The food storage and processing industry has strict regulations and guidelines to follow when it comes to maintaining a clean facility. One failed inspection can cause the entire food facility to shut down since the slightest indication of contamination of food can breed more thousands of pathogens. Different types of food facilities, like dry-food facilities, liquid-food facilities, food retail, and restaurants, breed different kinds of pests, depending on what sort of food is available for them. For this reason, it is imperative to consult a commercial pest control service that specializes in providing service to the hospitality industry for specialized services like rodent removal, … [Read more...]
How to Handle Foodborne Illness Complaints
Foodborne illness and food poisoning is a real problem for restaurants. No owner wants to be responsible for making customers sick. Having one foodborne illness complaint can be very traumatic, but look at what Chipotle dealt with last year—six outbreaks in six months, 500 sick people across 10 states. They went around the horn twice with three of the most common foodborne illnesses: Salmonella, Norovirus, and E. coli. They lost more than $10 billion in stock value alone. Have a Foodborne Illness Response Plan Most small independent restaurants won’t ever have to deal with foodborne illness at the level of Chipotle’s outbreak, but what do they do when they receive just one complaint? … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Protect Your Restaurant from Outbreaks
Today there was yet another restaurant outbreak in the news. Carbon Live Fire Mexican Grill in Chicago is suspected in a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli outbreak affecting at least 25 people. Not only that, on June 29, the City of Boston closed the Thai Dish Restaurant for too many food safety violations. Looking at these two examples of foodborne illness outbreaks, they are independent organizations that most likely won’t survive the financial and liability impact of closures and sick customers. Given the high stakes, how could they put themselves in this position? Local independent restaurants across America are having a hard time effectively managing food safety. Many of them don’t have … [Read more...]
Get a Restaurant Food Safety Plan in Less than 30 Minutes
Managing food safety in a restaurant can be a daunting task. Oftentimes it can be such a big job that it doesn't get done at all. Restaurants can't afford not to have a food safety plan given the amount of contaminated food delivered each day. At the very least, try to commit 30 minutes at the start of each shift for food safety. If each manager can do this, it will greatly reduce the chance for foodborne illness. If you only have 30 minutes, this is what you should focus on: 1. Check all cold-holding units. Temperature problems are a major source of foodborne illness. Verify the food is at the right temperature. If it's not, call a repair person to look at and fix the unit. Move the … [Read more...]
No Food Safety Plan Means Salmonella Could Land on Customer Plates
Salmonella is one of the most common types of food poisoning. Infection can result in diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps; however, more serious cases can lead to hospitalization, organ failure and even death. As a restaurant inspector, it never ceases to amaze me how cavalier some restaurants are with their food-handling practices. I've talked with so many owners who think foodborne illness can never happen to them despite the laundry list of critical violations they racked up on their last inspection. Unfortunately, it takes a foodborne illness outbreak that results in personal injury to their customers and lawsuits that result in paying major damages, which can often lead to closing the … [Read more...]
Dennis Keith has been working as a restaurant and food safety professional for more than 20 years.