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Restaurant Food Safety: Best Practices

August 5, 2021
Written by Nextdoor Editorial Team
August 5, 2021 | Written by Nextdoor Editorial Team

The pandemic put one of the most prominent food safety spotlights on restaurants for more than a year. Though state and local governments continue to adjust COVID restrictions in neighborhoods across the country, the practices the restaurants adopted may continue due to shifting consumer demands and changing inspections by the health department.

Operators must adhere to the traditional restaurant food safety practices, but what are some of the lessons learned, successful experiments, and technologies tried during the pandemic that will continue to shape health and sanitation efforts?

Following proper food safety and sanitation practices in restaurants will ensure that your customers can safely sing your praises to the rest of the neighborhood.

 

The Best Practices Start with the Basics: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill

When it comes to safe food preparation, the restaurant industry will still need to abide by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2011 campaign promoting “Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also promote these four principles.

Clean

“Clean” refers to sanitizing everything often—your hands, utensils, implements, dishes, surfaces, and anything else that your ingredients will contact during (and after) preparation. These efforts extend to reusable items such as towels or linen tablecloths with which your employees or guests will come into contact.

Generally, hot and soapy water covers most cleaning needs, killing harmful germs. So whether it’s washing your hands in the sink, dishwashers, or laundering, a simple soap or detergent should clean the items touched by food or people throughout the day in your restaurant. However, even something as simple as washing your hands should follow a procedure to maximize effectiveness.

Handwashing

The FDA breaks down hand washing into five steps that should take at least twenty seconds for cleanlier results:

  • Wet
  • Lather
  • Scrub (for ten to fifteen seconds)
  • Rinse
  • Dry

These steps should be adhered to, especially before and after handling food, using the bathroom, and handling customers’ money—though they should be followed whenever touching any non-food preparation-related item or surface.

If you aren’t sure of whether you’ve reached the twenty second duration, you can try humming or singing any simple song from your childhood two times, such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

Clean Food and Containers

In addition to hand washing, many foods and the containers they are stored in should be washed before use. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be rinsed and scrubbed with a clean produce brush regardless of whether they will be peeled. Jars and cans, particularly the lids where food will certainly contact after opening, should be washed as well.

However, don’t wash your meat, poultry, fish, or eggs, as doing so can lead to cross contamination and instead spread germs and dangerous bacteria around your kitchen and food preparation areas more.

Disposable Gloves

Single-use disposable gloves will help aid your cleanliness efforts and general restaurant food safety best practices. Gloves, (waxed) tissue paper, clean utensils, and similar items should always be used when handling ready-to-eat food. The FDA’s “Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook” stresses “No Bare Hand Contact” for all ready-to-eat foods as a secondary precaution.

Remember that disposable gloves must be changed out as tasks change. For example, if you handle customer payments or update your Business Page, you’ll need to remove old gloves first and don new ones before you resume food preparation and handling.

Sanitizers and Cleaners

Sanitizers and cleaning agents may be used in place of hot, soapy water for certain applications (e.g., fixed cutting surfaces and prep counters). Usage and the length of time that the agent or chemicals remain in contact with the item are critical to actually cleaning it. Check the products’ directions to ensure you and your employees use these sanitizing agents properly.

Many “wet” sanitizers and cleaners require a set duration of contact to do their job. For example, Lysol Disinfectant Spray requires three minutes of wet contact time.

Separate

“Separate” simply specifies that raw meat, poultry, and eggs should be stored away from other foods. The practice extends to reusing surfaces or items that touch these types of foods when preparing or cooking other ingredients. If you intend to use a marinade or the ingredients from a similar cooking step with the finished dish, you must boil them before they are safe to serve.

Cook

Ensure you cook all foods that require specific minimum temperatures for safe eating. The FDA specifies the proper temperature (in Fahrenheit) for their associated foods:

    • Beef, pork, veal, and lamb (chops, roasts, and steaks) – 145 degrees (followed by at least 3 minutes of rest time)
  • Ground meat – 165 degrees
  • Ham (fresh or smoked) – 145 degrees (followed by at least 3 minutes of rest time)
  • Ham (to reheat) – 140 degrees
  • Poultry (ground, parts, whole, and any stuffings) – 165 degrees
  • Eggs – Cook until the yolk and white are both firm
  • Egg dishes – 160 degrees
  • Fin fish – 145 degrees (or flesh is opaque, or can be separated easily with a fork)
  • Shrimp, Lobster, and Crabs – Cook until the flesh is pearly and opaque
  • Clams, Oysters, and Mussels – Cook until the shells open
  • Scallops – Cook until the flesh is milky white or is opaque and firm
  • Leftovers and Casseroles – 165 degrees

Though their color and temperature can describe many cooked foods, the FDA insists that thermometers offer the only reliable indication for doneness. Restaurateurs may want to consider investing in laser or Bluetooth temperature sensors for quick, accurate readings.

Microwaves

If you or your employees use a microwave to heat or reheat food, even cooking requires that you cover, stir, and rotate it. Allow microwaved food to rest appropriately before checking temperatures with a thermometer.

Chill

All raw and cooked foods must be refrigerated (or otherwise stored) properly. Many foods spoil or become dangerous when left in temperatures between 40o-140oF for prolonged periods (i.e., “the Danger Zone”). Never leave raw or cooked food outside of your refrigerator for more than two hours—which is cut in half to one hour if temperatures exceed 90oF.

