If you own a food establishment, then watch out!

Council food inspectors could be soon knocking on your doors to check whether your food business complies with Australian food safety standards and regulations.

Recently, our Founder and Managing Director Mr Gavin Buckett was interviewed on the “Mornings” show on Channel 9 about the standards for food safety in Australia. Of course, what was talked about wasn’t entertaining, especially for the 445 ‘sloppy businesses’ in Brisbane that paid fines totalling $579,700, for the lack of sufficient food safety standards, but the purpose of the story was to focus on ways that customers can spot the safe places to eat.

You can watch the interview as TV presenters Sonia Kruger and David Campbell have turned food safety into a small, focused debate that will open your eyes to what customers should look out for the next time they dine out at your restaurant.

You can watch the video interview by clicking the image below:

Gavin Buckett’s advice for diners:

A lot of kitchens are open plan so you can see the staff, and where food is being prepared. You can see what they’re doing, the uniforms they’re wearing, and even if they’re washing their hands. Always take a look at the environment the food is being prepared in.

Advice for food businesses and restaurants:

Don’t gamble with food safety! At The Gourmet Guardian we work confidentially and cost-effectively with food businesses to:

• Reduce potential food safety dangers you might not know about

• Prevent dangerous outbreaks

• Uncover hidden issues that might be just as problematic and costly.

We can also help empower your employees with fun and engaging food safety training through our RTO Prime Skills website: Click here to make sure your business is Food Safety compliant.

As the Brisbane Council says: “Clean up or close up.”

When it comes to food and the health of your patrons, there is no room for shortcuts.

At the session, John Fallon from the New South Wales Food Authority (NSWFA) explained that there are only 22 approved external third party auditors in NSW.

He provided an enforcement update on all VP audits that have been conducted (by NSWFA employed auditors and external third party auditors).

He indicated that the top TWO problems encountered during audits were:

• Ineffective monitoring records
• Not complying with there food safety program

#1 Non Conformance: “Ineffective” Monitoring records

This included:

• Not having records in place
• Missing records or records not available
• Completed records not identifying issues (i.e. Temperatures recorded outside critical limits)
• No recorded corrective action when problems were identified
• Supervisor signing off on incomplete or incorrect records

It is stated in the VP Guidelines that IT IS a requirement for someone to check all completed records. Even though it is not a requirement for records to be signed, we certainly recommend this practice to our clients.

We have a client who purchased from a newsagent, an “APPROVED” stamp and the person doing the checking stamps the monitoring record and signs above where it was stamped. I think this is a simple and effective means of verifying your records. You still need to make sure that the person who does the “approving” actually checks that the record has been completed correctly.

#2 Non Conformance: “Not complying with their food safety program”

Remember a couple of days ago I told you that your program should:

“Say as you do” and you should “Do as you say”.

Consistent areas where Corrective Action Requests (CARs) were raised included:

• Labeling techniques used
• Content of an internal audit – The internal audit process did not include a review of their food safety program. (Note: The findings of the internal audit should reflect what is found at an external audit)
• Good manufacturing practices
• Allergen management

The NSWFA will continue to monitor ALL Vulnerable Persons facilities (including businesses with Third Party Auditor (TPA) approval) and the Proprietor of the facility is responsible for ensuring that an audit is organised.

All VP audits conducted in NSW are reported electronically to the NSWFA. Every month, the NSWFA runs a report on facilities that are overdue for an audit. The following process is applied:

• If overdue by 3 months they will be sent a “reminder letter”
• If overdue by 6 months they will be sent a “warning letter”
• Failure to comply will result in a $1320 penalty for corporations
  and $660 for individuals.

All scheduled audits must be conducted within the allocated 6 or 12 month period.

Your license cannot be renewed if there are any outstanding audits that have not been conducted.

Whenever possible, I attend the meetings the different state regulators have for auditors and I am attending another one in September for Victorian auditors.

Joanne Bulle is a recent addition to The Gourmet Guardian team and she also travelled from Albury to Sydney for the one day meeting.

These meetings are an important forum for the regulator (in this case the NSWFA) to update auditors on resources, requirements, changes in legislation and also to provide an outlet to discuss any problems or concerns auditors may have and to seek clarification on them.

This meeting was no exception. There are two very important changes that have been made by the NSWFA.

