersecurity
    Delivery
    Dietary Restriction
    Digital
    Dirty
    Disaster
    Disinfecting
    Distributor
    Drains
    Dried
    Ecofriendly
    E-coli
    Ecoli
    Educate
    Eggs
    Emergency
    Employee
    Equipment
    Error
    Exterior
    Fall
    Fda
    Feedback
    Fire
    Fish
    Flood
    Flooding
    Flu
    Foodbourne
    Food-fraud
    Foodkeeper
    Food Safety
    Foodsafety
    Foodsafety8e1fcbeb2b
    Food-supply
    Foodsupply
    Foodwaste
    Freeze
    Freezer
    Freshness
    Fruit
    Garbage
    Ghost Kitchen
    Gloves
    Gluten
    Goals
    Grab-n-go
    Grabngo
    Grease
    Greens
    Grill
    Growing
    Guidelins
    HACCP
    Hair
    Hairnets
    Handling
    Handwashing
    Hazards
    Health
    Health-code
    Healthcode
    Health Plan
    Heat
    Hepatitis
    Holiday
    Hood
    Hours
    Hvac
    Hygiene
    Ice
    Icecream
    Illness
    Incentives
    Ingredients
    Inspection
    Inspections
    Interconnected
    Inventory
    Investigation
    Jewelry
    Jewlery
    Job-satisfaction
    Kitchen
    Knifes
    Labels
    Labor
    Legal
    Legislation
    Liability
    Lifting
    Log
    Maintenance
    Manage
    Management
    Marinade
    Marketing
    Mask
    Measure
    Meat-free
    Meeting
    Mental-health
    Menu
    Mercury
    Mobile
    Monitor
    Morale
    Network
    Norovirus
    Odor
    Oil
    Older Adults
    Orders
    Outdoor
    Outdoordining
    Over-extension
    Ownership
    Packaging
    Pathogens
    People
    Personalbelongings
    Pests
    Phone
    Planning
    Plant-based
    Plantbased
    Plastic
    Policy
    Portions
    Positivereinforcement
    Poultry
    Power
    Power-outage
    Ppe
    Preprepared
    Prevent-injury
    Prevention
    Produce
    Questions
    Quiz
    Recall
    Recommendation
    Records
    Recycle
    Refrigerator
    Remote
    Repeat
    Replacement
    Reporting
    Responsibility
    Restroom
    Reusable
    Review
    Rice
    Risk
    Roasting
    Robot
    Rootvegetables
    Safety
    Safety-quiz
    Safety-violations
    Safetyviolations
    Salad
    Samonella
    Sanitize
    Scheduling
    Score
    Seafood
    Senior Care
    Seniors
    Service-fee
    Sesame
    Shield
    Sick
    Sick-time
    Signage
    Slice
    Slim
    Slip
    Social-distancing
    Socialdistancing
    Soda-fountain
    Solar
    Source
    Sous-vide
    Speed-scratch
    Spices
    Spills
    Staff
    Standards
    Storage
    Storms
    Straws
    Stress
    Substitution
    Supplier
    Supply-chain
    Tabletop
    Take-out
    Takeout
    Takeoutfed487ce46
    Tamper-evident
    Tasks
    Technology
    Temperature
    Tempurature
    Thawing
    Time-off
    Tools
    Towels
    Traceability
    Tracking
    Training
    Transparency
    Trash
    Trip
    Twisting
    Uniform
    Uv
    Vaccine
    Validate
    Vegan
    Vegetables
    Ventilation
    Virus
    Volunteers
    Warm-weather
    Washing
    Waste
    Weather
    Wellbeing
    Wellness Policy

Get our Free Newsletter
Team Four Foodservice
​Recipes
Quarterly Outlook
Palette Foodservice Partners®
​
© 2025 Team Four Foodservice
  • Home
  • Trends
    • Commodities
  • Recipes
    • Featured Recipe
    • Appetizers
    • Beef
    • Breakfast
    • Burgers
    • Desserts & Snacks
    • Handhelds
    • Pasta & Rice
    • Pizza
    • Plant Based
    • Pork
    • Poultry
    • Salads
    • Seafood
    • Sides
    • Soups & Sauces
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Safety
  • Management Tips
  • Human Resources
  • Healthcare
  • Marketplace
  • Free Newsletter
  • Contact Us