Viewpoint: How to prepare for—and recover from—a food safety crisis

 10 tips from media management to retraining staff help you move forward

By Francine L. Shaw

Unfortunately, food safety crises seem to be on the rise. If a crisis occurred at your organization, would your team know what to do? 

When we think of a food safety crisis, we immediately think of foodborne illness outbreaks, like the multiple incidents that damaged Chipotle’s reputation beginning in 2015. Or we think of the onslaught of food recalls, including the recent tainted lettuce, apples contaminated with listeria, salami with salmonella and more. What if you served contaminated products to your customers and they fell ill—or worse died from the foodborne illness?

A crisis isn’t necessarily a foodborne illness. Natural disasters could impact your facility, staff and guests, like blizzards, tornados or the horrific hurricanes we’ve experienced lately. What if you lose power and are unable to keep foods properly chilled or frozen? Suppose you accidentally serve peanuts to a guest with a life-threatening peanut allergy? What if a customer chokes and dies, or there’s a shooting, robbery or bombing at your venue? Yes, unfortunately, these are all real possibilities. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for every type of crisis imaginable—before anything bad actually happens. 

Every organization should create a crisis plan. Then, communicate that plan to your entire team so everyone knows the protocol in the event of a crisis. Here are some things to consider and implement:

• Stay calm. While it’s upsetting (and scary!) to be in a crisis situation, remain calm as you work to recover from the incident. Follow your crisis plan and communicate your key messages. Ensure that important audiences (including customers, prospects, employees, the media, vendors, health inspectors, etc.) recognize how hard you’re working to recover from the incident and prevent similar situations in the future.
• Create honest, authentic and apologetic messaging. This will, of course, need to meet the specifics of the particular situation. Regardless of what happened, describe the situation honestly, and explain the plan you’ve developed to move forward. Transparency is important, otherwise, the general public will lose confidence and trust.
• Form a crisis management team. The team could include company leadership, a corporate attorney, food safety team, crisis management consultant, a trained media spokesperson and applicable government agencies. Document each teammate’s roles and responsibilities.
• Appoint a media spokesperson. When facing a serious crisis, your CEO should be the spokesperson. The public wants the head of the company to speak authoritatively about the incident and the concrete plans to resolve the problem. Practice your messages before talking to media (or the public). Anticipate the most challenging questions you may receive, and decide how to respond professionally, politely and non-defensively. 
• Work cooperatively with the media. It’s in your best interest to be honest, straightforward and transparent with the media. Saying “no comment” makes it look like you have something to hide, and can further erode the public perception of your company. If there was a breakdown in your process, identify it, whether you received tainted merchandise from a vendor or experienced a kitchen error. Explain the concrete steps you’re implementing to fix the situation and prevent a reoccurrence (e.g., selecting different vendors, retraining your staff, adjusting your food allergy protocols, implementing a new software program, etc.). 
• Change vendors, if necessary. Did a vendor mislabel ingredients, causing an allergic reaction in one of your guests? Did a vendor sell you tainted products? Change vendors, and be clear in your communications (to media, via social media platforms, etc.) that you’ve identified the vendor as the source of the problem, and have cut ties to them to eliminate similar events in the future.
• Thank the responders that helped. Perhaps your crisis was a customer health scare, an electrical fire in your kitchen or a power outage. Publicly thank emergency workers that helped defuse the situation.
• Train (or retrain) your staff on food safety protocols. Be certain that everyone is clear on your food safety procedures (e.g., preventing cross-contamination, keeping the equipment sanitary, preparing allergy-friendly meals, etc.) to avoid future incidents.
  Use social media wisely. Monitor social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and respond to negative and/or erroneous comments. Messages on social media (as well as in real life) should always be positive, professional and honest. Don’t get defensive or get sucked into toxic, negative message chains. 
• Debrief after the crisis is over. Get the crisis management team together and debrief. Review your plan and see if there is any room for improvement for future preparedness. 

