You will be sorry if you do not keep your food safe. As a restaurant manager, it is your job to ensure your customers have a good meal, and that job begins as soon as supplies enter your restaurant. From that moment on, you have to maintain food safety management.
But management does not have to be hard. Here is a quick guide to improving your management system.
The Regulations of Food Safety Management
National and international food safety standards have been set in place. The International Organization for Standardization recently drafted new measures to enhance food safety.
The new measures require you to develop a food safety management system that assigns a food safety team leader, establishes internal and external communication chains, and conducts internal audits, amongst other responsibilities. The exact details are left up to you, but your system should be able to recognize risks and work to resolve them autonomously.
FDA guidelines are similar. Food providers must implement a written food safety plan that identifies hazards and maintains controls, like places to dispose of spoiled food. Restaurants do not need a written plan, but they should only do business with suppliers who meet regulations, and they should have measures to prevent and contain food hazards.
Manage Your Personnel
The biggest step you can take to improve food safety is managing your personnel. Name a food safety team leader but give yourself oversight and final approval over any food safety decisions.
Talk to each of your employees about food safety. Brief them on their responsibilities and advise them on what to do if they notice a problem. Instruct them to study food safety and test their knowledge as a part of employee evaluations.
Maintain relations with your food suppliers and the FDA. Ensure that everyone you do business with, from suppliers to caterers to food box delivery Ireland personnel, follows regulations.
Consider taking courses on implementing a food safety management system. If courses are not an option, conduct regular safety audits alongside experts, examining all safety precautions, including hand washing.
Find the Right Resources
To create a smooth safety system, you will need many resources.
Buy a refrigeration system that can contain all of your spoilable goods. Store meat and produce in separate compartments. Clean your system regularly, discarding spoiled or freezer-burned goods.
Maintain a documentation system of when goods arrive. Whether the system is based on a computer or on paper, make sure the system is accessible to everyone in your restaurant. Write the expiration date of goods on their containers as a backup.
Purchase enough cutting boards and surfaces so that meat and produce can be prepared separately. Locate multiple sinks near each station and supply the sinks with antibacterial soap and disposable rags or paper towels.
Consider buying stainless steel items, which have impermeable surfaces and resist corrosion, thereby assisting in food safety. You can also look into automated or digital refrigeration systems that alert you to temperature changes in your refrigeration.
Stay Smart on Safety
Food safety is manageable. Follow all rules and regulations, train your staff, and buy resources that keep food safe. While food safety management may be extensive, your customers will thank you for prioritizing their welfare.
You can enhance your food safety management by remaining knowledgeable. Read this brief guide on sanitizing your restaurant.