The first is they have updated the audit checklist that all auditors are required to complete and the second is that they have revised the guidelines for businesses serving food to Vulnerable Persons Businesses (VP). The audit checklist was updated to match the guidelines.

If you are a VP business, I feel it is vital, if you have not already done so, to download and print these guidelines to ensure you are complying with them.

http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/_Documents/industry_pdf/guidelines_vp_2011.pdf Click Here To Download The Vulnerable Persons Business Guidelines

Your next audit will be made using these guidelines and you will be expected to comply with them.

To assist you in understanding the guidelines, I have taken the time to summarise the key changes that were highlighted and stressed to us at the forum.

The guidelines have been clarified and simplified, with the information and requirements now aligned with FSANZ Food Standards Code requirements. The clearer guidelines include:

• Greater flexibility in menu design
• Updates on the definition of what “higher risk foods” are
• Specific allergen control requirements that need to be documented in your food safety program
• Specific requirements for serving food to neutropenic patients/ residents (neutropenic means that they have NO immune system)
• Lettuce can be on the menu and is now encouraged – especially in aged care
• Washing of fruits and vegetables in chemical sanitisers is no longer a mandatory requirement (apart from melons – these must still be sanitised)
• Poached eggs no longer need to be “hard boiled”. The whites still need to be cooked and yolk “starts to thicken” but does not need to be fully cooked
• Cooking temperatures have been updated (there are multiple minimum temperatures listed that depends on the type of food. It was stated that facilities “have the ability” to adjust their temperatures
• Reheating food only needs to be > 60˚ C if the product will be used within 48 hours
• Potentially hazardous foods no longer must be used within 24 hours (48 hours recommended if no label)
• Clarification on the definition of what texture modified and pureed foods are
• Diabetic controls need to be documented and included into the allergen controls
• Infant formula (if applicable) MUST be covered by the food safety program (including milk rooms, sterilising of bottles, and formula made by parents etc.).

That being said, auditors will still be auditing you against what is documented in your food safety program. That means if you do not change your program to reflect these changes, you will still need to comply with your food safety program.

As an example, if you have stated in your food safety program that you sanitise fruits and vegetables, then this is what you will be audited against.

The saying that we always use is that you must “Say as you do” and “Do as you say!”

At the forum, it was stressed that aged care facilities, in particular, need to separate “dislikes” from “allergens”. It is important to confirm with the resident or patient as to why they have a dislike.

Many people have dismissed “dislikes”, however it has been found that perhaps the dislike did stem from a childhood reaction that is an allergen, and that they have avoided the product without actually realising that it is an “allergy”.

Other points that were discussed I think may be of interest were:

• It is expected that FSANZ are going to review microbiological limits for foods to align with international standards in the next two years.
• NSW Health have decided to continue to sanitise all fruit and vegetables, despite the changes indicated above as there is some evidence that there can be a 1 or 2 micro log reduction in pathogens if they are present. Washing under running water has shown to also reduce by one log as well.

In the next couple of weeks, I will send you an update on the main problems I find in audits, along with what your rights are in being able to change from the NSWFA to an approved third party auditor.

The Gourmet Guardian has two auditors that are approved by the NSWFA to conduct third party audits. Both are qualified chefs with more than 30 years combined hands-on cooking experience and both were at the auditor’s forum indicated above.

If you would like to discuss your upcoming audit with us, please contact us on 1800 FOOD SAFETY (1800 366 372).

GOURMET GUARDIAN
2UE INTERVIEW David Oldfield

CLICK ON IMAGE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
(Full Transcript Below)

Click on the image to listen to the interview right now

Eating out is a bit of a common place thing of course in the 21^st century but also a long time before that.  The news is that the New South Wales Food & Safety Authority have named and shamed a whole series of restaurants and Chinese cuisine has predominantly hit the top of the list.  So is it a question that the cuisine you choose may determine your chances of getting sick or is it just that we’ve got more Chinese restaurants than anything else?  How does it work out?

Gavin thanks for joining me.

Thank you very much David.

Gavin Buckett is an Australian food safety specialist.  Gavin is it just simply a matter of there being more Chinese food restaurants than anything else?

I think that that may be a possibility.  I know looking back to my childhood that most of the multicultural food that we had sort of 20 or 30 years ago was Chinese and I also remember that every single suburb had a Chinese restaurant on most corners.

