Foodservice establishments often fear the risk of foodborne illnesses that may be caused by inconsistencies in safe food handling practices and behaviors. Maintaining food safety in foodservice establishments is challenging because of the sensitivity surrounding food. From food receipt, storage, preparation, or service, every step of handling food needs special attention and care.  The best way to reduce risk factors for food contamination is to demonstrate consistency in implementing, monitoring, and enforcing food safety-focused functions and operations.

Specification buying and receiving controls

When food handlers fail to follow Standard Operating Procedures in receiving and inspecting food supplies, they can jeopardize the safety and quality of raw materials and ultimately the food served. 

Care also needs to be taken that a food service business receives food supplies from vendors at opportune times that allow for adequate inspection and timely storage. This could have a direct impact on the safety of raw materials that require time and temperature control.

Cooking, serving, and storing food

It is essential to cook, serve and store food at appropriate temperatures so harmful pathogens do not thrive and render food unsafe to eat. 

Inadequate cooking is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in foodservice establishments. This is because pathogens can survive if food is not cooked to the proper temperature, resulting in foodborne illnesses. Consequently, chefs must be mindful of cooking food properly and ensure with a clean and sanitized probing thermometer that a minimum internal temperature has been reached. 

Another sensitive aspect of food management is microwave cooking. This method of cooking often creates cold spots in food, unless large foods are stirred halfway through the cooking process.Cold spots increase the risk of microbial contamination. So before placing food, chafing dishes must be preheated to the recommended temperature, or the food will fall into the danger zone. In buffets, the lids must be held closed and food stirred periodically to ensure uniform heat distribution that is required to maintain recommended temperature.

The next step is cooling food. Cooked hot food not intended to serve immediately must be cooled to recommended temperature before refrigerating. Combining hot cooked and cold foods provides an atmosphere conducive to pathogen growth. 

Coming to food storage, using newspapers for packing and lining food storage containers is a significant food safety hazard. Food must always be kept in food-grade plastic containers because certain metals such as copper and brass react with acidic foods. 

Risk of cross-contamination 

Cross-contamination is a major concern in foodservice establishments because it can directly lead to food poisoning. Foodservice facilities must be designed in a way that facilitates the flow of processes and events in a linear fashion to avoid pathogen transfer from employee to employee, employee to the customer, and from one area to another. 

The most effective way of preventing cross-contamination is handwashing. Infrequent or improper hand washing when handling food the likelihood of cross-contamination. 

Secondly, surfaces that come into contact with raw meat should be washed and sanitized before being used to prepare other foods.

Thirdly, cutting raw meat and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods with the same chopping board or knife and storing raw meat near RTE and other foods increases the risk of cross contamination. 

Personal hygiene

Employees are the most common source of food contamination because they are the most convenient transmitters of pathogens. Therefore, there must be a high degree of commitment to personal hygiene among food handlers. 

Food protection must be at the forefront of employee’s minds, and they must see it as a social duty. 

Some important things to avoid:

• Wearing unclean uniforms
• Working without personal protective equipment (gloves, hairnets, aprons etc.)
• Not maintaining good hand hygiene
• Handling food while sick.
• Having casual approaches to food safety behaviors 
• Failing to apply lessons learned in food safety training.
  
  Managerial monitoring and enforcement are essential to address these challenges and to ensure the long-term viability and success of training programs. 

Cleaning and Sanitation

Cleaning and sanitation are essential in any food service operation to keep all surfaces clean and germs at acceptable levels and reducing the likelihood of pathogens or other contaminants spreading from one dirty surface or piece of equipment to another. 

Having their importance realized during the pandemic, cleaning and sanitation are intertwined. The most common cleaning and sanitation challenges in food service facilities that jeopardize food safety are:

- Irregular cleaning and sanitation

- Substituting cleaning and sanitizing with each other
- Improper loading of dishwashing machines

- Using inadequate quantities of chemicals 

- Failing to change chemical solutions between uses 

Waste Management Practices

Establishing and implementing good waste management practices is as important for reducing food safety threats and facilitating environmental hygiene as any of the aspects discussed above. To begin with, garbage cans must be emptied regularly as required. Sizing and installing waste bins without considering estimated volume, nature, and ideal location of waste collection points could put food safety at risk. 

Foodservice operators are legally obligated to adhere to certain guidelines to ensure public safety. Senior leadership must take a proactive approach to food safety, designate individuals to oversee food safety processes, and reinforce safe food behaviors. It should be remembered that consistency is key and  food safety is a shared responsibility.