Keeping Food Servers in Compliance

The USDA and their Economic Research Service, ERS, put the cost of food borne illness at 6.9 billion dollars for consumers. Food and sanitation guidelines and general restaurant food safety can help alleviate some of that cost. Just the annual cost for E. coli related illnesses cost an estimated 478 million dollars. A food and hygiene course for your restaurant and food service employees can mitigate your risks of an illness or incident.

A food handling certificate or food protection certificate requirement within your restaurant allows you to monitor general awareness on handling food. For example a food and hygiene course can set the record straight on myths about freezing and thawing foods. Employees may not realize that you can safely refreeze thawed items if they were thawed in the refrigerator versus thawing a room temperature. You can use a food and hygiene course to combat these types of misunderstandings for anyone with food contact.

Every type of food has a potential for creating health issues or suffering cross contamination. Mollusks can transmit hepatitis A from polluted waters and exposure. Giving your employees proper background in safe cooking can prevent outbreaks. Safety procedures like 20 seconds of handwashing can prevent these foodborne illnesses and requiring certification from a food and hygiene course may insure that everyone is in compliance.