Supply Chain Safety

Complex food preparation is used when food products are prepared 24 hours before serving. The key to ensuring that the food is safe is to prevent recontamination of the food with microorganisms after the cooling step and to minimize the time the food is at unsafe temperatures.

Equipment and Facilities

The FDA survey of food service establishments indicated that issues regarding maintenance of the premises are not major risk factors in either retail establishments or restaurants. The same survey indicated, however, that these establishments did not take effective actions to prevent cross contamination.

There should be adequate separation of raw food from ready-to-eat food. Utensils and food preparation surfaces should be properly cleaned and sanitized. Some of the areas that need special attention with regard to cleaning and sanitizing include cutting boards, food preparation areas, and specialized equipment such as slicers and mixers.

Employees need to be taught that food preparation areas must be cleaned and sanitized and that the sanitizing step is not a substitute for cleaning. Restaurants and retail establishments need to properly label and store chemicals such as cleaners and sanitizers.

Resources For the Food Service Industry

Various professional associations and government agencies provide training and other resources to assist food service managers in developing an effective food safety management system.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) offers an HACCP auditor certification. The certified HACCP auditor demonstrates that the professional understands a HACCP-based system and the principles of management system auditing. An auditor becomes certified by passing a written examination and demonstrating appropriate work experience. More information on this certification can be obtained on the ASQ Web site at www.asq.org.

The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) maintains copyrights on 11 food safety icons (see Figure 2, p. 40). These icons can be used in non-commercial training and educational materials without specific authorization from IAFP as long as proper credit is given to the association. Individuals wanting to use these symbols for commercial use should contact the IAFP. More information on the symbols can be obtained from the IAFP Web site at www.foodprotection.org.

The National Restaurant Association Education Foundation offers the ServSafe Food Safety and ServSafe Alcohol certifications for food service managers. More information can be obtained at www.servsafe.com.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a large number of educational materials that can be used as part of a training program in safe food handling. One of the food safety education efforts centers on the proper cooking of raw meat products and involves Thermy, an educational cartoon character. Educational material is available in both English and Spanish (see Figure 3, above). Information on using the USDA’s food safety educational material can be found at the following Web site: www.fsis.usda.gov/food_safety_education/ thermy/index.asp.

The FD maintains an extensive site on food safety in the food service industry at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~ear/retail.html. This Web site offers a direct link to the 2005 Food Code. The 1997, 1999, and 2001 editions of the Food Code can be found at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodcode.html.

In addition, the FDA publishes “Managing Food Safety: A Manual for the Voluntary Use of HACCP Principles for Operators of Food Service and Retail Establishments.” This document can be found on the following Web site: www.cfsan.fda.gov/ ~dms/hret2toc.html.

Surak is the principal of Surak and Associates, providing consulting for food safety and quality management systems, auditing management systems, designing and implementing process control systems, and implementing Six Sigma and business analytics systems. He is a fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and serves on the ASQ’s board for the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Division. Reach him at [email protected].

Resources

1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors in Selected Institutional Foodservice, Restaurant, and Retail Food Store Facility Types (2004). FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Available at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/ ~dms/retrsk2.html. Accessed October 5, 2007.
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 2005 Food Code. FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Available at: http://www.cfsan. fda.gov/~dms/fc05-toc.html. Accessed October 5, 2007.