Australian Food Safety Blog

Outbreaks of food poisoning have been in the news a lot as of late; as you know, many of these outbreaks were traced to restaurants. No matter where in the world you are, there are safety regulations which must be followed and Victoria, Australia is no exception. Regardless of the kind of food you serve in your establishment, cleanliness and following safety regulations with regard to food handling are good habits to keep and can prevent food poisoning.

Salmonella is a bacterium which can taint many types of food items. Usually, raw meats are the prime suspects in salmonella related food poisoning cases, but pet reptiles can also carry these bacteria. There are two ways to prevent salmonella form causing food poisoning which are guaranteed to be effective: thoroughly cooking food before serving and regular, thorough hand washing before, during and after cooking or eating.

Escherichia coli (or e-coli for short) is a form of bacteria which can cause serious illness or even death. Found naturally inside of the human body and in some foods, some strains can be lethal. E-coli produces harmful, toxic substances and includes unpleasant (to say the least) symptoms including watery and/or bloody diarrhea. A healthy adult can generally weather a case of e-coli food poisoning, but the elderly, the sick and young children are at risk of getting very ill if infected. As with salmonella, the way to prevent e-coli infection is thorough cooking and regular hand washing, along with careful cleaning of all cooking areas. Hand washing should become a thoroughly ingrained habit. You use your hands to pick up everything ? even harmful microbes.

It is understandable that with all of the headlines about food borne illnesses that many may feel as if dining out is tantamount to playing Russian roulette. You can ensure that your restaurant is safe from the hazards presented by infected foods by following the HACCP standards (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). These standards are designed to ensure the safety of foods made for human consumption. Most are common sense rules, such as putting perishable ingredients like milk back into refrigeration after using and dating items put into the freezer. Running a restaurant kitchen requires that you stay on top of a lot of different things. If you?ve got employees whom you supervise, you must make sure that they are up to speed on HACCP standards and adhere to them. You don?t want all of the work you?ve put into your restaurant to be ruined by one mistake made out of ignorance of the HACCP rules.

Any certifications or stickers you have received from health authorities should be posted where your customers can easily see them. You can let them know in this way that your restaurant has a clean kitchen and they can dine without worry. Your customers will then know that your kitchen has nothing to hide and the food that you serve them is wholesome and can be enjoyed in confidence.

by Malcolm J. Richmond

Anyone about to begin a career in hospitality in Melbourne needs to know what the professionals already do: this is a tough crowd to please. The smallest damage to your reputation can ruin you in this town. A career in hospitality can be a very rewarding one, but it is something that requires attention to detail and of course, food safety. Before you step into the hospitality industry, you and your staff need to know the applicable food safety regulations inside out.

Your staff has to be prepared for any situation which may arise in the kitchen in terms of food safety and best health practices. This means that each and every member of your staff has to complete a food safety course. Once your staff has completed this course you’ll know that they’ve been properly trained and are aware of all the relevant food safety issues.

What many people do not know is that food safety goes so much further beyond “wash your hands” and “keep everything at the right temperature.” What you are going to need to do is to look into all the small but equally important things that you need to know to make sure that your hospitality business is among the best.

For instance, have you thought about the fact that you need to label everything that goes into your kitchen?

This will help you avoid needing to open containers and then resealing them when it turns out that they are not what you want. Every time a container is opened, it risks being contaminated and you can cut down on this risk by making sure that everyone knows what is in what container.

Whether you’re in the hospitality business proper or your company has any involvement in food preparation or handling, it is essential that your staff take and complete a food safety course. When kitchen staff is not properly trained in food safety, you place your business in peril.

Food preparation personnel who are not aware of proper food safety procedures can quickly lead to a kitchen which harbors disease causing microorganisms. Any risk of sickening a patron due to your kitchen’s sanitation or food handling procedures is one which should be eliminated.

Especially in Melbourne, a single customer made ill by eating in your establishment could be the end of your career in hospitality. A food safety course is a wise investment in the future of your business – and far cheaper than the cost of a lawsuit!

It can be difficult to keep your kitchen staff properly trained in food safety issues. Since the turnover rate in the hospitality industry tends to be rather high, you’ll be faced with the challenge of regularly ensuring that new hires are aware of all the relevant safety issues. Hiring a certification expert and food safety consultant can help your business make sure that the food you serve is safe with regular training and audits of your food preparation areas.

Particularly in Melbourne, proper training for your staff through a food safety course is vitally important to your work in the hospitality industry.

