Food safety is not only important in schools, but is important in all areas of food service. As dietitians or food service managers, it is important to maintain excellent food safety programs. Food service staff must be highly trained on the subject of food safety. Not only should staff be educated about food safety, but they also need to understand how to apply what they learn. Managers should find ways to incorporate real-life examples when teaching food safety. For example, one food service manager brought in a Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network member to discuss her experiences as a mother of a child with allergies and the bad experiences they have had. Stories of real-life experiences have more of an impact on staff when learning about food safety. The topic of food allergens are an especially important matter in food safety, because allergens are more and more common in the schools. Another school food service manager motivates employees to have an excellent understanding of food safety through promotions within the department. A staff member who wants to advance his or her position needs to be formally trained through a ServSafe food safety program before becoming a cafeteria supervisor.

It is also important that staff have the right tools to carry out their responsibilities with regards to food safety. For instance if the staff does not have different color buckets they can use to wash, rinse, and sanitize, this process may not be done correctly. Making food safety responsibilities simple and convenient for staff will ensure that the job is being done right. Some food service managers are even using new technology to make taking the temperatures of food simpler and less time-consuming. One school uses a thermocouple thermometer, which has been streamlined. The device uploads the school menus daily and provides the proper temperature for each. It is similar to an instant-read thermometer and reveals the food’s temperature as it’s tested before automatically recoding the temperature into the equipment. The staff members do not have to manually chart the temperatures this way. In addition to this, there are coolers and freezers that are wiressly connected to the internet and will send alerts via email or text to the food service manager if temperatures are outside the parameters. It is definitely really interesting to see the technologies that are being developed to improve food safety. It is important for managers to stay up to date with all of these trends to ensure optimal food safety in their facility.

Link to article: