Food and drink are integral to hospitality industry, as is the safe handling of them. A celebratory occasion can quickly transform into a disastrous memory if your guests or customers find themselves suffering from food poisoning.
Cross contamination
It’s very likely that nearly every ingredient in your kitchen (or your restaurant’s kitchen) has passed through many hands before it came to you. That means that there have been many opportunities for cross contamination.
Even fresh, clean-seeming ingredients could harbour an unexpected pathogen, one which could have devastating effects on your guests and your business. It’s important that you engage in thorough cleaning of foods that require it, and thorough heating of foods that require that in order to be safe. Even if you’re absolutely certain no cross-contamination took place in your own kitchen, it could have occurred prior. And cross contamination isn’t the only concern.
Other safe handling techniques
There are numerous other tasks and policies that must be followed to ensure good food hygiene. Your refrigerators, coolers, and freezers, for example, must be inspected regularly to ensure that they’re in good working order and running at the appropriate temperatures consistently. Food must be properly labelled with its dates of arrival and expiration, and it must be kept at the appropriate temperatures before and during preparation for your guests.
Becoming certified
Earning your food safety certification isn’t about simply checking off a regulatory requirement, although many regions do require you to be trained sufficiently in food hygiene. Instead, it’s about giving your guests the best (and safest) experience possible.
If you are looking for employment or seeking a change in jobs, a food safety certification is also very handy. While regulations in many places allow on the job training, having an up to date safety certification shows those employers that you have already been trained in these very important skills. At most, they’ll simply need to review them with you. Seeing a food certification on your CV translates into saved time and money, which can make you a very tempting candidate.
How hard is it?
Earning your food safety certification doesn’t need to be difficult, especially if you choose the right training facility. We offer a number of food hygiene and safety courses in ten different languages. If English isn’t your first language, you don’t have to worry about confusion over terminology with Training Terminal’s innovative programs. Why not start today?