And of course the clubs, you’d go into the RSL or something and they would have a Chinese restaurant.

Yes, and I know that there’s a lot more cuisines, like Thai and the Vietnamese, around now but I think it would be important to take a look at the number of Chinese restaurants as opposed to the number of different cuisines as well.

It would be a good idea wouldn’t it if they actually did that rather than doing it on just raw numbers; apply it proportionately based on numbers of restaurants.  In fact the Chinese may come in better under the ties with some of the others.

Possibly, yes.

Certainly there are very, very large numbers of them.  Are there hygiene issues behind some of these cultural methods that pertain to food safety; I mean we always see stories about how certain cultures do things, for example they use one hand to go to the toilet and one hand to eat their food and you know there are issues of cross contamination because it seems that maybe things aren’t all that clean.  Are there elements of that in anything we might see in restaurants?

Look I’ve seen some terrible things in my time but it’s not specific to one nationality or one type of food business or anything like that.  So we find that there are some businesses with different cuisines that are very, very good and there are some that aren’t.  But I’ve not found in my experience, and we’ve been doing food safety now for almost 10 years, and we haven’t found that’s its specific to any one cuisine.

In fact I saw a movie the other day which was a comedy based in an American restaurant where an American chef actually went into the toilet and was standing there at the trough, you know as men do, and he had his cake spatula with him and was about to go back into the kitchen and lather up a cake.

Well I haven’t seen that but I have seen at one shopping center where a chef walked in, he was in full chef’s uniform with his apron and gloves on, he then went to the urinal and just opened to one side, finished doing what he was doing and then walked back out of the toilet without changing gloves, or washing his hands, and walked right back into his restaurant.

Well maybe he’s one of those chef’s that you know cooks with one hand and goes to the toilet with the other.

Yes, and he certainly wasn’t of Chinese descent so, like I said its not something that’s specific to one cuisine or another but yes, the importance of food safety certainly is something that all food businesses need to implement.

Yeah and I suppose, responsibly speaking, when these various name and shame things occur like the New South Wales Food Safety Authority, it would be better if they gave us a proportional understanding given the numbers of restaurants when you’re going to cut it down to cuisine.  Because the report this morning did most certainly give the idea that if you were going to get sick there was more chance of it in a Chinese food restaurant; but the suspicion might be that there are simply more Chinese food restaurants so it proportionately gives the wrong impression

Yes, possibly.  Like I said I don’t know the number of different Chinese or Indian or Pakistani or any of those different restaurants that are around.  But I think from the name and shame website is that it indicates what penalties are being raised and that’s what the officers and inspectors are finding.  I don’t think its their job to turn around and say, look there are more Chinese restaurants than others; they’re just reporting what they find, so I think it would be discriminatory if they proportionately reported what had been found.

What I’m getting at is the way the story was related though, they way the story sort of went; the suggestion was you’ve got more chance of getting sick from eating Chinese food than something else because of the raw numbers that were used.  But in fact proportionately there may simply be more Chinese restaurants; so the report may have been unfair.  But I suppose the very interesting thing also about the name and shame file is I wonder if you look up these things, and anyone listening if you do this, if you go to the website and have a look at any one of those name and shame restaurants, would you ever go to any one of them?

Gavin can you understand why somebody looking at these restaurants that have been caught out in the past, would just never go there again?

Very much so.  I know that I was doing some training in Sydney and I didn’t know a lot about some of the cases that one of the guys in the class was talking about and I spoke to him at the break and he said that he looks at the name and shame website all the time.  So I went back to the hotel where I was staying and I pulled out [Renwick], that’s where I was staying, and there were 36 restaurants there in [Renwick]; that’s going back about 8 months now.  There were 36 restaurants there that were listed including the one that I had eaten out at the night before, and it certainly didn’t give me… A lot of confidence.

Yeah.  I hadn’t seen anything that would not make me eat there, but it certainly would be something that I believe the public has a right to know.

Yeah, absolutely.

A lot of the time you can’t see what goes on behind the walls.

More than a lot.  Gavin, I appreciate your time.

Can I just clarify one point?  Just before the break you mentioned that it might be safer to eat in your own home.

Well if you are cooking the food yourself; I’m certainly happier with everything that we make at home yeah, but I have a couple of restaurants that I love.  Yeah go on.

But according to the Food Safety Information Council there’s about 5.3 million people that get food poisoning every year in Australia and about ¼ of that is quantified back to people preparing food in their own homes.

