The 8 most important Food Safety Factors every Food Business Should Know
Not taking food safety practices seriously can pose significant business risks to food businesses. The lack of food safety compliance might not only affect the health of customers and staff but can also cause serious damage to the food company’s reputation.
However, improper handling and preparation of food are still causing most of the occurring foodborne illnesses today, according to the World Health Organisation. The following 8 food safety factors will help food companies manage their business risks related to food safety:
Train your employees on food safety so that they always know how to handle food properly to protect your customers. Educate staff on the ingredients of your food products, such as allergens for example, in case they need to inform your customers.
Source your raw materials and ingredients from trusted suppliers, who take food safety seriously, to ensure that you use only safe ingredients for manufacturing your food products.
Make sure that all food is stored, cooked, thawed, and re-heated at the correct temperatures set by food safety regulations. If applicable, store food at the correct level of ambient humidity.
Establish food safety processes that hinder foreign objects, such as plastics or glass, from entering your food products.
Besides storing food at the correct temperatures, it is essential to stock raw and cooked foods separately.
In addition, separate allergens from other food to avoid cross-contamination and potential allergic reactions of your customers.
Clean and sanitize equipment, cooking utensils as well as food preparation and storage areas regularly and thoroughly.
Make sure that staff always use clean clothes and aprons and wash their hands. Furthermore, ensure that staff, who handle food products in your facility, stay home when they are sick.
And finally, conduct regular internal audits to enforce that all food safety processes are followed.
The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) offers food businesses the Simply Safe & Suitable food safety plan template to manage their food safety risks.
With the help of digital food safety control plans, such as iMonitor’s Food Safety Plan, food businesses can proactively manage their food safety and have full control over their food safety processes.
The cloud-based system gives you a real-time status overview of all food safety tasks, reminds your staff automatically of upcoming or overdue tasks, and alerts you in case of critical deviations so that you can take immediate corrective actions. By completely removing time-consuming and failure-prone paperwork, iMonitor’s Food Safety Plan improves your company’s food safety culture and increases staff productivity.
