Australian Food Safety Blog

Hand Washing + Food Business = Healthy Customers

Graphjam.com has done it yet again, eloquently displaying anecdotal statistical data what we all know to be true:

Handwashing Statistics

When asking employees or owners in the food business what their #1 safety hazard in the kitchen is, they’ll always answer, ‘Hands’.

Considering the fact humans have between 2 and 10 million bacteria between the fingertip and elbow and this number doubles after using the toilet. It’s not surprising and in agreement with any health science degree class this is at the top of the list for potential safety hazards in the kitchen.

The most common diseases spread by food business employees with unwashed hands include:

• Nosocomial Infections: Most commonly, E. coli, MRSA and pseudomonas
• Airborne Illnesses: Respiratory illnesses such as common colds and flues spread by sneezing and coughing
• Noroviruses: Gastrointestinal infections transmitted through the fecal-oral route, i.e. vomiting, nausea, diarrhea
• Hepatitis A: A viral infection affecting the liver spread most commonly by food handlers when touching food containers

These foodborne diseases can create havoc in food businesses if the proper steps aren’t taken, leading to destroyed reputations of great dining facilities and experiences.

Washing hands is something everyone has control over and is the easiest and most effective prevention measure to stop bacteria from spreading.

It’s also completely cost effective for ALL food business owners!

Understanding the dangers that lay in our hands makes it an undeniable fact that washing hands benefits the people who make the food as well as the people who eat it!

Unless you have talent like this. Then play with it as much as you want!

For more photos of what you can do with cookies, click on this link -> Antimimeticisomorphism.

Once on the page, click on Cool Photos and then select Cookies.

When you go to this site, you’ll find a whole collection of interesting images and videos…

As Food Safety Specialists, we are often asked to gauge the “chickenyness” of certain foods. Luckily for us, GraphJam has already done this for us – enjoy!

For the next three days we are exhibiting at the Food Service Australia expo at the Sydney Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour. There is a map on our website (click on the FSA link first) if you need to know where the centre is… perhaps I should have showed the map to my taxi driver yesterday morning when I arrived in Sydney. Despite numerous attempts at explaining what and where the Sydney Exhibition Centre is, he kept wanting to try and take me to the Sydney Entertainment Centre. While we hope to be Entertaining, I don’t think the venue would suit.

The set up for the expo went well and I have already met a number of my neighbours for the next three days. Two of which may be of considerable interest to those of you who try and be environmentally friendly. The first is a company called BioEarth that sell packaging material that I am told is edible (corn starch). While I wouldn’t eat it, it is biodegradable which is a definite bonus.

The second company is called Nova Spring Water that provide water for coolers in single use containers that are recyclable, eliminating the need for collection and return of polycarbonate bottles.

Continue reading ‘Food Services Australia Show’

I was just speaking with Dr Marc Dussault, an Exponential Growth Strategist, about inviting people like you to attend the Food Services Australia Trade Show coming up in June (23-24-25)… That’s when Marc asked me a question that through me for a loop. He asked me…

“Do you know how high above the net a top tennis player has to hit the ball to get the ball deep into the back court if he or she is standing on the base line?”

Think about it before you click on the READ MORE button

Continue reading ‘What does Tennis have to do with the upcoming Food Services Australia Show?’

Whatever restaurant in Melbourne you happen to be: the 4 Mile Restaurant & Pub, Chez Michael, or the Heron Rock Bistro, food safety is important.

Even if you have the most successful restaurant in all of Melbourne, all it takes is one food handling mistake to seriously damage your business.

As a restaurant, your business depends on two things. One is a loyal base of repeat customers. The other is the public’s perception of your restaurant.

The restaurant business is to a large extent a reputation based business. One lawsuit related to improper food handling could ruin your reputation.

You make sure that proper food handling procedures are followed at your restaurant; you need to ensure that the staff in your kitchen is all well aware of the risks which a case of food poisoning presents to your business.

You need to be prepared in the event that health inspectors should decide to drop by for a surprise visit as well. Employees who see improper food handling in your kitchen are also a risk, as they may decide to tell the world what they know if they lose their job.

There is more to all of this than just proper waste disposal and correctly storing food. Continue reading ‘How Much Could Simple Food Handling Mistakes Cost Your Business?’

The population of germs and pathogens has increased to quite an extent these days. Every other day, one gets to hear of new diseases and ailments which were never heard of in the earlier days. Part of the problem can be attributed to pollution and unhealthy and unhygienic habits. It’s quite a paradox that despite the great advancements in the fields of medicine and science, the germs are thriving! However, since we all know that germs can cause great problems and most of them enter from the kitchen or food, we need to have good food preparation habits.

