September is National Food Safety Month, and in the last three weeks, we’ve been sharing tips, resources, posters, infographics, and activity sheets aimed at helping you improve and maintain the highest standards in food safety practices.
 
Our theme for 2019 is “Controlling Risk: The Elements of a Food Safety Management System,” and this week, we’re writing about how important it is that every employee is committed to maintaining food safety standards.
 
A Food Safety Management System, or FSMS, is important because it helps ensure the food you serve is safe to eat. Think of it as helpful tool you can use to ensure employees follow safe food handling practice. 
 
Things change in restaurants all the time, which means effective food safety management is an ongoing process. Your employees are on the front lines of keeping it going.
 
As equipment, supplies, and menu items change, encourage your employees to constantly monitor their functional areas and take corrective actions when needed. Effective food safety management is an ongoing process, and managers need to let food handlers and servers know that their input is essential, especially if a process is no longer effective under new circumstances.
 
Remember: when you protect the restaurant’s guests from foodborne illness, you protect the business. It’s vital that every employee stays committed to food safety every hour, every shift, every day. Share these tips for with employees to help them stay committed to food safety in your restaurant:
 
 
Stay focused
 
Encourage employees to maintain excellence in their daily performance. Remember – their level of commitment to food safety is the key to making food safety work for the good of everyone.  
 
Monitor area of influence
 
Remind employees to observe all activities within their area of influence to see that food preparation and handling meet specifications. If they don’t, they need to bring that to your attention.
 
Stay vigilant
 
As changes come along in the restaurant, food preparation and handling will change too. When employees see food safety issues come up with a new ingredient, delivery system, or procedure, encourage them to report their observations to you. Together, you might just save the day!
 
Record and communicate findings
 
Employees should ensure that all activities, food temperatures, and times that require recording are entered properly in logs. Part of good food safety practice is also to ensure that employee performance protocols are being met.
 
If you’d like help starting conversations with your staff about the critical roles they play in food safety, download and share this activity sheet.