All of these efforts will help you win back the public’s trust, which is key to successfully moving forward. Your best bet is, to be honest, sincere and apologetic. Explain your words and actions why customer (and employee) loyalty is so important to you. Be transparent about how customer safety is a priority, and communicate how you’ll recover from this crisis and prevent future incidents. 

Food safety experts can help design kitchens to reduce risks

No matter how much time and care a chef takes preparing a meal, no matter how beautiful it looks on the plate, one splash of one drop of dirty dish water can turn the delectable into the deadly.

BY FRANCINE L. SHAW | JUNE 28, 2017
Contributed to Food Safety News

When designing a commercial kitchen, many people consider how the space will look, when they should be primarily concerned with how it will function. The design should maximize efficiency and productivity, but it also must promote proper food safety protocols.

Cross-contamination and cross-contact are important factors to consider. Recognize that one design flaw could have life-threatening ramifications. For instance, in restaurant settings, when servers take food to guests, they should never have to walk through the dirty dish area, which increases the contamination risk. Also give careful thought to the placement of your three-compartment sink, to be sure it’s separate from food prep areas.Food service professionals should work closely with their designer and construction team, and it’s wise to also collaborate with a food safety expert, who can advise on how the workspace layout can boost food safety practices. Many of the same considerations are appropriate for those designing and refinishing home kitchens.

Think of food safety when planning the space — such as ensuring that floor mixers aren’t placed near wash sinks where dirty water could splash in and contaminate the food. It’s also critical to plan the “smaller details” that could impact food safety — such as not leaving any gaps between counters and walls that could attract grime, insects or rodents, and being certain that you use grout that can be properly cleaned and sanitized.

When planning, designing and building a commercial kitchen:

• Plan the flow. The flow of your prep area should make sense for efficiency, as well as food safety. This will save time, money and reduce risk.

• Purchase equipment that’s easy to clean, with minimal nooks and crannies. This is important for all equipment that you use in your kitchen, including mixers, fryers, ice cream machines and meat slicers.

• Consider even the smallest details — like the amount of tile grout used. The less tile grout, the less risk for chipping. Chipping — and cracks or holes in walls and floors — result in bacteria growth. Always use a non-porous grout material that doesn’t allow bacteria to grow.

• Ensure that your floors have drains so they can be deep cleaned regularly.

• Ensure that your hot water tanks hold a sufficient amount of hot water. If they don’t hold enough hot water to get you through your busiest rush period of washing and sanitizing dishes, you either need to get a booster or a larger hot water tank. Hot water is critical to proper washing and sanitizing dishes, equipment, and hands.

• Consider the placement of your sinks. Kitchen sinks must never be in an area where there’s potential for contaminated water to splash on consumables, clean dishes, or anything else it could contaminate. In tight areas, a barrier may need to be installed between the sink and a prep area.

• Install multiple sinks for washing dishes, produce, poultry, hands, etc.

• Designate separate equipment and prep space for allergen-free/gluten-free cooking to safely accommodate your guests with food allergies and intolerances.

• Designate allergy-friendly equipment, such as fryers, that are not used for any common allergens, including breaded products, fish or shellfish, or foods containing nuts.

• Use different shaped or different colored plates to serve allergy-friendly meals.

• Purchase or make your own allergy kits, complete with color-coded chopping boards and pans and utensils, which are kept clean, covered and stored away from flours and other potential allergens. Purple is widely used and recognized to designate allergy-friendly equipment.

• Wash and sanitize allergy equipment and surfaces between each use.

• Make certain areas that are impossible to reach for cleaning are sealed tightly. It is impossible for anyone to clean a quarter-inch gap between a wall and a counter space that the contractor neglected to close. This will eventually become an insect or rodent haven, which is obviously a food safety hazard.

• Design separate storage space for common food allergens such as flours, nuts, etc., to avoid cross-contact with other foods.

Color-coded cutting boards help ensure that fresh produce is not cross-contaminated with pathogens from raw meat, fish or poultry. To increase compliance with such food safety policies and procedures employers must provide continuing education and training for food handlers.