When people walk into a restaurant to eat, they are putting their trust in you. They blindly have faith that you will serve them food that is fresh and safe to eat. There are several restaurants in Australia right now that are paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and settlements because they served contaminated food to patrons who became seriously ill and, in one particular case, died. So, how can you know that your kitchen is safe? Even one mistake leading to an outbreak of illness can permanently damage your establishment’s reputation and finances due to damage claims. Many times these are simple mistakes that could have been easily avoided.

One of the most common problems is salmonella poisoning which cases stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration in its victims. This is most often caused by poor food-handling hygiene and inadequate oven cooking temperatures. The Sofia Pizza Restaurant infected at least 33 people with salmonella back in 2004. In 2003, Footscray restaurant Thanh Phu faced a class action suit from 135 people. This is an overwhelming problem that could cost you thousands, not something to shrug off as something that will “never happen to me.”

Victoria, Australia has strict food regulations that force all food distributed in Australia to meet certain requirements. There are also certain standards for importing or exporting food as well. There are several different places that you will need to register with, depending on what kind of food you are mainly selling or preparing. The Food Safety Programme (FSP) details a number of requirements for keeping your kitchen clean and safe. First of all, all measuring devices should be calibrated annually and tested mid-year. A log should be kept listing when sauces and other foods are thawed so there will be record of the time frame in which they should be used. The temperature of delivery trucks and delivered packages should be measured and recorded in said log. Records should also be kept as to when “high risk” foods are discarded. If these rules are not followed, stiff fines will be enforced. This applies to fresh food stands as well as stores and restaurants. There are training programs available to educate your employees as to proper food handling and preparation. While they do can incur an expense, it could save you money in the long run.

Each and every day kitchen staffs all over the world are making mistakes that could cost you the restaurant owner money. Not just on food that is returned and not paid for, but on health code violations and possible lawsuits from people that get sick from eating at your dining establishment. It is time for you to step and take note of what is going on in your kitchen.

Number One: Bacteria
Your number one concern in the kitchen needs to be keeping food and cooking utensils bacteria free. Bacteria are usually present on raw foods such as eggs and seafood, chicken, raw rice and some fresh vegetables that have yet to be washed. Knowing this, walk into the kitchen of your dining establishment and see how often the same hand is going from raw to cooked without being washed.
Cooks can be seen grabbing raw meat and seafood to cook and with the same hands that they may have wiped on a dirty towel they go and touch vegetables. Proper hand washing by kitchen staff is very important to help limit the spread of bacteria from food to customers. Along with proper hand washing, making sure that foods are cooked properly will help kill bacteria.

Number Two: Labels and Dates
Everything in your kitchen should be marked clearly with a label. This will help eliminate waste. Kitchen staff will only open or take what they need, if you keep items clearly marked you are guaranteeing that items that do not need to be opened aren’t. Once a container has been opened put the date on it. If you are putting food that was fresh in a container, label it and put a date on it. The last thing in the world you want is rotten food coming out of your kitchen.

Number Three: Always Use Clean Utensils
Kitchen staffs are infamous for using dirty utensils in a hurry. I am not saying that they are using filthy utensils to serve food, what they are doing is taking the tongs that were used to get the tomatoes and taking them and using them to grab fish or rolls from the oven. Make sure that they are always using a clean utensil for different foods. Clean pots and pans to kick in. Glasses and plates need to be clean. I have lost count of the number of time I have gone to a restaurant and been given dirty silverware. This is just plain carelessness and it could be costly.

Number Four: Not Using Fresh Ingredients
In a pinch, they forgot to order staff may be tempted to use food that is slightly past its useful date. Make sure that you staff understands the importance of using fresh ingredients. Tainted food can cause illness and in some cases death, which can mean you are facing a lawsuit.

Number Five: Leaving Food in the Window for Too Long
We have all gone to a restaurant and gotten our food and it looked like it had been sitting in the sun for about two days. Then you bite into it and not only is it dry, but it is cold. This is how bacteria can resurface. When food is done and ready it needs to go out to the table.

Number Six: Touching Their Hair
I have seen servers and cooks and prep personnel stand in the kitchen, play with their hair, adjust their ball caps, pick at their arms, touch their face… and then put those same hands on food. Proper hand washing is essential and is often overlooked. This can cause food poisoning, Hepatitis and salmonella.

A CD-ROM entitled ‘All about allergens’ has been produced to provide a self-access resource for small business owners in the food industry to learn about food allergens. You’ll notice that I was one of the advisors on developing the CD.

Read more…

If you run a restaurant or kitchen of any sort in Melbourne, you already know that it is a tough town when it comes to food safety standards and restaurant reputation.  You will find that there are number of things that can sink a restaurant in Victoria, but nothing will shut a business down faster than sanitation violations.  If it is discovered that your restaurant has health violations, you can watch your business drop like a rock.

