Food-Safety Month Focuses on Prep Tips

Thawing, cooking, cooling and storing are covered

By Scott Hume, Executive Managing Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 9/1/2004

Each September, the Chicago-based National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), in conjunction with the International Food Safety Council, provides operators with training materials developed to improve the safety of foods served. The theme for this year’s National Food Safety Education Month is “Be aware when you prepare.” Posters and other materials address five key food-prep rules: cooking foods to minimum safe internal temperatures; controlling holding temperatures for cooked foods; proper thawing of frozen foods; avoiding cross-contamination of utensils and cutting boards; and safe methods of quickly cooling prepared foods.

“Each year we highlight one of the most important elements in safety, from receiving food to storage, preparation and service. That mirrors how food flows through a foodservice operation,” says Jorge Hernandez, NRAEF vice president for food safety and risk management.

Previous years’ materials are available on the organization’s Web site (www.nraef.org) and Hernandez encourages operators to go back to information that applies to current needs. “If an inspection has uncovered an issue with receiving or storage, use our Web site to learn about those topics,” he says.

Hernandez also advises operators to tailor materials to their business and service style. “The more that information is tailored to meet operational needs, the more pertinent it will be,” he says.

Since 1999 the number of state restaurant associations that have worked with NRAEF on the safety-month program has risen from 12 to 42.

Separately, NRAEF announced that the third edition of its ServSafe Essentials food-safety training and certification program for foodservice managers is available in Spanish. The third edition contains expanded information on food security, crisis management, allergens and other topics.