The seemingly minor details in a kitchen — such as the kind of grout used — are truly a big deal in terms of keeping guests safer. And bigger issues — such as placement of a three-compartment sink — must be carefully considered at the start of a design project.

While it’s critical, of course, to have a competent design and construction team for your project, don’t overlook the importance of having a food safety expert consult on the project, from concept to implementation. Food safety experts bring a valuable perspective to the table and can advise on all matters from how kitchen design impacts reduce foodborne illness risks and which ice machines are easiest to clean and keep sanitary. By working collaboratively, your design, construction, and food safety expert can maximize your future successes and minimize food safety risks.

Confessions of a health inspector: What is that mystery meat?

As a food safety inspector, I have inspected nursing homes, casinos, fast food, casual and fine dining restaurants, convenience stores, hotels and more. During these visits, I have seen some establishments that are operating as they should be, and other places that I’ve had to shut down due to multiple food safety infractions.

I entered a restaurant not too long ago to find frozen chicken heaped in a pile in the filthy three-bay sink, with dirty dishes and utensils surrounding the frozen raw poultry. To make matters worse, there was a bag of raw onions just to the side of the sink, where some of the raw poultry juices were draining. In the walk-in cooler, raw produce was stored under seafood and poultry, where juices could drip on—and contaminate—the ready-to-eat foods, and mold was growing on the cooler’s walls. Syrup-like strings of contaminated grease residual were hanging from the vents above the grill, occasionally dripping onto product as it was being cooked. The cold food on the restaurant’s buffet was well over the FDA Food Code’s recommended 41⁰F, and the hot food was well under the recommended 135⁰F. I was stunned and horrified by all of the blatant food safety errors happening at this place.

Another time when inspecting a fine dining restaurant, I found numerous temperature violations and mystery meat in five-gallon old chemical buckets in the walk-in cooler. The cooks were picking crabmeat off the leftovers from the guests’ plates to make crab imperial and cream of crab soup to serve to other diners! Much of the shelving in the facility was made of plywood, which can harbor all sorts of bacteria that can contaminate the food. An employee was literally crawling around on the shelving, where the dishware was stored, potentially contaminating the dishes with his hair, unwashed hands, shoes, etc. As I stood engaged in a heated discussion with the owner about these (and many other) infractions, a cockroach wandered across the stainless-steel countertop between us. The owner simply smashed it with his hand and knocked it onto the floor.

To be honest, I see cross-contamination issues, temperature abuse problems and insect infestations on a regular basis. I once caught a manager turning off the hot water heater – necessary to clean and sanitize dishes, equipment and employees’ hands – to save money! The one commonality that establishments with multiple violations have is they lack strong, knowledgeable leadership.

Here are a few helpful tips from Food Safety Training Solutions, Inc. for running a safe and successful commercial kitchen:

Stay current and get your team formally trained in a certified food manager course. This will reiterate the importance of the critical rules and regulations that you learned when you initially began in the foodservice business. Sometimes, a busy day or being short-staffed distracts from following the basic rules, and a refresher course can be a helpful reminder of the fundamentals 

Train your employees using a food handlers program. This will provide your team with basic (but critical) food safety knowledge. The more educated your team, the more profitable your organization. This also helps lessen the risk of food safety violations in your establishment. 

Conduct self-inspections. This will enable you to catch small issues before they become big problems. For example, if you received a delivery and it wasn’t stored properly, this gives you the opportunity to take corrective action, reminding staff of proper protocols. Otherwise, there could be a spoilage issue, a cross-contamination or cross-contact problem or other challenges that may not be noticed until it’s too late. Hold one another accountable. 

Use temperature logs. This is a valuable tool that will assist you with spotting temperature issues before they become a cost factor or liability issue. By utilizing temperature logs, you can take corrective action prior to having to waste product, therefore, decreasing food cost and increasing profit margins. This valuable tool will aid in finding temperature issues before the health inspector writes them up as code violations, but, most importantly it’s a proactive means to keeping your patrons healthy. 

