Are you planning for starting a new restaurant of your own? Or willing to join a new job in the food industry? No matter what your part is going to be in the food industry, you have to be always conscious about food hygiene and safety.
Food is a sensitive thing, and it has a direct connection with our body. It’s food that keeps our body well and generates the energy we need to do our regular activities. But, if the food is contaminated, it will bring about many health hazards. A study found that every year, almost one million people suffer from foodborne diseases in the UK, causing the economy a loss of £1 billion.
So, as a restaurant owner or food handler, it’s your legal and moral duty to ensure that the food you’re serving is safe and free of any contamination. It’s also crucial for your business growth. When people find safe food in your restaurant, and they’re happy with the overall environment, they’d spread positive feedback about your restaurant.
On the contrary, if your food isn’t safe, you’re going to lose your customers. Moreover, you’d face unwanted legal hassles. So, it’s mandatory to maintain food hygiene and safety for restaurants.
What is Food Hygiene and Safety?
Generally, food hygiene and safety means preparing, serving, handling, and storing foods in a way to prevent contamination and any kind of food-borne diseases that promotes good health.
Though food hygiene and food safety are often interchangeably used, there are significant differences between these two. Food safety is an umbrella term which covers every aspect and practices that are supposed to ensure the foods are fit for consumption. On the other hand, food hygiene is more specific, which falls under the umbrella of food safety. Food hygiene critically focuses on the safe handling of foods.
Knowing the right techniques and being trained up in food handling is essential to maintain food hygiene and safety for restaurants. Here, I’m going to walk you through the necessary tips and tricks to maintain hygiene and safety for restaurants. Later in this article, guidelines for training will also be provided. Now, let’s move forward.
5 Pro Tips To Maintain Food Hygiene And Safety For Restaurants
You’d find it difficult to maintain food hygiene and safety in restaurants if you’re throwing stone in the dark. So, here are 5 pro tips to help you out.
1. Focus on Proper Food Storage
The first point to maintain food safety at restaurants is storing the foods properly. A significant amount of contamination happens in food storage if proper storage principles aren’t followed. It’s wise to keep the food storage separate from the kitchen and maintain restrictions in accessing the storage rooms. Keep all the ingredients in clean and airtight containers to prevent contamination. Follow these guidelines for safe storage of food at your restaurant:
- Wash the raw food items thoroughly before storing them.
- Never use the same fridge for storing prepared foods and raw ingredients such as meats, fish, vegetables together. Raw foods may contain a lot of contaminants, and it is likely to cause cross-contamination if it comes close to prepared foods. So always use a separate fridge and freezer for raw foods and prepared foods. If not possible, ensure the raw foods are stored in the lowest shelves to avoid spill and dripping onto other food items. Don’t fill the fridge beyond its capacity.
- Follow a stock rotation rather than storing a high amount of food materials and overstocking. It would help you utilize the full stock properly and avoid wastage which is essential to maintain hygiene and cleanliness in the storage.
- Always check the expiry date of the materials. Don’t keep an item in the storage if it is expired.
2. Maintain The Right Temperature
Preparing, serving, and storing foods at the right temperature is crucial for food safety. Keeping foods in an accurate temperature prevents foods from poisoning and propagation of bacteria. Different food items require different temperature ranges. You should train yourself as well as your staffs to learn how to maintain proper temperature in food handling. Store cold foods below the temperature of 5°C and frozen foods below -18°C. Foods are to be heated again before serving.
Regular checking and keeping the temperature log is a good food hygiene practice. To keep the proper temperature in place, you can set up a temperature checking schedule, make sure your staffs have sufficient knowledge of temperature to avoid any incorrect reading. Regular checking the temperature reading helps you avoid any unnecessary hassle and identify if everything is performing well.
3. Avoid Cross-Contamination
Cross-contamination means when contaminants such as bacteria, allergens and other poisonous substances spread from one food to another food item. It is a common problem in restaurants, especially in those having a compact kitchen and a small storage room. Cross-contamination is dangerous as it is caused unintentionally due to improper handling of food, and it can’t be detected unless the food is consumed. That’s why it can cause a severe health hazard. Moreover, it will kill your reputation if your customers face any health issue after consuming the foods.
So, you have to be vigilant to avoid cross-contamination. You can adopt different practices aside from washing hands before handling foods such as keeping different items in separate storage, using separate cutting and cooking utensils for raw meats, vegetables, and prepared foods, etc.
4. Cleanliness is A Must
A clean environment in the restaurant is essential not only for food safety but also for good customer experience. So you must ensure a clean environment. Cleaning doesn’t mean just sweeping and washing the floors. It means the overall practices ensuring there is nothing left behind that can contaminate foods and cause negative customer experience. So, you should maintain a strict cleaning guideline for your restaurant. Follow the checklist to maintain ample cleanliness in your restaurant.
- Regularly wash the whole kitchen and dining area with proper disinfectant. Provide your staffs with adequate cleaning facilities and equipment.
- Ensure no food is handled with bare hands. Provide your staffs with gloves to process foods. If hands are to be used, make sure proper handwashing procedures before handling foods.
- Set up a proper waste disposal plan. Never store the waste where you prepare or store the foods.
- Immediately sanitize and disinfect the utensils that are used in handling raw food items such as meat, fish, seafood, vegetable, etc.
- Ensure using different cleaning equipment for different areas.
- Inspect and monitor the cleaning operations regularly.
5. Take Feedback and Improve
Taking feedback from your customers is a good way to improve the hygiene and safety practices for your restaurant. It will help you improve not only safety practices but also enhance the overall customer experience. You can put a diary on every table and ask your customers to leave feedback on their experience. Besides, you can ask for it personally on face to face. It will be a gentle gesture from you, which would create a positive impression of your business apart from allowing you to improve your food hygiene practices.
Closing Notes
Now you’re fully caught with everything. Apply these techniques in your regular food hygiene practices and maintain a better environment with safe foods in your restaurant.
However, food safety is a broad concept, and there are a lot of things to learn about it, It’s not possible to compile everything in a single article. That’s why training is vital to learn the necessary things about food hygiene and safety for restaurants. Online Training Academy is offering a bunch of quality online training on food hygiene and safety where you can learn from industry-proven professionals. If you’re a beginner in this field, you can start with Level 1 Food Hygiene and Safety Training. So what are you waiting for? Enrol now and, learn the things and get certified today.
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