A Restaurant’s Guide to Food Safety By: Zai Estabillo Blogger / Food Enthusiast

A Restaurant’s Guide to Food Safety As a business in the food service industry, customers expect not only great tasting food but safe food. For food protection managers and food handlers, it is imperative to protect your customers against foodborne illness.protect your customers against foodborne illness

In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention estimated that contaminated food caused 47.8 million illnesses a year in the United States. A foodborne-illness outbreak can have damaging effects to a restaurant. The business can face major fines, negative media exposure or worse yet, closure. Avoid the headache of foodborne illness with our guide to food safety.

Local Food Safety Rules Your city, county or state sets rules and regulations for food safety. These directives are set to ensure safe food handling and cooking practices for your establishment. Foodsafety.gov states that most decrees are composed of the following:Foodsafety.gov Food or food ingredients come from a safe source. Food is held at the correct cold or hot holding temperatures. Food is cooked properly, especially foods such as meat, poultry, and pork.

Wash Your Hands According to CDC, dirty hands account for 89% of outbreaks in which food was contaminated by food workers. Proper hand washing can decrease bacteria on workers’ hands and the transfer of germs from hands to food and from food to other people. Food handlers must wash their hands for at least 20 seconds before preparing or serving food. The CDC also recommends further protection by using food gloves during food preparation.CDC

Prevent Cross-Contamination Clean and sanitize all work surfaces, storage facilities, utensils and equipment. Use separate sets of cutting boards for the preparation of raw meat, seafood or poultry. Practice proper food storage especially for perishable items.

Inspection Food service providers are inspected by local authorities to secure the public’s health and safety. Inspections usually result to grading systems published publicly. Prevent a low grade or worse, a failing one by adhering to your local food safety rules.

Training Guide employees in food safety practices. Let them take food handler safety training or a food protection manager course for more information on how to prevent foodborne illnesses.

Thank You! & Always Promote Food Safety in Your Restaurant!