Here are some of the ways that germs can grow from bad food preparation and clean up habits and what to do about them:

• We invariably tend to do different things every day and as a result come in contact with all kinds of germs which stay on our hands. These germs may not be able to infect us at the time, but they may be able to get into food and cause trouble. Hence make it a rule that every time before you enter the kitchen, you wash your hands with hot soapy water.

• Even in the kitchen, when you touch the dustbin or do any such cleaning, you need to wash your hands before you can touch anything related to the food.

• Anytime you change a diaper, use the bathroom, play with your pet, sneeze or blow your nose or even smoke, you need to wash your hands before touching anything even remotely related with food.

• Generally while they are cooking, people tend to touch their hair or even mouth and nose. Refrain from doing that since you may end up contaminating the food with germs.

• Generally, these days people like wearing rubber gloves in the kitchen especially if they have some kind of would or cut in their hand. This prevents the germs in the wound from getting into the food.

• Some people like to stir the food and taste it with the same spoon. This can lead to a lot of diseases since you are contaminating the spoon with your saliva which can cause problems for other people. Hence, if you want to taste the food, then use a separate spoon which should not be put back into the food once you have used it for tasting.

• The used dishes should be washed with hot soapy water. When you see the water getting dirty, and then change it. Moreover, it’s better to use a drying rack to dry the dishes since if you wipe them with the same towel it may cause more germ related problems. Moreover, keep them in a clean dry place where the bugs and flies can’t reach them.

• Cutting boards are also a great breeding ground for germs. Often the blood from the meat may contain germs which can cause some scary diseases. Hence make sure that you clean the cutting boards and counters thoroughly.

Remember that each disease has an incubation period. Hence, even if you don’t see any symptoms, it doesn’t mean that the germs are dead. Therefore prevention is better than cure. So keep it clean and healthy!

If you happen to be a restaurateur in Australia, it is quite certain that you know all about the horror stories about periodic outbreaks of food poisoning in kitchens, where regular food safety procedures were not implemented meticulously. A client coming to enjoy the delicious cuisine in your restaurant is definitely going to expect that you took the same precautions in making sure that all the rigorous food safety regulations were followed in your kitchen, in the same orderly fashion and trouble you took, in preparing his meal. In one million dollar food poisoning suit against your restaurant is not only going to wipe out your profits for the past 10 years, but it is also going to make sure that the general public does not beat a path to your door ever again. Can you afford to take this chance?

Food safety is the 1st priority and primary concern of every budding restaurateur, who wants to make a go of this potentially lucrative food and beverages career. Just one moment of carelessness, when you took a decision not to bother about safety rules can have a long-lasting effect upon your business. Such mistakes are easily avoidable, especially when you intend to make a real success of your enterprise.

Botulism is going to take the form of nausea and stomach cramps. The case of 33 people falling sick after having a meal ordered from a restaurant is a nightmare one could very well do without. Such cases are normally due to handling food carelessly, using not so fresh and ready into the preparation of, and not taking care of primary safety measures in the matter of food hygiene. Cooking the food at a temperature which does not destroy all the bacteria totally, can also be a reason for botulism.

Inadequate safety measures and the preparation of the food in unhygienic surroundings are not only going to be a health hazard to your potential clients, but you are also going to be faced by a stiff lawsuit, if there happens to be an outbreak of food poisoning, in your restaurant. So to make sure that your restaurant is protected, you need to know all about the food safety regulations in your area, as well as the laws and requirements pertaining to the distribution of the food.

There are plenty of programs, which are going to help you gain more information about safety regulations in your kitchen, and other procedures like discarding “high-risk” food items. You can get more information at the FSP regarding these requirements. These requirements are also going to include keeping a meticulous log about the temperature of the items delivered to your restaurant. The temperature of thawed food items will also need to be regarded in this log.

Apart from that, there are plenty of training programs that you are going to get up-to-date knowledge about safety regulations and food safety audits. So to keep your business safe, as well as your staff abreast with safety rules and regulations, it is necessary that you look at the option of any good and effective food safety program, in your city. It is only then that you can rest assured that the chances of food poisoning in your restaurant are going to become considerably lowered.

If you happen to be a restaurateur in Australia, it is quite certain that you know all about the horror stories about periodic outbreaks of food poisoning in kitchens, where regular food safety procedures were not implemented meticulously. A client coming to enjoy the delicious cuisine in your restaurant is definitely going to expect that you took the same precautions in making sure that all the rigorous food safety regulations were followed in your kitchen, in the same orderly fashion and trouble you took, in preparing his meal. In one million dollar food poisoning suit against your restaurant is not only going to wipe out your profits for the past 10 years, but it is also going to make sure that the general public does not beat a path to your door ever again. Can you afford to take this chance?

