Safe Food Handling Could Save Your Business

Written by Malcolm J. Richmond

Sunday, 13 July 2008 03:53

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 establishment.

You make sure that proper food handling procedures are followed at your restaurant; you need to ensure kitchen staff are 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 to your business, 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.

You must keep all food preparation areas clean at all times. This sounds easy but is often neglected as well. Different cutting boards have to be used for cutting meat, vegetables and seafood. Some restaurants use stainless steel counters for this as they are very easy to clean. This tends to dull knives and can also give an off flavor to meats - harmless, but hardly desirable. Better than this are plastic cutting boards which are very sanitary compared to wooden cutting boards and are easy to clean as well. After each use, cutting boards must be washed very thoroughly. Bleach may be used - but be sure to rinse very well afterwards if you are using bleach to clean your cutting boards.

Utensils need to be washed after every meal they are used to prepare, as well.

To ensure that all harmful bacteria have been killed, meats have to be cooked to a minimum internal temperature - 69 degrees for pork and red meats, 74 degrees for seafood. Even if a customer orders a rare steak, it must be cooked to 69 degrees for at least 15 seconds to reduce the risk of food poisoning. If you have any meats which are not definitely fresh, then you must make sure to prepare them very well done.

The preparation of raw foods such as sushi call for even greater care. These foods require you to keep your kitchen perfectly clean and a grade-A preparation staff are essential here, as is being sure that your supplier of seafood is very clean. When preparing sushi, disposable gloves and hair coverings must be worn and the preparation area so clean that one could literally eat that sushi off of the floor. Sushi must be discarded if it is not absolutely certain that it is fresh.

It boggles the mind how many kitchen workers do not wash their hands in between preparing meals, even after handling raw meats. Between meal preparation hand washing is a must and washing one's hands in between preparing different foods (switching from meat to vegetables, for instance) is, to say the least, a good idea.

By implementing a strictly sanitized food preparation system, you can be assured that your customers will be safe, your business will be safe from legal suits and bad publicity, and if there is a legal suit you will win because you'll have done the right things.

About the Author:

Author: Malcolm J. Richmond will reveal you how to avoid food safety risks to your restaurant business. Visit the "Food Safety" website for more great recommendations on protecting your business by employing health and safety regulations.

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