Is this because they are using poor ingredients or is it because they’re eating stuff that’s long past when they should have used it because they’re leaving things in the fridge for too long; like seconds and sort of leftovers and what have you?

Well it could be leftovers and things that have been left in the fridge, it could be you know a domestic fridge if it’s overloaded it might not be running at the right temperature or drawers being opened frequently but…

It’s a good point actually Gavin, you sort of pack everything you can into your refrigerator but if you do that it doesn’t actually work very well.

Well that’s right, and with having a young family myself things like changing nappies, if people don’t go and wash their hands after changing nappies and then go and prepare sandwiches or prepare food or salad or something for their kids then it could easily be that they’re making their own kids sick as opposed to or something they’ve picked up at school or something like that.

Taste sensations you’re not looking for.  Thanks for your time Gavin.

All right.

That’s a good point there in closing about what happens in your own home too; especially when people leave stuff in the fridge for too long.  “How long has this been here?”

Let me tell you, if there’s any question about how long something’s been in the fridge, just don’t risk it.

Read more…

Health departments and food safety departments outline all requirements; food safety procedures and kitchen procedures that must be followed by every establishment. What happens if you do not follow these requirements? Well, most importantly you run the risk of hurting your customers. All it takes is for one customer to have an illness or unsanitary problem with their food and your business could take a downfall.

When it comes to commercial kitchen food safety, there are requirements to meet in regards to food storage, food preparation, and safe food handling. These requirements are all geared towards preventing illnesses and diseases that could arise when food is improperly handled, cooked, and stored.

Some food safety requirements within Australia include:

Keeping foods that are deemed potentially hazardous at the correct temperature. In most cases, it is really straight-forward. If foods must be frozen, freeze them at temperatures below 5 degrees Celsius. The guidelines also dictate storage of food. Not only should it be stored at the correct temperature, but it should also be stored to provide protection from any contamination and within conditions that will have no affect on the food in terms of suitability and safety.

There are also regulations that dictate how to reheat food. Foods that are deemed potentially hazardous should be reheated quickly. The foods should be heated to at least 60 degrees Celsius and done so at a rapid pace.

If you are displaying food, you should make sure that you are using different serving utensils for each type of food. Cross food contamination is perhaps the easiest of all contamination processes so it should be carefully guarded against.

With the number of laws and regulations provided in regards to food safety, it can be easy to forget or overlook. However, you need to remember that all it takes is just one bad review or a customer to have a negative experience to ruin the reputation of your business. Therefore, it is a good idea to seek advice from a reputable food safety business in order to help you keep your kitchen safe and your equipment in meeting legal standards.

Gavin can be contacted at gavin@agbsolutions.com.au or through his website at www.australianfoodsafety.com.au.

Recently, Food Processing News did a write up about me – Gavin Buckett, in their Spring 2008 edition. While I generally avoid the limelight, I thought I might share the story with you, my devoted blog readers.

Here goes:

Gavin Buckett completed the Diploma of Food Technology in 2002 and the Diploma of Confectionery Manufacturing in 2003.

Gavin found a passion for food through a part time job while studying Accounting in 1989 and has been involved in the food industry ever since. Fifteen years cooking included winning the Blue Flame Award for Victorian Apprentice of the Year and the Daryl Cox Memorial Trophy. Work also included stints in Singapore and Malaysia.

In 2003, while still cooking, Gavin gained tertiary qualifications in Food Technology and Confectionery Manufacturing at William Angliss Institute.

Gavin is a registered food safety auditor and food safety trainer and specialises in the preparation of HACCP certified food management systems and food allergen management solutions.

“I went to William Angliss Institute for a couple of years studying Food Technology and Confectionery Manufacturing. At the graduation dinner for the course, I was talking to the course coordinator and he gave me the contact details of someone who he said I should call. So I rang her up and introduced myself. She had a client who needed help achieving HACCP accreditation and had too much work on. We developed a relationship and I began to take on her overflow work.” That’s how I started my business in 2003 – totally by accident! I made one phone call and all of a sudden I needed an ABN.”

“I started AGB Solutions Pty Ltd with my wife, Angela in 2005. We are a specialist provider of Food Safety Solutions and Quality Assurance Services to all areas of the food industry including food and beverage manufacturers, distributors, restaurants, caterers, hospitals and aged care facilities to name just a few.”

