How to ensure your Restaurant is Serving Safe Food

by: MalcolmJ.Richmond
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Lately, the news has been full of horror stories about food poisoning. Many food poisoning cases have been linked to food served at restaurants. Wherever your restaurant may be, safety regulations are in place to protect the health of diners. Victoria, Australia is no exception to this rule. Whatever sort of food is served by your restaurant, following food safety regulations and general cleanliness are crucial habits, since this prevents food poisoning from happening.

Whatever sort of food is served by your restaurant, following food safety regulations and general cleanliness are crucial habits, since this prevents food poisoning from happening.

To prevent food poisoning occurring due to salmonella contamination, two steps can be taken. First, always thoroughly cook food, this will kill the bacteria. Second, regular hand washing before, during and after cooking will stop the transmission of this bacterium.

Escherichia coli (or E-coli for short) is a form of bacteria which can cause serious illness or even death. Found naturally inside of the human body and in some foods, some strains can be lethal. E-coli produces harmful, toxic substances and includes unpleasant (to say the least) symptoms including watery and/or bloody diarrhea. A healthy adult can generally weather a case of E-coli food poisoning, but the elderly, the sick and young children are at risk of getting very ill if infected. As with salmonella, the way to prevent E-coli infection is thorough cooking and regular hand washing, along with careful cleaning of all cooking areas. Hand washing should become a thoroughly ingrained habit. You use your hands to pick up everything - even harmful microbes.

It is understandable that with all of the headlines about food borne illnesses that many may feel as if dining out is tantamount to playing Russian roulette. You can ensure that your restaurant is safe from the hazards presented by infected foods by following the HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points). These principles are a preventative measure designed to ensure the safety of foods made for human consumption. Most are common sense rules, such as putting perishable ingredients like milk back into refrigeration after using and dating items put into the freezer.

Being in charge of a restaurant means that you have to keep a handle on a lot of things at once - make sure that HACCP principles are at the top of your list. All of the hard work you've put into your business could be lost if someone gets ill from your food due to a preventable mistake by an employee unaware of the food safety regulations.

A good way to market your business is having a HACCP certified kitchen. Any certifications or stickers you have received from health authorities should be posted where your customers can easily see them. You can let them know in this way that your restaurant has a clean kitchen and they can dine without worry. Your customers will then know that your kitchen has nothing to hide and the food that you serve them is wholesome and can be enjoyed in confidence.

About the Author

About the author: Malcolm J. Richmond gives expert advice on food safety issues in commercial kitchens. Visit the "Food Safety" website for more great tips on HACCP Certification.  

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