Hire an agency to conduct third-party inspections. Often, bringing in an objective third party will boost your profits and increase your health inspection scores. Another set of eyes from the outside will see things from a different perspective, which can be invaluable. Third-party inspectors can review key elements that the health inspector will be assessing and point out possible infractions. Hire someone reputable, who knows the business and genuinely cares about your outcome.

Implement an active managerial control program. The purpose of active managerial control is to focus on controlling the five most common risk factors for foodborne illness:

- Purchasing food from unsafe sources
- Failing to cook food adequately
- Holding food at incorrect temperatures
- Using contaminated equipment
- Practicing poor personal hygiene

Taste correctly with a clean utensil every time – no double dipping!

Utilize single-use gloves properly. Single-use gloves are a protective barrier between your hands and the food you serve. If your gloves become contaminated, they’re useless. Prior to putting the gloves on, wash your hands properly with warm water 100⁰F (38⁰C) and soap, then dry them thoroughly. Never blow into the gloves or roll them to make them easier to put on - both of these practices will cause contamination. Single-use gloves must be changed as soon as they become dirty or torn when changing tasks, after interruptions (such as taking a phone call), or after handling raw meat, seafood or poultry and before handling ready-to-eat food.

Holding a leadership role in the foodservice industry isn’t an easy job. It involves long hours, high stress and significant responsibility. Sometimes you work for many days straight without a day off, but you still need to be a positive role model for your staff. Leaders should model the importance of proper food safety protocols, ensuring that their entire team follows these important rules. By doing so, you’ll improve your business benefits (higher profits, strong customer loyalty) and keep your valued guests safe.

Francine L. Shaw is president of Food Safety Training Solutions Inc., which offers a robust roster of services, including consulting, food safety training, food safety inspections, norovirus policies for employees, norovirus clean-up procedures, curriculum development, responsible alcohol service training, and more. The Food Safety Training Solutions team has more than 100 combined years of industry experience in restaurants, casinos and convenience stores. The company has helped numerous clients, including Paradies Lagardère, McDonald’s, Subway, Marriott, Domino’s, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America, Dairy Queen and Omni Hotel and Resorts, prevent foodborne illnesses. Additionally, they work with restaurants of all sizes, schools, medical facilities, convenience stores, hotels, and casinos. Francine has been featured as a food safety expert in numerous media outlets, including the Dr. Oz Show, the Huffington Post, Food Safety News and Food Management Magazine.

Is Your Food Traveling to You Safely?

As I stood in the TSA security line at one of our nation’s airports, I noticed that the person in line behind me had what appeared to be a restaurant food delivery. The items that were being delivered were packaged in bags from a well-known “box store” (which is not an approved food source for restaurant sales), and food products were cascading out of the bags onto the filthy airport conveyor belt.

Granted, as a food safety expert, I’m more observant about these things than the average individual, but everyone around me could see raw vegetables, as well as refrigerated and frozen food products, falling onto the grimy conveyor belt to pass through security. In the process, the foods were being introduced to a variety of contaminants. 

As I watched, horrified, I wondered if anyone would bother to take the temperature of the cold items when they arrived at their final destination.  I could clearly see that the “cold food” products were not being properly refrigerated in transit. The deliveries were being transported in regular grocery bags, not coolers, and there was no way to tell how long the cold food had been in the temperature danger zone of 41°F - 135°F. On this particular day, it was over 90°F outside and quite warm inside the airport.  I could see condensation beading on the outside of all of the refrigerated/frozen containers, demonstrating that the items were thawing in the warm air. Would the restaurant refreeze the thawed foods, after they had been in the temperature danger zone? If so, that would be a food safety nightmare of catastrophic proportions. 

When the restaurant received this delivery, would someone wash the raw vegetables appropriately to rid of the dangerous bacteria they most certainly picked up during their unsanitary transport? 

