A Shared Responsibility of Suppliers and Planners, by Tracy Stuckrath

A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY OF SUPPLIERS AND PLANNERS

7 principles to assess and manage food safety By Tracy Stuckrath

In 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 organizers contract every day. Their policies and procedures have just been kept behind the kitchen door. COVID-19 has knocked the COVID-19 has knocked the kitchen door down and put food safety 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 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

A BETTER TOMORROW

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“turning the dial” toward hosting events again, and we’re doing that in constant collaboration with our clients. Specifically, we are working with meeting planners to come up with a set of plans to keep both their attendees and our staff safe and healthy. These plans will include items that address social distancing, health screenings and face masks. We will work with the client to help execute their plans, knowing that both parties must be flexible because both the virus’s behavior and the government’s guidance may change over time.

WORKING WITH PARTNERS AND “COMPETITORS” The MCC isn’t successful by itself. We can’t fulfill our mission of being a “relationship building” without our partners, namely Meet Minneapolis and the city’s hotels. Meet Minneapolis helps bring hundreds of events to our venue, while our downtown’s 9,000-plus hotel rooms provide a home away from home for our visitors. Together, we all work to speak with one voice to clients, especially as we look to reschedule events that need to move to future dates.

In this collaborative spirit, we are embracing other local convention centers and event venues and turning them into partners. Why? To think through these challenges together and treat all clients in much the same way. It is through a united front that we will most successfully emerge on the other side of this pandemic.

Katie Smith is the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Minneapolis Convention Center, overseeing the Minneapolis Convention Center Sales and Marketing team. Smith and her team collaborate with the Meet Minneapolis sales team to bring great conventions, events and meetings to the city of Minneapolis. Her favorite part of her job is building relationships with clients, staff and the local community.

ENGAGED EDUCATION

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(although some is certainly needed) or solutions. What is required is a new way of looking at how we design and develop education for our meetings. Using the science of learning to drive adaptation to the new abnormal will ensure education sessions remain engaging and meaningful #whenwemeetagain.

Molly C. Marsh, CMP, has over 13 years of experience in association management, conferences, education and program development. In her current capacity as Director of Education and Engagement Design at AMR Management Services, she is responsible for innovating new approaches to conference education through design principles, adult learning, new technologies and engagement strategies.

A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

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a probe thermometer at regular intervals. Also, all serving dishes must have their own utensils. Depending on local laws, a sneeze guard might need to be employed.

5. TRAINING Both front and back of house staff — culinary and banquet — ought to be thoroughly trained on time and temperature, safe preparation, safe transportation and service methods. Inquire on when the last training was done and how often they do it.

6. FOOD ALLERGEN TRAINING Food allergies are part of standard food safety training. Have food service providers disclose at least the top eight allergens (wheat, soy, egg, tree nuts, peanuts, milk, fish, shellfish) for each menu item on the BEO and on buffets. Captains and servers also need to be able to address any question about ingredients or know who to ask in case an attendee asks.

7. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES All food safety policies and procedures, as well as menus, recipes and temperature checks, should be documented and available for employees and volunteers and health inspectors. Ask for policy documentation that can be shared with the attendees to provide clear communication.

Asking questions about these seven pillars of food safety for the catering industry can lead to fewer complaints and less worries. Just doing it right and sticking to food safety procedures can make for a much smoother event.

Food safety must be included as an element of an event’s overall risk-management strategy. Assessment and management requires ongoing communication between all parties and must be a shared responsibility between food service providers and planners.

ORGNIZATIONS/APPS THAT CAN HELP ServSafe (servsafe.com) — a food and beverage safety training and certificate program administered by the U.S. National Restaurant Association.

HACCP (https://bit.ly/FDAHACCP) — a management | system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.

Tracy Stuckrath, CFPM, CMM, CSEP, is Founder of thrive! meetings & events (thrivemeetings.com). A dietary needs expert and Certified Food Protection Manager, Stuckrath has had a 29-year career as an event professional. After being diagnosed with a food allergy, she changed the trajectory of her career in 2009. She works with organizations to understand how to create F&B events that deliver experiences where everyone feels valued.