A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY OF SUPPLIERS AND PLANNERS 7 principles to assess and manage food safety By Tracy Stuckrath
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n all my 29 years of being a meeting professional, I do not remember food safety being talked about more than it has been discussed these few months with COVID-19 front and center of our lives and businesses. As also a Certified Food Protection Manager, I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. The thing is, food safety has always been a priority for culinary teams at the thousands of facilities and catering companies meeting COVID-19 has organizers contract every day. knocked the kitchen Their policies and procedures door down and have just been kept behind the put food safety kitchen door. COVID-19 has knocked the conspicuously in the kitchen door down and put front of the house food safety conspicuously in the front of the house. No longer a matter appointed to just food service providers, food safety must now be a top priority for meeting and tradeshow planners. So what do you need to know to create a safe food experience that eases worry and exhibits professionalism and social responsibility? Before we get to the steps, let’s define food safety and understand foodborne diseases. An estimated 600 million (1 in 10) people in the world fall ill and 420,000 die every year after eating contaminated food. The top five most common foodborne germs that cause illnesses from food eaten in the United States are: • Norovirus • Salmonella • Clostridium perfringens • Campylobacter • Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) There are more than 200 diseases that are spread through food (www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/food-safety), but COVID-19 is not one of them. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is primarily spread from person to person when
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someone who has COVID-19 comes within six feet of another person who has it and they pass on respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing or talking. And, while first thought to also be contracted by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it, and then by touching your mouth, nose or eyes, the CDC recently said, “It is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.” There are many opportunities for food contamination to take place within the food supply system — on-farm production, slaughtering, harvesting, processing, storage, transporting, distribution, preparation, serving — before it reaches the diner, which makes food safety multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary, and requires deliberate collaboration among a multitude of different professionals, including food service providers and event planners.
1. SUPPLIERS
Any great event meal begins with good ingredients. The food and beverage purchased should come from producers and suppliers who already have food safety certification processes in place. Verify with food service providers on their purchasing policies and how they vet their suppliers.
2. PREPARATION AND COOKING
When it comes to storing, preparing and cooking menu items, all culinary employees must adhere to state and local food safety and sanitation procedures — regular handwashing, using gloves, wearing hair coverings — to avoid cross-contamination. Confirm who on the culinary team has been certified, who maintains oversight, and their latest health inspection score.
3. STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION
Catering for groups requires that food service providers store hot and cold foods at proper temperatures (below 40° F for cold and above 145° F for hot) and within specific time frames for use throughout the event. All food and beverage must be kept in food-safe containers and stored correctly within refrigerators, storage areas and hot boxes.
4. SERVICE
Time and temperature controls must be maintained throughout the entire event. Chafing dishes can keep hot foods at the right temperature. All temperatures should be checked with Continued on inside back cover
FACILITIES & DESTINATIONS 2020 SUPERBOOK
