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Food Safety Guidelines Overview: The Complete Guide to Restaurant Food Safety

Feb 13, 2019

Food Safety Guidelines Overview:

Food safety plays a very important role in keeping your restaurant’s reputation intact. It also ensures your customers keep coming back to you. Following food safety norms is essential not only for the health and safety of your customers and staff but it is also imperative for maximising the longevity of the food you offer.

It is important to understand the basics of food safety and adhere to industry practices. Practising both food safety and food sanitisation norms goes a long way in promoting your restaurant’s reputation.

Here is a complete guide to restaurant food safety.

Food Safety Vs Food Sanitisation

Food safety norms are all about the ways in which food is handled, prepared, cooked, chilled and served. When food safety norms are not followed, it can easily lead to the spread of disease-causing bacteria, germs and other allergens.

Food sanitisation refers to the overall cleanliness and maintenance of your kitchen and cooking equipment. How you organise your facility for kitchen operations determines how highly you regard food sanitisation.

Ignoring the cleanliness of your restaurant’s kitchen leads to food contamination, a dangerous work environment as well as equipment malfunctions.

Following Restaurant Food Safety Guidelines

Incorporating restaurant food safety norms into daily practice and training is the best way to ensure a healthy, hygienic environment. Your food remains fit for consumption and your restaurant meets all industry standards.

Avoiding Cross-Contamination

As a restaurant owner, you are aware of how raw food can also be a source for cross-contamination. Seafood, eggs, poultry and raw meat can be potential sources of bacteria such as salmonella.

Bacteria and other contaminants can transfer from one object to another such as utensils, food trays and other things, often resulting in dangers to unsuspecting customers.

Following kitchen maintenance and cleaning practices can help to avoid cross-contamination. Strictly following procedures for raw food handling can ensure no cross-contamination occurs.

Keep Foods Out of Danger Zone

You need to take care to keep cold foods below 41 degrees and hot foods above 140 degrees. If the food is not stored at the appropriate temperature, it may not be fit for consumption and may result to food poisoning.

Practising Food Safety in Self-Service Areas

Ensure that self-service areas are always clean and sanitized. It is recommended that flatware, napkin and straw dispensers are designed for single-use products. Reduce contamination with frequent cleaning and monitor self-service areas with trained staff.

Restaurant Food Sanitation Guidelines

Food sanitation guidelines for restaurants require you to utilize sanitation techniques. Work surfaces in restaurants include prep areas, cutting boards as well as cooking equipment.

Work surfaces must be thoroughly cleaned by first removing food debris. Using hot soapy water and a clean cloth to clean the surfaces is always the ideal thing to do.

Sanitising wipes and professional sanitizers can be of great help. Varied sanitization procedures by professionals should be carried out on a weekly and monthly basis.

Bacteria on a soggy tea towel can multiply at room temperature so by the time you wipe over your next load of cutlery or benchtop, you’re rubbing bacteria straight onto them and therefore onto your food and into the mouth of your customers.

The longer those tea towels sit there, especially in the summer heat, the more bacteria can grow. It could be salmonella or E.coli, which grow on oxygen.

Using Pest Control Effectively

Pests such as ants, flies, cockroaches and mice can carry disease onto the food in the restaurants and harm the health of guests and workers. You can prevent food contamination caused by pests by following effective pest control techniques for food prep and storage areas, floor drains and trash cans.

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