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Top 10 Food Safety Concerns in a Restaurant

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  • Identify the top food safety concerns in a restaurant.
  • Provide solutions to each of these food safety concerns.

To understand the importance of using sound food safety practices.

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Purpose:

Objectives:

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  1. Handwashing
  • The most important way to prevent foodborne illness
  • Every employee, including managers, need to follow proper handwashing techniques
  • A person’s hands can be the most contaminated things in the kitchen
  • Everyone needs to know the how, when and why

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YOUR

10 Most Common Causes of Infection

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HANDS

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Handwashing: How

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  1. Wet hands and arms
    1. Use hot water
  2. Apply soap
  3. Scrub hands and arms
  4. Scrub for at least 20 seconds
  5. Rinse thoroughly
  6. Dry hands
    • Use single-use paper towels or a hand dryer

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Handwashing: When

Before:

  • Starting your shift
  • Eating
  • Handling raw meat

After:

  • Arriving to work
  • Using the restroom
  • Handling raw meat
  • Touching hair, face, body
  • Sneezing or coughing
  • Eating, drinking, smoking
  • Cleaning (with chemicals, taking out the trash, etc)
  • Touching a dirty apron
  • Handling money

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Handwashing: Why

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  • To prevent foodborne illness
  • To protect yourself and others
  • To prevent cross contamination
  • Minimize spreading of germs
    • Hand to Food
    • Food to Hand

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Handwashing: What is wrong?

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2. No Bare

The 2022 Food Code states that there should be no bare hand contact with ready to eat foods.

*Check with your local regulatory agency if you are unsure of the policy in your area

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Hand Contact

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No Bare Hand Contact: Ready To Eat Foods

Examples:

  • Fresh fruits and vegetables that will be served raw
  • Breads, rolls, etc
  • Plates dishes
  • Garnishes including lemons and limes for beverages
  • Ice

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No Bare Hand Contact: How to Prevent It

  • Use single-use gloves
    • Still need to wash hands
    • Make sure they are changed often and properly
    • Have a variety of sizes on hand
  • Use scoops, tongs, and other utensils
  • Use pastry paper

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3. Poor Personal Hygiene

  • Increases the chances of contaminating the food
  • The manager’s responsibility to set up personal hygiene policies
  • Good personal hygiene must be modeled at all times
  • Supervision and re-enforcement is necessary

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Poor Personal Hygiene: Prevention

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  • Set up a good hygiene program including policies for:
    • Handwashing
    • Glove use
    • Personal cleanliness
    • Clothing, especially uniforms, aprons, and hair restraints
    • Jewelry
    • Illness and injuries

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Poor Personal Hygiene: Illness and Injury

  • Report any cuts, sores or infections to direct supervisor immediately
  • Report any illness to direct supervisor immediately
  • Vomiting/Diarrhea return to work policy
    • Typically 24 hours after symptom has gone away or a written release from medical practitioner

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4. Staff

  • A regular training schedule is necessary to keep proper food safety procedures a priority
  • The manager is responsible for setting up the training and holding staff accountable for attending
  • Keep records of the training

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Training

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Staff Training: Critical Training Topics

  • Personal Hygiene
  • Safe Food Preparation
  • Foodborne Illness
  • Cleaning and Sanitizing
  • Safe Chemical Handling

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Staff Training: Different Training Styles

  • On-the-job
    • Classroom
    • Discussion
    • Activities
  • Demonstration
  • Technology-Based
    • Videos
    • Computerized

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5. Potentially Hazardous Foods

Now referred to as TCS Foods (Time and Temperature Controlled for Safety)

Most likely to grow pathogens

Need certain conditions to grow pathogens

Food Time

Acidity Oxygen

Temperature Moisture

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Potentially Hazardous Foods

  • Milk and Dairy Products
  • Meat (beef, pork and lamb)
  • Fish
  • Baked Potatoes
  • Tofu and Soy Protein
  • Sliced Melons
  • Cut Tomatoes
  • Eggs
  • Poultry
  • Shellfish
  • Cooked Plant Foods (especially rice and beans)
  • Sprouts
  • Untreated garlic and oil mixtures

