Food Safety And Sanitation Essay

Safety and Sanitation in a Professional Kitchen Would you eat at a restaurant that is known to have failed one or more health inspections? There are many reasons a food service operation could fail a health inspection. Food safety and sanitation is a very important part of the food service industry, which is why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued minimum safety standards that must be followed to protect the public health. Although individual cities have the right to increase their standards, they cannot fall below the standards already set by the FDA. According to the National Restaurant Association (2008, 2010), the FDA provides a Food Code but it is a food service operation’s responsibility to implement the code (p. ix).

The NRA (2008, 2010) states, “Creating a food safety management system will help prevent problems. A crisis-management plan will help manage an outbreak if one happens” (p. 9.1). The initial step would be, for a food service operation to require all food service workers to have a Food Handler’s certification, and anyone in a management position would be required to have a Food Protection Manager’s certification. Then, all employees should be trained in the food service operations Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. The International HACCP Alliance (2014) says, “HACCP is a process control system that identifies where hazards might occur in the food production process and puts into place stringent actions to prevent hazards from occurring”. Armed with their certifications, and a HACCP system in place, all food service workers will know how to safely handle food, and what to do if a breach in the system does occur. Another important step from management would be to make the implementation of all safety and sanitation regulations one of the highest priorities in the food service operation. Supervision should be constant, and consequences should be given, when workers do not meet or exceed the safety standards. Food service workers should know clearly that the safety of the public’s health is their top

They are satisfied with only management being certified, which meets the safety and sanitation requirement in most areas, even though management comes into contact with food the least amount in a food service operation. There are prep cooks, line cooks and servers that have more food contact but less food safety training. Are the owners only thinking in monetary terms? It seems like that is the logical conclusion. They think that a restaurant is in business to make a profit, so they must consider the bottom line effect on the cost to train all employees. Where does the public health figure into the equation? They feel that lower training cost and protecting the public health can be balanced by training managers in food safety, and the managers passing the information to their employees. This rationalization does not make safety a very high