Food safety for hotels and restaurants
22 May 2019
We at My Elearn Safety are always looking to share valuable information with our followers. The people over at Rentokil have written a great blog on Food preparation businesses in hotels and restaurants sector.
Food safety for hotels and restaurants
Food preparation businesses in the hospitality sector include hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, sandwich shops and similar businesses that prepare food for customers to eat on premises or for takeaway. A key requirement for these businesses is to show that food handling and preparation processes are safe and to keep documentation to show this.
Good food hygiene ensures that food prepared for customers is safe to eat. It prevents harmful microorganisms that can cause serious illness from contaminating food, prevents cross contamination, enables businesses to comply with the law, and protects the reputation of the business.
The US FDA has analysed epidemiological data on food poisoning outbreaks and found that five major risk factors occur repeatedly:
- Improper food-holding temperatures
- Inadequate cooking
- Contaminated equipment
- Food from unsafe sources
- Poor personal hygiene
Food hygiene authorities can visit business premises to inspect them to check for compliance with legal requirements. It can include taking samples for scientific analysis and inspecting records. This can result in:
- A formal request to improve any failings
- A legal notice stating what actions must be taken, or what processes, equipment or premises must not be used
- Prosecution for serious failings to comply with the law
In some countries, such as the UK, authorities issue hygiene ratings that are made public or even displayed on the front of the premises, which can improve or damage business reputations, and provides added incentive to produce food of high quality.
In the EU the main legislation controlling food safety practices is Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, which is the basis for each member country’s local regulations….
The blog goes on to include information on:
- Food safety requirements
- HACCP
- Premises
- Equipment
- Water Supply
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