Food safety and sanitation are extremely important in a restaurant. I was really looking forward to this hamburger but there’s a hair on the french fries. And not only is that disgusting, but it will also leave a lasting bad impression on your guest. They’re not likely to ever come back to your restaurant. Let’s go over some very important food safety and sanitation guidelines.
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Don’t worry. I have the kids to make me another bath of fries minus the hair. Now, most customers would be quite upset if they found a hair or a piece of plastic or any nonfood item in their food. You, as the server, need to do all you can to help make the dining experience both pleasurable and safe. Not only could you lose a customer, you could also cause that customer to get sick or even die. Food safety is nothing to sneeze in.
Let’s start with foodborne illnesses. They can be caused by bacteria, parasites or viruses. Parasites are usually tiny worms that live in fish, pork or other meats. Parasites can be killed if they are frozen or are cooked to the right temperature. Parasites can also be found in water. Unlike parasites, viruses cannot be destroyed by freezing. Usually, humans transfer viruses to food through unclean hands. Hands that were not washed well enough to remove the germs from feces, vomit or other bodily fluids, rather disgusting but it happens. Hepatitis A is commonly spread this way. Now, a bacteria is a whole another ball game. Bacteria is everywhere and can grow easily if workers aren’t careful about time, temperature, and cleanliness. Bacteria can cause food to spoil and it can cause foodborne illnesses. Most of the bacteria that causes foodborne illnesses come from soil, animals, raw meat and people. To decrease the likelihood, the bacteria runs rampant through the kitchen, workers should follow the following guidelines:
Food should be kept out of the temperature danger zone between 41 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Workers should wash their hands twice after using the restroom.
They should wear gloves or use utensils when handling ready to east food.
The best way to prevent all foodborne illnesses is to maintain good personal hygiene.
Make sure that the food is cooked too and held at their correct temperatures, and prevent cross contamination between cooked and uncooked food.
Cross contamination occurs when bacteria-laden foods such as raw meat come in contact with ready to eat food. Everyone in the restaurant practice good personal hygiene. All employees should be washing their hands frequently throughout their shift. Employees must wash their hands after using the restroom, after handling raw meat, fish or poultry, after handling garbage or dirty dishes, after eating or smoking, after sneezing or coughing or blowing their nose and after handling animals or chemicals. Using hand sanitizer is not the same as washing your hands.
To wash your hands properly, you must first get your hands wet, then apply soap and begin scrubbing. Make sure you scrub under the finger nails and at the lower portion of the arm. Hands need to be scrubbed for at least 10-15 seconds. Time yourself a couple of times until you get a feel for how long 15 seconds actually is.
Next, you should rinse and thoroughly dry your hands with a single use towel. Once you’ve washed your hands, make an effort to keep them clean. Try not to touch your hair, face or body. Women who work around food or in food preparation areas should pull their hair back. If you have hair long enough to touch food on a tray, you should definitely would pull it back with a beret or a ponytail holder. All employees of the restaurant should maintain trimmed clean fingernails. Food preparation workers who wear nail polish or have artificial nails should wear gloves at all times when preparing food.
If you have a cut or get a cut, you must clean the wound and then cover the wound with a bandage. You cannot work with an open sore or exposed cut. Never ever sneeze, cough or spit on food or drinks. Even if you got drank breath, you still shouldn’t chew gum in front of your guest or near food. Chewing gun can cause small amounts of saliva to exit your mouth and spread germs. It’s also rude. Never ever take food off of a guest’s plate. It maybe tempting when your starving but don’t do it.
In addition, you shouldn’t eat in areas where food is prepared. Keeping your tables clean is very important. Some restaurants may not use tablecloths. If this is the case, then tables must be sanitized before they are set. Make sure that either you or the buster properly cleans the tables according to your restaurant’s standards. As a server, the best thing you can do to maintain good food safety and sanitation is to maintain good personal hygiene and wash your hands as often as possible. If you see a cook or other kitchen worker behaving inappropriately or unsafely, find a good time to privately discuss the matter with your boss. Keep your station clean and orderly. As a server, you should also wear close-toed shoes and avoid large billowy long sleeves that might get caught on door handles or chair backs.
Food safety and sanitation may not seem vital to increasing your tips, but the last thing you want to do is lose a great tipping customer because they found one of your hairs floating in their soup or worst yet, get someone sick and earn a reputation for your restaurant as being unsafe.
Be clean and safe and ensure great tips.