Future plans for AGB Solutions include working closely with the DHS on the allergen training project, preparation of web based manuals for commercial and domestic clients, an increased range of specialised food safety products and regular food safety based workshops.

Gavin can be contacted at gavin@agbsolutions.com.au or through his website at www.australianfoodsafety.com.au.

What a busy week the last week of September 2008 was for AGB Solutions. AGB Solutions had three clients all have their HACCP implementation audit in the same week. There were a number of unique points about this achievement:

1. It was the first time that we have had three implementation audits in the same week
2. It was the first time that we have had a non food business achieve HACCP certification
3. It was the first time that we have had a non Victorian client become HACCP certified

In fact ALL three clients were non Victorian businesses. We are certainly proud to let you know that we have now had HACCP programs certified in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania. In fact we are not stopping with these three clients. We are currently in discussions with prospective clients in Sydney, Adelaide, Launceston and on the Sunshine Coast, as well as a number of Melbourne and regional Victoria based businesses.

AGB Solutions would like to congratulate the following companies on achieving HACCP Certification:

1. QT Trading Pty Ltd in Sydney.
2. Humico Pty Ltd on the Gold Coast
3. Central Choice Foods in Launceston

I will be creating separate blogs in coming weeks on all three companies, however in case you can’t wait to know what they do:

QT Trading Pty Ltd is an importer and wholesaler of a range of black and green leaf tea products produced by the German tea house Ronnefeldt. Ronnefeldt was established in 1823 and is engaged in blending and packaging of teas grown and processed in the most popular tea grouping areas such as India, Sri Lanka and China. QT Trading has the Australian, New Zealand and Fiji distribution rights for Ronnefeldt Tea, and supply exclusively to guests in 5 star hotels, boutique accommodation, casinos’ and guest houses. These include:

1. Accor Hotel Group (Sofitel and Novotel)
2. Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt Hotels
3. Crown Casino
4. The Windsor Hotel Melbourne

If you are interested in tea check out www.ronnefeldt.com and contact Igor at ronnefeldt@optusnet.com.au. My favourite tea is the Irish Malt variety (The extravagant aroma of Irish Whisky with a hint of cocoa blended with a malty Assam tea). YUM!

Humico Pty Ltd provides environmental solutions for any business utilising refrigeration like hotels, restaurants, hospitals, butchers, cafes, supermarkets etc.

Humico Pty Ltd supply and service a humidity and bacteria control filter that when placed into a refrigerated environment between -20˚ C to +15˚ C; functions as a humidity buffer by controlling humidity levels to assist refrigeration equipment to achieve optimal storage conditions FASTER and more EFFICIENTLY, REDUCING COSTS and INCREASING PROFITS!

A non toxic filter that reduces your energy costs and servicing AND increases the shelf life of the contents of the refrigerated environment, that has AQIS approval for use in meat establishments, is HACCP Certified and has service technicians Australia Wide? Think you want to find out more? Check out www.humico.com.au contact Steve Dods at steved@humico.com.au.

Central Choice Foods is an eighteen month old Food Warehouse and Distribution Company that is owned and operated by Tasmanians that services the northern part of Tasmania within the 063 and 064 telephone area codes.

Central Choice Foods does not carry thousands and thousands of products like some other wholesalers. They instead specialise in a core group of products including:

1. Smallgoods
2. Fresh and frozen meats
3. Frozen Fish and seafood products
4. Frozen Poultry
5. Frozen Cakes
6. Pastries and puddings
7. Cream and cheese
8. Biscuits
9. Condiments including honey, vinegars, mayonnaises and sauces
10. Antipastos

Central Choice Foods are also an approved distributor of Primo Smallgoods.

Are you in Northern Tasmania and want to be serviced by a HACCP certified family owned company? Contact Debbie Ratcliffe now at debbie@centralchoicefoods.com.au.

Are you wanting to join this list of HACCP Certified businesses?

Contact Gavin NOW and find out why Steve from Humico stated that AGB Solutions provided

“Great service and was genuinely interested in the success of the program that was designed for our company”

and why Igor from QT Trading emailed us in the middle of the night to tell us:

“Thank you very much for the congratulations that you sent to me. Your contribution to our successful certification was the main factor in QT Trading achieving HACCP certification.

