FOODSERVICE UPDATES
  • Foodservice Updates
  • Trends
    • Commodities
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Safety
  • Corona News
  • Management Tips
  • Free Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • Mains
    • Soups & Sauces
    • Salads
    • Desserts & Snacks
    • Sides
  • Corona Virus Guidance

Virus outbreaks are on the rise. Are you ready?

2/24/2020

0 Comments

 
hand washing
If the rapid spread of the coronavirus in recent weeks has proven anything, it is this: It is more important than ever to respect and reinforce the steps individuals can take to contain potential outbreaks. While the coronavirus is an extreme example of what can happen during an outbreak, virus outbreaks are likely to become an increasingly regular part of life as global warming contributes to a rise in new pathogens, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While these pathogens may increase in variety and complexity, it will continue to be critical for people to follow a couple of simple practices to limit the spread of illness. As a physician and journalist who covered the SARS outbreak in China wrote recently in the New York Times, washing hands frequently and not coming to work when you are ill are the most important takeaways to remember when preventing the spread of pathogens. In addition, a Guardian report advises taking such precautions as covering your nose and mouth with a tissue (or with your elbow) when you cough or sneeze, then discarding the tissue and washing hands immediately after. Do your training procedures emphasize the most important steps workers can take to prevent the spread of illness in your facility?
0 Comments

​Give your suppliers a safety check

2/24/2020

0 Comments

 
supplier
​A recent survey from Cornell University and the National Farmers Union found that more than 50 percent of local U.S. produce growers say they need more adequate financial resources to implement food safety practices. But if your guests are sickened after consuming contaminated produce you serve, they are likely going to hold your business responsible for causing the problem. How can you protect yourself? Food Safety Nation advises operators take three steps to help: First, inspect your suppliers to assess the quality of their safety program and training, as well as the controls in place to monitor their compliance. If possible, require a hold-harmless agreement that absolves your business of responsibility to pay claims related to the consumption of a contaminated product. Finally, seek out suppliers with certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative as an additional precaution.
0 Comments

​Food safety and waste reduction: Identify the connections

2/17/2020

0 Comments

 
waste
As you implement waste reduction practices in your restaurant, are you aware of how these changes may be impacting your food safety culture and vice versa? Your food safety and waste reduction practices affect each other – improving one practice may enhance (or require you to change your approach to) the other. According to Adam Johnson, vice president and general manager for Global Food Retail Services at Ecolab, making a commitment to donate surplus food may demand that you fine-tune your protocol regarding the proper preparation, storage, transportation and serving of your food, for instance. Further, introducing compost bins to prevent waste from going to landfills will require you to monitor the capacity of those bins so they don’t overflow and to clean and sanitize them regularly to avoid attracting pests. Finally, improving your food safety program will make you more effective at monitoring food storage temperatures, appliance functionality, supplier performance and more – all of which helps you reduce the volume of food you have to discard.
0 Comments

Know knife safety

2/17/2020

0 Comments

 
knife
Handling knives safely may seem like common knowledge – but for that reason it can be easy to be careless about working with them. OSHA advises foodservice workers keep knives sharpened and use them for their intended purposes only. Store them in racks or sheaths. When carrying a knife, keep its cutting edge slightly away from your body and avoid handing it to anyone – place it on a counter top instead so the person can pick it up. Don’t touch knife blades or keep a knife soaking in a sink. Finally, don’t talk with others while using a knife as it can distract from the task at hand and cause injury.
0 Comments

​Plastic or wood?

2/17/2020

0 Comments

 
cutting board
Using the right cutting boards in your kitchen can minimize wear and tear on your knives, as well as reduce the risk of contamination. When it comes to your cutting boards, plastic is the more versatile choice. Plastic tends to be easier on knives, as well as easier to clean since it can be washed in a machine. (If you need to wash a plastic cutting board by hand, use a chlorine-based sanitizer and be sure to let it air-dry completely so it won’t harbor bacteria.) Hardwood cutting boards with a fine grain can pull down fluids and trap bacteria that are killed when the board dries, according to food safety researcher Ben Chapman, but they may cause a knife’s edge to dull more quickly. Softer woods are easier on knives but have a larger grain that makes them easier to split, creating grooves that trap bacteria.
0 Comments

Keep your ice machine slime-free

2/10/2020

0 Comments

 
ice
Your ice machine may be a key source of contamination in your restaurant if you don’t take proper precautions. A study by the BBC in 2017 found that in 30 samples of iced beverages collected from three quick-service restaurants in the U.K., more than half were contaminated with fecal bacteria because of dirty ice. Since ice machines vary, take care to note in your food safety procedures how and when your machine’s manufacturer advises you to clean and sanitize your machine. QSR Magazine suggests operators inspect their machine each week for the buildup of slime or debris on interior surfaces in particular. Have a vendor or team member double-check the quality of a cleaning and use a flashlight to illuminate any dimly lit or hard-to-reach areas. Finally, don’t wait for slime to develop – if you see traces of it, increase the frequency of your cleaning to avoid the likelihood of contamination.
0 Comments