The answer, of course, is to make sure that your kitchen stays in great shape and maintains a high standard of cleanliness.  Though this is by no means a complete list, you will find that these suggestions can help keep your kitchen operating at a high standard.

Store cooked and uncooked food separately. This is essential when you are looking at making sure that your restaurant has a high degree of sanitation.  Essentially, cooked food very often goes directly to the tables of your diners.  Raw food, which is uncooked and untreated, may very well still be carrying bacteria or other contaminants that can be transferred to the cooked food.  By keeping them separate, you’ll be able to keep them from affecting each other.

Label everything. It seems simple, but the truth of the matter is that you should label everything that comes into your kitchen.  Make sure that your kitchen staff undergo food safety training and know what is in the various containers. This way they will only open them when necessary and they will not risk contamination through repeated exposure.

Labelling will also help to improve the speed and efficiency of your kitchen.  Similarly, you may also want to think about dating things to know when they were received.

Temperature readouts. No matter where you keep food, you should make sure that there is a temperature gauge nearby.  This can be instrumental when you are keeping cold foods and when you want to make sure that they stay good.

Take some time and really consider what your options are going to be when it comes to installing thermometers in your food storage location; this can help you a great deal.

Food satefety training for your staff? Remember that when it comes to keeping your restaurant sanitized that your workers play a large part.  There does tend to be a fairly high turn around in kitchens, so take some time to make sure that your workers are aware of what needs to happen to keep the kitchen to high food safety standards.  Make sure that you include both front room staff and kitchen staff when it comes to this kind of food safety training.

When you are running a commercial kitchen, you’ll find that you need to think about what your options are going to be in terms of keeping it safe and clean.  Educate your staff and keep in mind the fact that there are professional services out there that can help you monitor your existing procedures and give you a detailed list of how they can be improved.  Remember that a little money spent on this now can prevent large legal fees down the line.

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

If you have cooked in or run a restaurant in Melbourne, you know that you are playing to a tough crowd!  Not only does the city have great restaurants serving all types of food at a range of prices, but you will also find that it is a town with a long memory.

If you give your customers a great dining experience, you can bet that they will be back for more and that they will tell their friends, but if you mess up, word is certainly going to get around. Every restaurant manager fears a food poisoning outbreak, but if you work in Melbourne, you may have more reason than most to be frightened of it.

When you are looking at a food poisoning outbreak, you are looking at your restaurant getting a lot of publicity that it doesn’t need. You’ll find that you may be risking a citation or a warning at best, and complete shut-down at worst. This is how important adequate food safety and hygiene is to your restaurant.

Guests who are unlucky enough to eat at a time when your food safety isn’t as high as it should be may become quite sick, and while many cases of food poisoning can be quite mild, others are extremely severe or unpleasant. This is most common when children or people with weakened immune systems are exposed to tainted food.

Bacteria may easily exist on raw food like eggs, seafood, uncooked rice, or even raw vegetables.  For the most part, good washing practices and cooking will take care of the problems there, but if these foods come into contact with food that has already been prepared, the bacteria are able to pass themselves on. Some bacteria can even be transferred through unwashed hands onto food that is ready to serve. Other pathogens or bacteria will develop on food that as been allowed to grow too warm or that has begun to spoil.

There are many different ways to prevent a food poisoning outbreak. The first and most obvious thing that you need to think about is the fact that your staff need food safety training: to be taught how to handle and prepare food. Strict regulations about hand washing and sanitation on the food preparation floor are things that you really need to drill home.

You will also find that good storage, where raw food is never permitted to come in contact with food that is ready to serve is something that all staff need to be aware of. It is important to establish routine to ensure that staff form good hygiene habits.

The truth of the matter is that there is a multitude of different ways that a food poisoning outbreak can occur, but you don’t need to live in fear. Most restaurant managers aren’t experts in food safety, which is why they will enlist the services of a good food safety expert before anything goes wrong. If you want to make sure that nothing gets overlooked in the food safety of your restaurant, talk to an expert.  If you are cooking in Melbourne, you already know that you are playing to a tough crowd, so don’t make it any harder than it has to be!

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

Recently, I’ve been working with the AMES as a consultant to produce a video training series. I was involved in training and content development, and we’ve produced a fantastic set of videos. Here’s a sneek peak at what you can see.

If you have any questions on Allergens, please don’t hesitate to contact me for info. Also, here’s a link to where you can check out the entire series.

If you work in a professional kitchen, particularly in a demanding city like Melbourne, you know that every night there is a lot at stake. Not only do you need to make sure that you are putting out great food, you also need to ensure that you are subscribing to the highest standards when it comes to food safety and hygiene.