I appreciate your offer to assist me with the verification activities for the next twelve months; in fact it is gladly accepted! There is no doubt that our business needs your expertise in the food industry and being associated with AGB Solutions Pty Ltd makes me feel like I am always playing for the winning team!  Please find attached the completed feedback form. I did not have any other opinion but to mark your performance as “exceptional” across the board.”

Gavin can be contacted at gavin@agbsolutions.com.au or by calling 0422 922 883

• What do you know about your cleaning chemicals?
• How safe are they?
• Is price the best way decide on which chemical to use?
• What should my chemical supplier be telling me?

• The chemicals came in flat pack bags, that reduced space during transport and storage and were intended to be diluted by the end user of the product prior to use. There were two labels for the same product (sanitiser), which contradicted each other (it meant that one product when diluted was 100 times more concentrated than the other (remember these chemicals are coming in contact with food contact surfaces)
• All of the labels stated that chemicals should be diluted into a 5 litre container, apart from one, that needed to be diluted into a 20 litre container. The company only provided a 5 litre container in which to dilute the product (what do you do with an open bag of cleaning chemical???)
• The food surface sanitiser and window cleaner were both the same colour.
• The label of the sanitiser indicated that the product should be blue (when diluted the chemical was red). It was later discovered that the person responsible for mixing the chemicals, decided one day to change the colour – it should have been blue.
• The chemical that should have been red was a degreaser
• The material safety data sheet for the detergent indicated that the chemical should be green. The chemical was yellow.

Cleaning chemicals are vital in providing a safe food working environment, however they are also very dangerous if not used properly. I have three very simple rules for the storage of chemicals in food businesses:

1. Chemicals must be clearly labelled
2. Chemicals must be stored away from food storage and preparation areas
3. Chemicals must not be stored in the same containers as food

Your chemical supplier should provide you with a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) the first time that they supply you with chemicals. The MSDS should contain:

• Name of chemical
• The name and contact details of the supplier
• The date of issue of the MSDS
• The colour of the chemical
• The intended use
• Dilution factors (if relevant)
• First aid information
• Personal protective equipment required for using the chemical
• How to store the chemical
• The composition of the chemical (active ingredients etc.)

These MSDS should be stored and be available wherever chemicals are used and stored. You should check to ensure your supplier is providing this information for you.

Some cleaning chemicals are incredibly dangerous and you need to make sure that you are using the chemical for it’s intended purpose. Often I see businesses that base their decision purely on price. If you are making this decision, you need to make sure you are comparing “apples with apples”. You need to check:

• The dilution factor
• What is included in the price. Good chemical companies will provide bottles, labels, training, posters etc. at no additional cost
• The size of the containers. I am aware of at least two chemical suppliers who no longer sell chemicals in the large 25 litre bottles due to OHS requirements. All of their chemicals are sold in 5 litre and 1 litre bottles.

In my travels, these are some examples of poor decision making that I have seen:

• One business changed chemical companies because the cost of the 25 litre bottle was $10 cheaper (20%), however the dilution factor of the cheaper bottle was 50ml per 10 litres of water, instead of 10ml per 10 litres. So they save 20%, but needed to use 500% more!!
• One business purchased a sanitiser that was intended for an automatic dispenser and foaming machine, but was mixing it by hand. The dilution factor was 1:440. This meant that the business need just over 2ml per litre of water. How long will it take to use a 5 litre bottle at 2ml per litre. How hard is it to measure 2ml?
• Chemicals stored in cordial bottles, tomato sauce bottles, measuring jugs, water bottles, stainless steel bowls, takeaway containers, Milo tins and food storage containers.
• Chemicals (in a warehouse) stored in direct contact with bags of flour
• Chemicals (in a hospital) stored in the pantries with biscuits, tea bags etc.
• Chemicals (in a fresh chicken shop in a market) stored in the cool room (as they didn’t have room in processing area
• A dishwasher that was not connected to chemicals at all
• A meat slicer being “sanitised” with a caustic soda based window cleaner (even though they were clearly labelled and colour coded)
• A disinfectant (that should be used in toilets) being used as a sanitiser on a production bench used for making mass amounts of sandwiches.

So how about you? What chemical catastrophes have you seen? Do you have any safe tips for the use of cleaning chemicals in food businesses?

What ever you, make sure that you…

Eat well. Eat safe!

Gavin