​Your team can prevent foodborne illness

2/10/2020

0 Comments

 
ill restaurant employee
Does your kitchen team understand their responsibility to prevent foodborne illness and when to report to management any symptoms they experience that could be connected to it? As the FDA’s Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook details, it’s important your staff appreciates the relationship between their job and the potential risks of foodborne illness, as well as how their health relates to it. If they experience symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat accompanied by fever, a diagnosed illness caused by a big-five pathogen or simply exposure to such a pathogen, or an exposed or infected cut or wound on their hands or arms, they need to report their symptoms to a manager immediately. (If their symptoms are from a non-infectious condition, such as Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel disease, some liver diseases or pregnancy, they can continue to work if they show medical documentation that their symptoms are non-infectious.) Your team should also be aware of how restriction or exclusion from working with food can prevent foodborne illness and how proper hand hygiene and no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food can prevent foodborne illness.
0 Comments

​Labels that enable food safety

2/3/2020

0 Comments

 
label
Focusing on your food rotation practices in 2020 can help you improve your food safety results by minimizing the opportunities for contamination. It can also help you reduce food waste. The restaurant fulfilment company Dot It advises you add a food rotation label to your food storage bins and ensure the information on the label meshes with the ways in which you’re organizing your kitchen. Each label should identify the product, include the name or initials of the employee who created the label, mention the date and time the product was prepared, and, if helpful, preparation or handling instructions, along with allergy warnings if applicable. Color coding labels can also help you quickly identify when items need to be shifted out.
0 Comments

​To wash or not to wash?

2/3/2020

0 Comments

 
washing poultry
The USDA and CDC have long advised against washing chicken for food safety reasons. Still, a number of restaurant chefs disagree and wash poultry not necessarily with the intent of killing germs – which only cooking will achieve – but to remove any grit or sodium on the outside of the poultry and to help make its surface easier for spices and other seasonings to adhere. You do not need to wash poultry before cooking – in fact, any splashes generated by washing can contaminate nearby surfaces and utensils with dangerous bacteria for months. But if you feel you must rinse the outside of poultry to clean its outer surfaces, Argyris Magoulas, a USDA technical information specialist, told Today.com that it is okay to soak poultry in water, taking extra caution that juices don’t splash, and leaving it in the refrigerator for no more than two hours before cooking.
0 Comments

    subscribe to our newsletter

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    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
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Air Circulation
    Allergy
    Antibiotics
    Apple
    Assessment
    Bacteria
    Budget
    Chemicals
    Chicken
    Cleaning
    Communication
    Contactless
    Coronavirus
    Cross-contact
    Cross-contamination
    Cross-contamination
    Cutting-board
    Delivery
    Disaster
    Disinfecting
    Ecoli
    E-coli
    Eggs
    Emergency
    Equipment
    Fish
    Flood
    Foodsafety
    Food Safety
    Foodsupply
    Food-supply
    Garbage
    Grabngo
    Handwashing
    Health
    Healthcode
    Health-code
    Holiday
    Ice
    Icecream
    Incentives
    Ingredients
    Inspection
    Inspections
    Kitchen
    Knifes
    Labels
    Mask
    Mental-health
    Menu
    Mercury
    Norovirus
    Outdoordining
    Packaging
    Pests
    Phone
    Plant-based
    Poultry
    Ppe
    Produce
    Recycle
    Restroom
    Reusable
    Rice
    Roasting
    Safety
    Safetyviolations
    Safety-violations
    Samonella
    Sanitize
    Shield
    Socialdistancing
    Social Distancing
    Spices
    Staff
    Standards
    Storage
    Storms
    Straws
    Supplier
    Takeout
    Take Out
    Takeoutfed487ce46
    Technology
    Temperature
    Thanksgiving
    Thawing
    Towels
    Traceability
    Training
    Uv
    Vegetables
    Virus
    Volunteers
    Washing
    Waste

Get our Free Newsletter
Team Four Foodservice
​Recipes
Corona Virus Resources
Value 4
Quarterly Outlook
​Palette Foodservice
​
Foodservice CEO
© 2021 Team Four Foodservice
  • Foodservice Updates
  • Trends
    • Commodities
  • Digital Media
  • Technology
  • Safety
  • Corona News
  • Management Tips
  • Free Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • Mains
    • Soups & Sauces
    • Salads
    • Desserts & Snacks
    • Sides
  • Corona Virus Guidance