Food safety is the 1st priority and primary concern of every budding restaurateur, who wants to make a go of this potentially lucrative food and beverages career. Just one moment of carelessness, when you took a decision not to bother about safety rules can have a long-lasting effect upon your business. Such mistakes are easily avoidable, especially when you intend to make a real success of your enterprise.

Botulism is going to take the form of nausea and stomach cramps. The case of 33 people falling sick after having a meal ordered from a restaurant is a nightmare one could very well do without. Such cases are normally due to handling food carelessly, using not so fresh and ready into the preparation of, and not taking care of primary safety measures in the matter of food hygiene. Cooking the food at a temperature which does not destroy all the bacteria totally, can also be a reason for botulism.

Inadequate safety measures and the preparation of the food in unhygienic surroundings are not only going to be a health hazard to your potential clients, but you are also going to be faced by a stiff lawsuit, if there happens to be an outbreak of food poisoning, in your restaurant. So to make sure that your restaurant is protected, you need to know all about the food safety regulations in your area, as well as the laws and requirements pertaining to the distribution of the food.

There are plenty of programs, which are going to help you gain more information about safety regulations in your kitchen, and other procedures like discarding “high-risk” food items. You can get more information at the FSP regarding these requirements. These requirements are also going to include keeping a meticulous log about the temperature of the items delivered to your restaurant. The temperature of thawed food items will also need to be regarded in this log.

Apart from that, there are plenty of training programs that you are going to get up-to-date knowledge about safety regulations and food safety audits. So to keep your business safe, as well as your staff abreast with safety rules and regulations, it is necessary that you look at the option of any good and effective food safety program, in your city. It is only then that you can rest assured that the chances of food poisoning in your restaurant are going to become considerably lowered.

We may have developed vaccines to counter small pox and other such diseases. We may have developed great techniques to store food in a germless environment in large laboratories. However, when it comes to food preparation in our day to day lives, are we really safe?

Just the other day David went to his favourite grill for a late lunch. While sitting at the bar he could see directly into the kitchen area, what he witnessed sickened him. The main chef had long shoulder length hair that was waving it over the grill, not only was there no hairnet he did not even have his hair pulled back. To the right of the cook was a girl preparing salads who obviously had a cold because her nose was running so she quickly wiped it on the back of her hand and went right back to chopping tomatoes.

Needless to say, David never went to that place again!

Unfortunately, this situation is repeated all too often in restaurants throughout the country. What most people are oblivious to is the millions of germs that live in these places. Simple cleaning practices kill most germs however grimy surfaces, unwashed hands and fingers are prime breeding areas. Not all germs are harmful but unfortunately those that are dangerous far outnumber those that are safe.

Studies have revealed that a toilet seat has fewer germs than most kitchens. If this tells us nothing else, it should alert us to the fact that proper cleanliness should be a top priority for restaurants and other food service areas.

Here are some common varieties of germs which may inhabit the kitchen and food preparation areas of commercial restaurants:

Staphylococcus aureus: More commonly known as Staph, it is present in the nose and on the skin. On the skin it causes relatively small lesions but when it’s found in food it can lead to serious illness!

Salmonella: This bacterium loves non-vegetarians! Commonly found in meat and chicken products, Salmonella can cause food poisoning.

Clostridium Botulinium: Causes a disease called Botulism which can be fatal if left unattended. This bacterium inhabits canned foods, meats and vegetables.

This is by no means a complete list of the common bacteria found in food that can cause serious complications. These are simply a sample; there are many more things like fungi, protozoa and viruses that find their way into kitchens and restaurants across the nation.

Is there any way to avoid these germs? How can you make your kitchen a disease free zone?

Here is a list of actions you can take to keep your kitchen germ free:

- Replace your dishrags with paper towels. Use cleaning tools that are the disposable type and if you must use a cloth rag for cleaning make sure to wash it in hot water and soap.

- Buy a supply of rubber gloves for use while handling food, especially meat.

- Use cutting boards and replace them frequently. Cutting boards are a favourite play grounds for germs. Replace the boards once you see too many scratches on them and use different cutting boards for different foods. For example use one cutting board for meat and another for vegetables.

These are some simple yet powerful ways to rid your kitchen of harmful germs and keep your customers healthy.

If you are ready to get down to the nitty gritty there are professionals out there to assist you. They will watch the food safety procedures in place in your kitchen and give you a grade based on national standard guidelines of hygiene. From handling food to cleanliness of food and preparation areas, they handle them all and even assist in training your staff.