Having a good Food Hygiene Rating for your restaurant provides reassurance for your customers, and recognises your commitment to safety and cleanliness in all areas of your business. But what can you do to improve your rating, or keep it high?
Food Safety Week: Are You On the C.A.S.E. to Improve Your Restaurant Kitchen Hygiene?
Posted by Lockhart Catering
on 18 May 2017
With the Food Standards Agency’s Food Safety Week bringing the importance of food hygiene in restaurants to the fore once again in June, we’re outlining the C.A.S.E. for good kitchen hygiene management.
Constructive Coaching
Your staff are at the forefront of food safety in your restaurant, which makes thorough training fundamental. Ensure your business provides proper food safety inductions for new staff, such as taking a food safety course to attain a UK food hygiene certificate, and that you implement timely updates on new legislation and regular seasonal refresher training.
As we head into the summer season the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is launching its campaign for ‘Safe Summer Eating’ during Food Safety Week 2017, which takes place between the 19th and 25th June. This is an excellent time to refresh your kitchen staff’s training on the 4 Cs: chilling, cooking, cleaning, and cross-contamination. Our refrigeration buyers guide has some good points to consider, whilst the the FSA is raising awareness of barbecue safety with a particular focus on cooking burgers through – a very important consideration for barbecue and burger restaurants that need to pay even greater attention to their cooking methods as we enter the busy summer season.
Attentive Admin
Keeping up to date with your restaurant kitchen admin is essential to gaining a good Food Safety Hygiene rating, as even if you’re fastidious with cleaning, you need the records to prove it. As well as consistently completing things such as fridge temperature checks, and Start of Day and End of Day cleaning records, it’s good practise to regularly review your checklists and ensure they cover every aspect of cleaning and hygiene guidance.
If you purchase new kitchen equipment, implement additional or different kitchen hygiene steps, or even update your suppliers, this should be reflected in your guidelines and the daily admin you complete. This way your procedures should always be easy to follow and your restaurant food safety records will remain accurate and effective.
Simple Signage
Sometimes raising awareness about potential issues is as simple as providing a timely reminder, through the use of restaurant kitchen signage. HACCP signs, handwashing reminders, labelling for correct food storage and use of date stickers are all easy ways to encourage adherence to food safety guidelines at all times.
Do you have simple, well-placed signs (Star Wars-themed or otherwise) clearly on display to help your staff? Are there any potential hazards that aren’t currently highlighted that ought to be?
Excellent Equipment
Do you have the correct equipment to support your staff in following food safety guidelines? From food handling gloves through to food thermometers and handwashing sinks or stations, we stock the essentials you need to keep your kitchen running safely and smoothly.
You’ll also find some useful equipment guides here on our website, including information on choosing the best chopping board, and an ice machine buyer’s guide. Remember also that in addition to equipment, good waste management and laundry servicing partners are essentials for maintaining hygiene.
Local newspapers regularly publish stories about businesses with poor hygiene ratings and customers can look up your Food Hygiene Rating online at any time, so it’s in your best interests to aim for the ‘5’. It’s also common for food publications and food bloggers to include Ratings as part of their restaurant reviews.
With this in mind, is it time that you check that your restaurant food hygiene is top-notch this Food Safety Week? You’ll find everything you need in our full Cleaning & Safety range, from mops and buckets to consumables such as blue roll to ensure you’re always fully stocked.
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