To keep food in the optimal temperature ranges:

  • Never defrost frozen foods at room temperature. Use the refrigerator, or the microwave, or cold water if cooking promptly.
  • Marinating food must remain in the fridge.
  • Large amounts of leftovers or pre-prepared food should be divided into smaller containers to assist in prompt cooling.

Employee Health: An Essential Practice

Before you or your employees ever traverse the neighborhood and head down to your restaurant for a shift, everyone must ensure they will not pass on any contagious illnesses. Consult the FDA’s “Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook” for a full list and explanation of your and your employees’ responsibilities, but some salient points include:

  • Employees with a cut or wound on their hand or arm should report it to their manager and properly clean and cover it with a new, impermeable bandage.
  • Managers remain responsible for ensuring all employees receive proper training on reporting symptoms and diagnosis of food-borne illnesses.
  • Employees also hold a responsibility to prevent food-borne illness and must know or be trained on information, such as:
    • The “Big 6”—Norovirus, Salmonella Typhi, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Hepatitis A virus, and Salmonella (nontyphoidal)
    • “They need to immediately report symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, diagnosis of illness caused by a Big 6 pathogen, exposure to a Big 6 pathogen, or an exposed or infected wound or cut on the hands or arms to their manager.”
  • Workers cannot substitute hand washing with hand sanitizers or other antiseptics.

Best Practices Post-Pandemic: Carrying Over Contactless Strategies 

Many restaurant food safety practices adopted during the pandemic will likely continue as operators and workers learned new ways to better ensure their and their patrons’ health. The most likely trend remains “contactless” dining options (i.e., minimizing the physical touch points staff and customers interact with).

Contactless technologies grew more popular, with options available for restaurateurs to ensure their neighbors’ safety for both on-premise and takeout experiences.

Contactless Dining

Implementation of contactless menus helps guests and restaurant staff minimize physical contact. Typically, customers will scan a QR code (i.e., a barcode-like symbol that most smartphone cameras can read natively) to open a restaurant’s menu.

Some restaurants and others in the hospitality industry have even implemented full ordering and payment processing with contactless platforms. In a suburb of San Francisco, the Canyon Club combined their outside seating capabilities with a contactless platform to help reopen to locals while ensuring their and staff’s safety.

Contactless menus can also help restaurants shift from in-person dining only. Uzu, located in Union Market within the NoMa and H Street neighborhood of Washington D.C., adopted a contactless menu to make a pandemic pivot by providing their local regulars with delivery and takeout services.

Contactless Delivery

With the proliferation of third-party delivery services, many restaurants continued serving their immediate neighbors and other locals while minimizing physical contact by offering online ordering and “drop-at-door” deliveries.

In light of the FDA’s prediction that one of every $5 spent on food will be done online by 2023, these contactless, health-first efforts will likely continue based on the intersection of customers’ ready adoption and ongoing preferences.

Local Delivery Services

If restaurants wish to encourage local and community partnerships with their neighbors, Loco Co-op offers one alternative to nationwide services. Currently available in six cities—Las Vegas, Knoxville, Omaha, Richmond, Tampa Bay, and Los Angeles—and expanding, Loco Co-op sets up locally-owned and co-owned delivery services. Generally, local restaurants may buy from the set total shares to become investors or simply sign up as members of their local delivery co-op.

While participating local restaurants interact with the service as with any other third-party, Loco Co-op supports them by giving excess revenue back to investors and members. Loco Co-op also provides a restaurant's customers with service centers in each community instead of national call centers and doesn't use or sell customer data.

Connecting With Your Neighbors While Keeping Them Safe

Safe, happy customers will recommend your restaurant to their friends after enjoying your culinary creations and hospitality. As the place where neighborhoods happen, Nextdoor helps you interact with your immediate neighbors and city locals via your Business Page before and after they patronize your restaurant. For those who may be especially wary about the new regulations for COVID, communicate your commitment to restaurant food safety and limited contact practices. For those who prefer contactless takeout and delivery, let your neighbors know if it’s available on Nextdoor. 

 

Sources: 

CDC. Four Steps to Food Safety: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html

FDA. Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook. https://www.fda.gov/media/77065/download

FDA. NWX-FDA OC (US). [Call Transcription]. https://www.fda.gov/media/136923/download 

FDA. Safe Food Handling.  https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/safe-food-handling

FoodSafety.gov. 4 Steps to Food Safety.  https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep-food-safe/4-steps-to-food-safety

GoTab. Canyon Club Leverages GoTab To Keep Staff Safe & Improve The Guest Experience.  https://gotab.io/en/canyon-club-improves-guest-experience/

GoTab. UZU Transforms Their Menu Into a Beautiful Product Catalog.  https://gotab.io/en/uzu-transforms-their-menu-into-a-beautiful-product-catalogue/ 

Kitchn. Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill: The USDA’s New Food Safety Campaign.  https://www.thekitchn.com/the-usdas-new-food-safety-camp-150544

Restaurant Hospitality. This delivery co-op will let restaurants own a piece of the profit. https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/delivery-takeout-solutions/delivery-co-op-will-let-restaurants-own-piece-profit-0

Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA. “Danger Zone” (40oF-140oF). https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f

 


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Claim your free Business Page to get started on Nextdoor. For resources on how to use Nextdoor to stay connected with your local customers, pertinent news affecting business, and more, follow us at @nextdoorbusiness on Facebook

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