Food safety is something we all strive for in our restaurants. However, no two restaurants are identical and far too often, managers fall for classic traps and pitfalls when it comes to food safety.
We want to help you avoid these classic mistakes, which is why we put them all together in a list for you. Here are 7 food safety mistakes you might be making:
1. Lack of good handwashing stations
It’s important to have clean handwashing stations that are fully stocked and aren’t cluttered for employees to build good handwashing procedures and habits. Many restaurants don’t do a good enough job having their employees wash their hands and they don't give them the tools to do it. They've got dirty sinks with bad supplies.
2. Eating and Drinking in the Kitchen
First of all, it's a health code violation. Second of all, it will gross your customers out if they see it. Don’t do it.
3. Cross-Contamination
Don’t prepare raw foods on an area that you are later going to be setting out fresh foods to serve to your guests. This is an easy way to get people sick.
4. Sanitizer Levels are Wrong
Keeping your sanitization products at the correct, prescribed parts per million for things like your dishwasher and three-compartment sink is important.
5. Not Labeling/Dating Foods
This sounds like common sense, but it’s not done consistently enough. You can get people sick by not properly rotating foods, so make sure they're properly labeled and dated when you're storing them.
6. Improper Temperatures
You'll catch issues if you're constantly monitoring the temperatures of all the foods you're storing in your restaurants.
7. Not Having a Food Safety Program in Place
Have a system in place that monitors these things and your employees. It seems fundamental, but not all restaurants do it.