Unfortunately, I see improper food handling and delivery all the time.  People often use dirty transport carts to transfer products from one area to another. In some instances, the same cart that’s used to transport food is also used to haul garbage to the dumpster! 

Occasionally, deliveries are made at “inconvenient times,” and the food service staff may be too busy to put the items away immediately. In those instances, cold products remain in hallways, parking lots, and unrefrigerated stockrooms, allowing perishable foods to venture into the temperature danger zone – sometimes for extended periods of time. 

Safely transporting and storing food products is tremendously important and cannot be overlooked. Allowing products to be transported in dirty carts or left unattended in hallways, parking lots, or other unprotected areas also leaves the stock exposed to food defense issues. Food defense is the prevention of the intentional contamination of food. In situations such as these, anyone has access to the stock, and could easily sabotage it. 

Being careless with food – putting it on dirty conveyor belts, in filthy transport carts, left unattended or in a sunny parking lot – puts those products at increased risk. While the food safety rules and regulations that are in place can seem a burdensome at times, especially when staff gets busy or distracted, they’re critically important to follow, all the time, with every item of food. Keeping food safe protects the public, as well as your business. While you might concentrate on implementing food safety protocols in your kitchen, avoiding cross-contamination, washing your hands after touching raw poultry, etc., you must also ensure that the food is traveling to you safely. Confirm that your suppliers and delivery personnel are always adhering to safe practices, and not risking the health of your guests – or the success of your business.

Francine L. Shaw is President of Food Safety Training Solutions, Inc., which offers a robust roster of services, including food safety training, food safety inspections, Norovirus policies for employees, Norovirus clean-up procedures, responsible alcohol service training, and more. The Food Safety Training Solutions team has more than 100 combined years of industry experience in restaurants, casinos, and convenience stores. The company has helped numerous clients, including McDonald’s, Subway, Marriott, Domino’s, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America, Dairy Queen, and Omni Hotel and Resorts, prevent foodborne illnesses. Additionally, they work with restaurants of all sizes, schools, medical facilities, convenience stores, hotels and casinos.  Francine has been featured as a food safety expert in numerous media outlets, including the Dr. Oz Show, the Huffington Post and Food Management.

Can your company afford the cost of a foodborne illness? Let Food Safety Training Solutions, Inc. give you piece of mind with routine third party inspections, a customized food safety curriculum, or food safety training classes. The personal and financial risks associated with foodborne illness outbreaks are increasing every day. 

*Original article appeared in TOTAL FOOD SERVICE MAGAZINE August 2016

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Accommodating Food Allergies: Good for Business and Good for Your Customers!

By Francine L. Shaw CP-FS, CFSM, FSP, FMP   |   fsts.net
An EXCLUSIVE for Convenience Store News  |  Published January 2016

Individuals with food allergies must be properly accommodated across all spectrums of the food service industry. Approximately 230,000 hospitalizations and 200 deaths occur annually because food-allergic individuals accidentally ingested or inhaled their allergens. Make one tiny mistake with “just a trace” of an allergen, and someone could die, literally.

Recently, I was teaching food safety classes for a convenience store chain after they had rolled out barista-style coffee. At one point during class, we were discussing the new products and I discovered they offered a beverage containing soy milk. Later in the day, as we talked about food allergies, I used the soy milk as an example. I remember saying, “It’s great that you have signs with warnings that state: Soy products are served here; therefore, there could be potential contamination.” Everyone in the class looked at me like I was speaking a language they’d never heard. I then said, “You do have a warning statement, don’t you?” Slowly, everyone began to shake their heads no.

Having no signage about food allergens and possible contamination was the first of a series of problems, showing me that these employees were not properly trained to accommodate food-allergic customers. We discussed cleaning procedures for the mixers that were used for multiple beverages, including products with common allergens like peanut butter, dairy and soy, and the employees told me they were just being “spun” in water with sanitizer, not thoroughly cleaned with hot water and soap before being sanitized. Additionally, there was not an assigned mixer for allergen-free products only. This brand had big problems.

