Article Advise

submitted: Jul 13th 2008 | by: MalcolmJ.Richmond | Total views: 2 | Word Count: 578 | |

Whether at the Chez Michael restaurant, the Heron Rock Bistro or the 4 Mile Restaurant & Pub or for that matter, any restaurant at all in Melbourne, food safety is vitally important. No matter how fantastic your business may be, a simply food handling mistake by your staff could be a serious, even insurmountable setback to your business.

The restaurant business is built on two things - repeat clientele and a good public image of your establishment. Your reputation IS your business. Even one lawsuit stemming from improper food handling can be a catastrophe for your restaurant.

You have to take some basic steps to ensure food safety as well as making sure that all of your kitchen staff are well aware of the risks of food poisoning and other food borne illnesses. Additionally, you must be prepared for surprise health inspections, these can happen at any time. An employee who witnesses improper food handling can also be disastrous for your restaurant, since they may decide to tell others - especially should they lose their job.

There is more to all of this than just proper waste disposal and correctly storing food.

You must keep all food preparation areas clean at all times. This sounds easy but is often neglected as well. Different cutting boards have to be used for cutting meat, vegetables and seafood. Some restaurants use stainless steel counters for this as they are very easy to clean. This tends to dull knives and can also give an off flavor to meats - harmless, but hardly desirable. Better than this are plastic cutting boards which are very sanitary compared to wooden cutting boards and are easy to clean as well. After each use, cutting boards must be washed very thoroughly. Bleach may be used - but be sure to rinse very well afterwards if you are using bleach to clean your cutting boards.

Utensils need to be washed as well after each meal preparation in which they are used.

To ensure that all harmful bacteria have been killed, meats have to be cooked to a minimum internal temperature - 69 degrees for pork and red meats, 74 degrees for seafood. Even if a customer orders a rare steak, it must be cooked to 69 degrees for at least 15 seconds to reduce the risk of food poisoning. If you have any meats which are not definitely fresh, then you must make sure to prepare them very well done.

Preparing raw foods such as sushi requires extreme care. Serving these foods really means that you have to just have a top-notch clean kitchen and preparation staff, period, in addition to making doubly sure your sushi supplier is very sanitary. Disposable gloves and hair coverings or tie-backs must always be worn by people handling sushi and the preparation area should be kept so clean that, as the saying goes, one could eat off the floor. Any sushi that is not at its freshest needs to be thrown out.

It's shocking how many kitchen workers do not constantly wash their hands with soap and water between preparing meals, even if they've touched raw meat. Kitchen workers need to wash their hands between every meal preparation, and really it's a good idea to do quick hand washings between different handlings (such as going from meat to vegetables) during a meal preparation.

Putting a strict food handling system and kitchen sanitation system in place will make sure that your customers will be safe; as will the reputation of your restaurant.

About the Author

About the author: Malcolm J. Richmond will show you how to avoid food safety risks to your restaurant business. Visit the "Food Safety" website for more great recommendations on protecting your business by employing food health standards.

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