Restaurants and other food service companies rely on the trust of their customers to receive referrals and repeat business. A significant part of the trust is in the safety of the food served by the establishment. That’s why Top End Councils expect EHOs, environmental health officers, to routinely conduct food safety inspections. These tips will show you what to expect and, most importantly, how to pass with flying colors during a food safety inspection.
What To Expect in A Food Safety Inspection?
The environmental health officer can verify that your restaurant or foodservice facility meets the food safety criteria of the government, such as:
- Storing food in containers that are intact, clean.
- Keeping other foods from reaching raw meats.
- Storing raw meat in a jar that is closed.
- Maintaining food at the right temperature.
- Creating and maintaining a log that tracks the temperatures of storage and serving containers.
- Cross-contamination prevention by not reusing methods for food preparation
Checklist: Planning yourself for a Food Inspection
You need to review key areas of your premises and procedures and plan your facility and employees for a food safety inspection and ensure you have followed the legislation to the letter. They include:
- Checking the last food safety inspection to ensure that you have completed all previous guidelines from the environmental health officer.
- Conducting thorough reviews of your own facilities to ensure it has met all the health requirements of the state and local councils.
- Watching the workers to ensure that they follow proper food handling procedures.
- Quizzing the employees to prepare them for some of the questions that the EHO may ask them.
- Checking the facilities and premises for any repairs or maintenance they may require.
- Arranging for an inspection and treatment of pest control, if necessary
How To Avoid Inspection failure?
- Avoid common mistakes before the inspector arrives, as many food companies make. You should stop being unable to:
- Sanitise the premises and services. Instead, clean and sanitise, including floors and behind items, all of your appliances, machinery, and premises. Clean areas of storage and even grease traps.
- Provide proper facilities for hand-washing. Avoid this issue by providing plenty of hot, drinkable water, paper towels for single-use, and liquid antibacterial soap.
- Pests removal. Take a constructive pest control strategy. Have daily inspections and care for pests. Insist that waste bins are guarded by your workers and fly screens are used to keep flying pests out of your plant.
- Properly stock, show, and serve food. Avoid this common issue by equipping your facility with enough thermometers to ensure that during storage, display, and service, high-risk food stays within safe limits. Often cover all items, except in the refrigerator, when you store them.
Wrapping Up
Having a bug or pest droppings in his or her food is one of the worst experiences a consumer may have in your food service facility. Don’t let your EHO discover inside your facility any pests common to foodservice companies or other signs of a pest infestation.
You’ll never have to worry about this all-too-common cause of food safety inspection failure with routine service from Tradie Team’s competent pest control specialists. For more information on how to avoid failure for your next food inspection visit us at: https://www.pestcontrolteam.