Restaurateurs and managers have countless responsibilities to consider and execute when they open their doors to patrons each day, including the site, employees, product and the possibility for revenue. Each one of these responsibilities breaks down to multiple other considerations: proper execution, efficiency, cleanliness, safety and quality. Each factor here is directly connected and related to the next and all are critical to the success of an operation.

Why then, do so many operators ignore or overlook the simple things that could alleviate larger problems? Each month we read about situations where our contemporaries in foodservice, both on the corporate and hourly level -have disregarded the most important principle of our business: the safe preparation of the food that is served.

Most common among the violations seen in the foodservice industry are incidents of cross-contamination. This usually unintentional “pollution” of product leads to the illness of patrons, the pointing of fingers and the loss of revenue, both in terms of settlements from lawsuits and repercussions from negative public perception.

This wouldn't be quite so upsetting if cross-contamination weren't such an easy problem to address and prevent.

Every Step
In foodservice, cross-contamination occurs when an infected “body” transfers a pollutant to another body. An example would be if a knife were used to cut raw chicken, then used again to cut vegetables, passing the Salmonella bacteria from the chicken to the knife to the vegetables.

The most common occurrences of cross-contamination in restaurants usually involves one of three situations:
1) An employee uses the restroom and does not wash his/her hands sufficiently and then handles food.
2) Juices from raw meat drip onto other food products.
3) Utensils, such as knives and cutting boards, are not cleaned properly after coming into contact with raw meat and then are used again with another food product.

Cross-contamination can occur in every step of the food preparation process in every type of foodservice establishment. For example, consider a brick-oven pizza restaurant where all of the pizzas are prepared from scratch, including the dough. Cross-contamination could occur in the following places if there are harmful bacteria or viruses present:
 ·  In the dough mixing bowl and on the mixer itself
 ·  In the containers used to store the dough
 ·  In the containers used to store the cheese, sauce, etc. · On the slicer used to cut the pepperoni and other toppings
 ·  On the wooden board used to transport the pizza
 ·  On the pans where the cooked pizzas are placed
 ·  On the pizza wheel used to slice the pizza
 ·  On the plates and silverware guests use
 ·  On any employees' hands that made contact with anything on the pizza

Everything that comes into contact with the food product can be a potential source of contamination. Obviously, it's important to keep cross-contamination from occurring, but most operators don't realize the countless potential hazards present in their own establishment.

Costly Mistakes
Cross-contamination is a serious issue and has led to countless multimillion-dollar lawsuits. Improper hand-washing procedures have been the culprit of cross-contamination in the majority of most of the recent incidents and were specifically said to be the cause of a Norovirus outbreak at a major sub sandwich chain in Michigan in May 2005.

It is very easy to say that the chain's employees need to do a better job of washing their hands, but as the leaders of these hourly employees we have to make sure that they know what they are supposed to do and that it actually happens. So how can a restaurant reduce the chance of cross-contamination occurring in its establishment?

Simple Training
Effective training has always been the key to ensuring that your employees are following procedures correctly and this practice is no different when applied to food safety. How do you get line cooks to properly fillet a fish? You train them. How do you get servers to up-sell drinks? You train them. The same is true for how to educate employees to wash their hands properly.

Yes, I know -it seems simple. If it were so simple, however, then why has the majority of the hourly/core-level population never been trained with a structured food safety education course, according to a www.safefoodsolutions.com market survey? Though simple in theory, food safety training is often viewed as an afterthought -less important than the sale itself. The required managers are certified, but rarely prepare or serve the food; and the hourly employees that do, are often left to use their best judgment when on the job. This is why so many are susceptible to cross-contamination.

The Options
To avoid the worst-case scenario and alleviate the potential for harm, there are options out there with which to train food-handling employees in food safety. The easiest and most cost-efficient of these options is training through Web-based food-safety education programs. Using e-Learning can cut the cost of food-safety training by up to 95 percent and does not constrain the time or location of the training administration.

Food safety education can occur when it is convenient: from an on-site PC, Web-enabled POS, from an employee's home computer, from a public library -basically wherever Internet access is available and time allows.

Executive and managerial-level staff can then track the progress of each individual employee, whether an operation has one or 20,000 locations, through centralized storage and record management of student training information. This is made possible through food-safety learning management systems that now make effortless a once time-consuming and expensive task.

But training is just the first step. It is important that once employees are trained in food safety that they do not forget or disregard what they have learned. Periodic discussions, questions and even tests are a good way to keep food safety at the forefront of your employees' minds and keep the food safe they serve to your guests.

Other ways an establishment can reduce the risk of food-borne illness:
 ·  Make sure employees are aware of the importance of immediately washing utensils and cutting boards thoroughly after each use.
 ·  Constantly check to make sure that dishwashing sanitizers are dispensed at the proper rations.
 ·  Post signs at all sinks stressing the importance of washing hands often and thoroughly.
 ·  Never leave an empty soap or a paper towel dispenser at sinks.
 ·  Ensure proper color-coded cutting boards are used for specific food items.
 ·  Insist that long-haired employees' hair is tied back.
 ·  Avoid too much jewelry -bacteria love to hide there.
Remember, there's a reason that millions of dollars are commonly awarded to victims of food-borne illness -the incidents are almost always preventable. FAD