During the next break, I called the corporate office to inform them of these oversights. A few hours later, after class, I stopped into another one of their units on the way home. In the short time since I’d reported the problem to corporate, the stores had already posted temporary allergen warning signs. I also noticed that they had labeled the mixers for allergen and allergen-free products. This showed – without a doubt – how valuable an external set of eyes and ears can be. I was delighted to see that the convenience store chain was able to quickly fix their errors and start improving their food allergy protocols. The leadership team was ecstatic that these issues were caught (and resolved) prior to a tragedy.

I’ve had numerous conversations with individuals who (erroneously) believe that cooking oil gets hot enough to “kill the protein” that causes an allergic reaction. This is simply not true. Speaking of cooking oil, don’t use the same fryer or oil for French fries that you use for breaded products, fish or foods containing nuts, as doing so will cause cross-contact for people with gluten, fish or nut allergies. Allergen-free foods must be cooked in clean oil, using separate (clean) prep stations and equipment (cutting boards, knives, pans, etc.)

All food service establishments – including convenience stores – must have procedures in place to ensure safe experiences for food-allergic customers, and must train all employees to always follow these procedures. Here are a few tips to make your stores allergy-friendly:

• Create a separate workspace in your prep areas to prepare allergen-free products. Make certain you clean and sanitize all work surfaces and equipment.
• Utilize color coded allergy tools in your kitchens to reduce the risk of cross-contact. Purple is the universal color for allergen-free kitchen utensils. Keep these tools clean and covered.
• Identify allergen-free products with colored stickers (purple is the color of choice) so they can be easily identified.
• Make certain all dishware is properly washed, rinsed, and sanitized prior to reuse.
• Ensure that all employees know the ingredients in every component of every food they serve, including sauces, marinades, sandwich breads, etc. Train them to read and understand ingredient labels.
• Ensure that your employees know the “aliases” for common allergens – e.g., casein and whey are dairy, semolina is grain, etc.
• Communicate with your team, and train them on food allergy protocols. There are numerous webinars, videos, and live classes that can assist you with this endeavor. 

It’s critical that everyone on your staff understands the difference between cross-contact and cross-contamination:

• Cross-contact occurs when an allergen is inadvertently transferred from a food containing an allergen to a food that does not contain the allergen – such as chopping peanuts on a board and then chopping grilled chicken on that same board. The grilled chicken has come into contact with the peanuts, which could trigger an allergic reaction in a guest with peanut allergies. Cooking does not reduce or eliminate the risk of cross-contact.
• Cross-contamination is a common factor in the cause of foodborne illness. If you place raw chicken on a board, and then chop vegetables on that same board, you risk cross-contamination, spreading bacteria from the raw poultry onto the vegetables. Proper cooking of the contaminated food in most cases will reduce or eliminate the chances of a foodborne illness. 

The main difference between cross-contact and cross-contamination is that anyone can become ill from cross-contamination if they eat foods that have touched raw meats or poultry. Cross-contact is dangerous only for food-allergic guests, who may inadvertently ingest their allergens if proper care wasn’t taken during food prep.

Approximately 15 million Americans have food allergies, including 1 in 13 children. Food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011 and no one understands why. Recognized that 25% of people’s first allergic reactions happen outside the home. This issue isn’t going to go away any time soon. Train your staff to recognize the signs of an allergic reaction, and have plan in place in case one occurs at your store. A “small” mistake - such as standing someone up in the midst of an anaphylactic reaction - could be fatal. 

Everyone on your team should know how to handle an order for someone with food allergies. Consumers are seeking out establishments where they can eat worry free. These establishments will earn brand loyalty and, therefore, increase profitability. Wouldn’t it be nice to be recognized as the C-store that consumers with food allergies can eat with confidence?

If it Can Happen to Chipotle, It Can Happen to You.

Originally published in the December issue of Total Food Service Magazine.