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6. Cross Contamination & Cross Contact

  • An easy way for pathogens to move around in your operation
  • Can also move allergens around the kitchen
    • Example: Touching peanuts and then popcorn
  • Can happen at any time in the flow of food
  • Is preventable

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Cross Contamination

Guidelines

  • Use separate equipment for each kind of food
    • Cutting boards, utensils, containers
    • Especially with raw meat
  • Clean and sanitize work areas and equipment often, especially between tasks
    • Just rinsing a surface after working with raw product is not enough
  • Prep food at different times
    • If you have to use the same surface for ready to eat and raw products, plan the schedule with the ready to eat first
  • Buy prepared items that do not require as much handling
    • Example: shredded lettuce

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Cross Contamination: Storage and Product Placement

  • Store food in containers made for food
    • Make sure containers are sealed, leak proof, and covered
    • Sealed containers will help with pest control
  • Never store chemicals in the same place as food
  • Do not store items on the floor

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Cross Contamination

Top Shelf - Ready-to-eat foods

Shelf below - Seafood

Next shelf down - Whole cuts of beef & pork

Second from the bottom shelf - Ground meat & Ground Fish

Bottom shelf - Whole & ground poultry

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7. The Temperature Danger Zone

  • 41ºF to 135ºF
  • Foodborne pathogens are most likely to grow in this temperature range
  • Try to keep foods out of the danger zone
  • Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold
  • Know the 4-hour rule

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8. Cooking Foods to the Proper Temperature

  • Food must be cooked and reheated to the proper temperature to reduce pathogens
  • Have thermometers available so that temperatures can be checked
  • Make sure everyone knows the correct temperatures
  • Document cooking temperatures

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Internal Cooking Temperatures

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Internal Cooking Temperature

Foods

135ºF

  • Cooked vegetables

145ºF

for 17 seconds

  • Raw eggs cooked for immediate service
  • Fish, except as listed below
  • Intact Meat

155ºF

for 17 seconds

  • Injected meats
  • Mechanically tenderized meats
  • Raw eggs not for immediate service
  • Comminuted meat, fish, or commercially raised game animals

165ºF

for <1 second

  • Wild game animals
  • Poultry
  • Stuffed fish, meat, pork, pasta, ratites & poultry
  • Stuffing containing fish, meat, ratites & poultry

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Cooking Foods to the Proper Temperature: What temperature should the pictured foods be cooked to?

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9. Cooling Foods Properly

To prevent pathogen growth.

Must pass through the danger zone quickly.

Must cool TCS foods from 135ºF to 41ºF or lower within 6 hours (Cool from 135ºF to 70ºF within two hours, then cool to 41ºF or lower within the next four hours).

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Cooling Foods Properly

Methods for Cooling Foods

  • Ice water bath
    • Make sure to divide food into smaller pans
  • Ice Paddle
    • Make sure to continue to stir the food with the paddle
  • Blast Chiller
    • Used to cool large amounts of food primarily in a large setting

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  • The denser the food, the longer it takes to cool
  • Stainless steel is better to use than plastic containers
  • Never place large amounts of foods in a cooler to cool

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10. Foodborne Illness

  • Are preventable with safe food handling practices
  • Can affect one person to many people
  • Can results in loss of money and potentially closure
  • Take a complaint of an illness seriously
  • Monitor ill employees
    • Exclude from work if necessary
  • Be familiar with symptoms

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48,000,000

Annual number of people who get sick from foodborne illness

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Foodborne Illness

The Big Ones

E.coli - associated with raw meat, contaminated fruits and vegetables

Salmonella - associated with poultry, contaminated fruits and vegetables

Norovirus - any food contaminated by infected worker (via fecal-oral route)

Listeria - deli meats, soft cheese, deli salads

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And the list goes on...

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Activity: What’s Wrong?

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Thank you.

If you have questions,

Please contact the Nutrition Resource Center at:

1.800.968.4426

nrc@gfs.com

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