Illness, a loss of reputation and even legal action are just some of the negative side effects that can occur when you start playing fast and loose with food safety. As a restaurant manager you have a responsibility to make certain that your restaurant is doing all that is necessary to meet the various challenges that food safety poses.

The first thing that you need to think about is education.  No matter how experienced your kitchen staff are, make sure that they have all the information they need to be able to conduct themselves appropriately in a food preparation location.

Some food safety procedures are fairly straightforward, others are not.  Make sure that everyone on the floor understands the measures that are taken and why they are necessary. Also make sure that they understand that no matter what kind of rush they are in, this is not something that they can be lax about!

Another area that you consider is proper food storage. While of course you will be able to set some things up to run permanently, like the temperature of your refrigerator or freezer, also keep in mind that there are things that need to be done to ensure that food is not contaminated before it even gets to the cook!  Remember, for instance, that meat should always be stored on the lowest shelf possible, as there is a chance that even a slight drop in temperature will cause it to melt and drip, contaminating the food below it.  Also, raw food and cooked food must always be kept separate.

Your staff must also be aware of the fact that they have a responsibility when it comes to keeping their areas clean.  For instance, dishes, utensils and surfaces need to be cleaned and dried, with a strong preference for things to air dry. Similarly, all equipment that comes in contact with food needs to be sanitized in some fashion between tasks and before every use.  All equipment that comes in contact with food, whether it is for transporting the food or serving or preparing it, must also be cleaned.

The consequences of taking food sanitation too lightly can be severe.  You have a responsibility to ensure the safety of your guests, and a failure to do so can result in some extremely negative consequences.

Remember that consulting with an expert can save you a great deal of grief down the road, so if you are feeling nervous about the issue, make sure that you consider the services of a food safety expert who can offer valuable advice, perhaps even provide a suitable food safety program, to ensure that your restaurant runs smoothly and meets or even exceeds the food safety legislation. Peace of mind in this area will enable you to focus on providing your customers with the most enjoyable dining experience possible.

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

Anyone who owns or runs a restaurant or other food preparation business wants to provide their customers with a safe and quality product.  Unfortunately, there are times when mistakes are made and the end result could be a sick or even dead patron.

Do you know that there are approximately 5.4 million cases of food poisoning a year in Australia?  Of these 120 will end with the loss of someone’s life.  All of these cases of food poisoning could be prevented if proper steps had been taken in the preparation of the food products they ingested.  I am sure that everyone in your kitchen wants and tries to comply with food safety standards, however, mistakes happen.  Or what if those standards are simply not enough?  What if there was more you could do to protect the people who are entrusting you with their well-being?  Would you take the opportunity to learn enough to guarantee your foods safety?

A food safety expert can save your kitchen the embarrassment of causing people to fall ill after eating your food.  With about 5.4 million cases of food poisoning a year, it is only a matter of time before someone gets sick from your kitchen; unless you are willing to do all that it takes to prevent it from happening.  By allowing a food safety expert to assist your staff, they can ensure that no one will get food poisoning from your kitchen.  Wouldn’t you enjoy that piece of mind?

A food safety expert can also make your establishment a more profitable one.  As people begin to talk about the wonderful experience they had dining in your restaurant, more guests will come in to try your menu for themselves.  What pride you would feel knowing you were running a place people loved to come into then told their friends about it.

AGB is the only Australian company owned and operated by an apprentice Chef of the Year.  Gavin Buckett is a food and safety expert and is making it his mission to teach restaurant owners and managers how to better protect their patrons and their businesses.

There are different food safety programs available to suit your individual needs.  For example, they can have their auditors come to your establishment and provide weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, or annual audits depending on your desire.  AGB can also provide your kitchen with management solutions such as; menu writing, cost control, equipment recommendations, event planning, sourcing suppliers, food preparation and handling training, product and recipe development, and allergen controls.  In addition, AGB also has a food safety compliance system.  It is a twelve-month course that only requires 10 minutes of your time each week.  This program teaches you tips, techniques and new teachings, all of which will make your restaurant a success.

When your establishment is run properly; is clean, organised, and putting out delicious quality products, word spreads.  When your restaurant is dirty, disorganised and putting out subpar products, word spreads.  What do you want people to be saying about your kitchen?

The HACCP systems designed by AGB Solutions Pty Ltd are practical and easy to read and each program is specifically designed for each client’s business. As most clients are implementing HACCP for the first time, AGB Solutions have designed an 11 Point Checklist for HACCP Certification Success so that we can provide our Guarantee to your success. Click here to see what we include in our 11 point checklist.