If you work in the food service industry, you’re likely aware that fast casual chain, Chipotle, has experienced three foodborne illness outbreaks in the past three months. Since August, there have been reports of Norovirus, Salmonella, and E.coli – 3 of the “BIG 6” reportable foodborne illnesses.

This has been a real crisis for Chipotle. Including all three outbreaks, 44 restaurants were closed in three states, and hundreds of people became ill. To recover from just one food poisoning incident is challenging enough - many brands never do – but to recover from three incidents will be even more difficult. 

Remember Chi-Chi’s? Chi-Chi's was named "America's Favorite Mexican Restaurant" eight years in a row.  However, one of the worst Hepatitis A outbreaks to ever take place in the U.S. food service industry occurred at a Chi-Chi's in the Pittsburgh, PA area, where four people died and 660 people contracted the virus in 2003.  The incident was eventually traced to green onions at the Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, PA. Not even a year later, Chi-Chi’s closed its doors. Thankfully, there haven’t been any deaths in the Chipotle outbreak, but three outbreaks in as many months means rebuilding brand confidence is going to be very challenging.

If you’re in the food service industry, it’s time for you to pause and seriously think about your business. Every organization must create policies and procedures, and also make certain that they are being followed. All of the knowledge in the world doesn’t do a bit of good if it’s not applied.

We have an obligation to our guests to be certain that the products we’re serving are purchased from reputable suppliers. Whether you’re buying these products from a national corporation or have made the decision to support local farmers, the food MUST be safe.  What policies do you have in place to be certain that your suppliers are providing you with the safest products possible? I can assure you Chipotle absolutely has strong food safety policies and procedures in place, and their corporate office carefully researches their suppliers. After all, their slogan is “food with integrity”.  

How do you reduce the risks of making your guests ill?

• Purchase from approved reputable suppliers.
• Require your suppliers to have HACCP (Hazzard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plans.  Obtain copies of their documentation for your records.

• Require all management personnel to obtain a Food Manager’s Certification.
• Make certain that everyone on your staff washes their hands appropriately, with soap and hot water, using single-use towels to dry them.
• Keep hot food hot and cold food cold or don’t keep it.
• Food thermometers must be easily accessible – not locked in the office – and should be used to monitor the temperature of food.
• Food thermometers should be calibrated daily at a minimum; I recommend once a shift (and when they are new, prior to their initial use and also if they are dropped).
• Take the temperatures of products upon delivery. If food products are unsafe when they arrive, there is nothing you can do to make them safe later.
• TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN and TRAIN some more. When you have well-trained staff, there’s a much higher chance that they’ll properly prepare the food, which will make your establishment safer and more profitable.  This will also lower your risks for liability, a ruined reputation and other negative fall-out from a foodborne illness incident.

These foodborne illnesses have caused Chipotle’s stock to plunge – only a few days after their biggest gain in four years.  And, of course, its reputation has taken a nosedive, as well, thanks to ongoing negative media stories, which have been running nationwide.  How did this happen to such a reputable company, one who was has grown at a remarkable pace over the past several years? Obviously something is awry.

If multiple foodborne illness incidents can happen to a national brand as reputable as Chipotle, with plentiful resources at their fingertips, it can happen to you, too.  The risks are real in every kitchen, regardless of genre. One mistake and your reputation - and your livelihood - could be over forever. Remember, foodborne illnesses are 100% preventable, so prevent them from happening in your restaurant!

Francine L. Shaw is President of Food Safety Training Solutions, Inc., which offers a robust roster of services, including food safety training, food safety auditing, food allergy training, responsible alcohol service training, writing HACCP plans and more. The Food Safety Training Solutions team has more than100 combined years of industry experience in restaurants, casinos, and convenience stores. The company has helped numerous clients, including McDonald’s, Subway, Marriott, Domino’s, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America, Dairy Queen, and Omni Hotel and Resorts, prevent foodborne illnesses. Additionally, they work with restaurants of all sizes, schools, medical facilities, convenience stores, hotels and casinos.