Pest Control

Pest control will help keep dangerous germs out of your catering facility.

Good pest control means:

· Keeping pest out

· Keeping the catering facility and rubbish area clean

· Checking for signs of pets

· Removing access to food and water

· Covering all food

· Removing rubbish and damaged products from the catering facility

Adequate control of pests is essential to the maintenance of a safe and decent environment for people to live in.

Pests pose a range of health hazards. They spread pest – borne illnesses, which reduce people’s quality of life and increase the demand on scarce medical resources.

Pests cause damage to structures and contaminate products. Rodent activity is a nuisance. Birds fouling can make pavements unsafe, resulting in significant claims for damages. Food and medical supplies are rendered unusable when contaminated by either insects or rodent pests.

How to Maintain Personal Hygiene?

HAND WASHING

Wash your hands:

· Before handling food

· After handling any raw food

· After blowing your nose

· After touching your hair, face or body

· After cleaning

· After handling rubbish or doing dirty jobs

When washing your hands:

· Use the hand basin, not the sink

· Use liquid antibacterial soap

· Remember to wash the backs of your fingers

· Avoid using cloths as they are usually full of germs

· Throw paper towel in the bin after use

HAND CARE

Fingernails:

· Keep fingernails short – they are easier to keep clean.

· Don’t wear nail varnish – it hides dirty nails & can chip off into food.

Cuts and Wounds:

· Cover all cuts and wounds

· Use bright colored band aid

· Change band aids/plasters often during the day

· Use disposable gloves over a dressing on your hand

Gloves:

· Wear  disposable gloves to avoid contact with ready to eat food

· Change gloves as often as you would wash your hands

HAIR

Customers do not like to see hair in food. It is a common contaminant of food if not controlled.

· Keep your hair short of tied back

· Wear a hat or hair net.

JEWELLERY

Jewellery, such as rings, earrings and bracelets, can trap dirt, food particles and germs. They can also fall into food. To ensure that jewellery is not sources of contamination keep it at home or keep it covered.

BODY HABITS

Ask yourself “Do I………?

· Touch my face or squeeze my pimples

· Wipe my hands on my clothes

· Fiddle with my hair

· Fiddle with my jewellery

· Blow into food storage

Cough & sneezes spread diseases:

· If you are sick do not go to work.

· Don’t cough or sneeze near food, food utensils or food preparation surfaces.

· If you have a cold, cover your mouth & nose when you cough of sneezing, and then wash your hands before touching food.

SMOKING AND EATING

Germs are around your mouth and will pass to your hands when smoking or eating. Don’t smoke or eat in the food storage and receiving areas.

APPEARANCE

Germs can be on your clothes, even though they may not look dirty.

Wear clean clothes and a clean apron to:

· Protect your clothes

· Protect your food

· Protect food contact surfaces

Change your apron and gloves after doing dirty tasks like cleaning, handling garbage, receiving food.

Personal Hygiene

Germs can not spread on their own. They need help to move around and make people sick. You can prevent this by hand washing, wearing hat, leaving jewellery at home, not smoking, knowing you own habits, controlling coughs and sneezes and being clean and tidy.

How Does Food Become Unsafe?

There are four main reasons that cause food to become unsafe for human consumption. I am going to let you know about lot more food safety procedures in this blog.

Time and Temperature Abuse

If any cooked or prepared high risk food is kept in temperature danger zone (41˚F - 140˚F) for than four hours, the food becomes unsafe for human consumption. Bacteria like to grow in temperature danger zone.

Cross contamination

When microorganism (bacteria) transfers from one food to another or one surface to another is called cross contamination. Cross contamination can be prevented by proper hand washing, proper cleaning and sanitizing, properly storing raw meats etc.

Not Maintain Personal Hygiene

One of the biggest causes for food to become unsafe is poor personal hygiene.  If food workers don’t wash their hands often can cause biggest risk to the food safety. I will discuss on how to maintain proper personal hygiene on upcoming days.

Improper Cleaning and Sanitizing

If equipments and food service organization is not cleaned and sanitized properly food can become contaminated easily, so that can risk the food safety. No matter how carefully food cooked or prepared, without the proper cleaning and sanitizing food can become unsafe for human consumption.