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Who is supervising this food? - how hot is
it? does every dish have its own utensil?
How confident are you that your staff ...
- Have the knowledge and skills to
handle food safely
- Have the knowledge and skills to put
things right when they go wrong
- Have the confidence and competence to
apply their knowledge and skills - all day, every day - even when you are
not there?
A food safety program can provide you and
your clients with that confidence!
A food safety program SHOWS when you and your
team do a good job!
It also gives you chance to correct something
BEFORE it can affect your business!
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Food
Safety Programs
Food safety programs are
written documents used
to help a food business manage food safety risks.
A food safety program is
the business's own story about what happens to the food in their business.
Many food safety programs
are based on industry standards e.g. Codex Alimentarius,
Food Stars or
internationally accredited quality systems such as SQF2000, ISO 9001 etc.
A food safety auditor checks the program paperwork to make sure that it
contains all the requirements of the particular industry standard and during
an on-site visit makes sure that what is written in the program is reflected
in the business.
1.
Training staff
so they have the skills and knowledge in food safety to do their job
safely. A
trained workforce gives you more confidence that your food is being handled
safely... training may be informal in-house training or a formal course. (This is a
requirement of Food Safety Standard 3.2.2) A food safety induction program with periodic 'refreshers' can go a long
way to reinforcing good food safety practices. Cormorant has a range
of initiatives to help you keep food safety fresh in the minds of food
handlers!
2. Implementing and
documenting good food safety practices in the business. This
begins by monitoring
deliveries to make sure only safe and suitable food comes in. The cleaning
schedule and the pest control program help reduce contamination by dirt and
pests on site. By recording temperatures of potentially hazardous
foods (eg. meat, dairy, eggs etc) you can demonstrate it is safely cooked,
cooled, stored, displayed and transported. (These activities are required in Food Safety
Standard 3.2.2.) The food safety standards do not require actions to be
written down - however, without records, you will have nothing to
demonstrate to clients what a good job you do!
3.
Applying hazard
analysis critical control point principles (HACCP) to the food process.
This means that you write down what can happen to the food at each stage from when it comes
in the door to when it goes out. You put in place procedures at each
stage and monitor them to make sure things are working correctly. The
records tell you quickly if things are not working well which gives you
the chance to correct the process so food safety is not compromised. (This is a requirement of Model Food Safety Standard 3.2.1,
which is law in some States in Australia, but not yet in Western Australia). HACCP principles are common sense - you apply the same principles each day
when you are driving - spot the hazard, assess the risk, make the changes.
Cormorant will guide you through the process so YOU understand what is
happening in your business.
Cormorant Technical Services
supports the Food Stars approach
to developing a food safety program. This provides three levels of
training to
build a food safety program based on HACCP principles aligned with the Food
Safety Standards.
Cormorant believes that without a strong
foundation of trained staff and a culture of good food safety practice, a
business is wasting its time implementing a HACCP-based system.
A food safety program is there to help the
business - if a piece of paper cannot earn its keep - it goes! With
Cormorant's help your business can develop a simple food safety program that
works - one that you can understand and control.
At a later stage, if you choose to implement
an internationally recognised quality system, Cormorant will happily
recommend companies that can help you further. |
