Most business owners don’t look forward to food safety inspections. However, you should not have anything to worry about if you are following the minimum food safety requirements.
All businesses that handle food are required to undergo semi regular food safety inspections. This is in the interest of the public’s health to ensure no one is consuming potentially harmful food. Here is key information that every company needs to know about food safety inspections.
What Can I Expect From A Food Safety Inspection?
On the day of the inspection, you will meet an Environmental Health Officer (EHO), who will be conducting the inspection. They will check that the premises are properly cleaned, food is stored appropriately, the personal hygiene of food handlers is up to scratch, and all temperatures are controlled to meet standards. The EHO will inspect both the back and front of house. They may also search for any signs of pests, unsanitary surfaces and incorrect storing of potentially hazardous foods.
How Can I Prepare For A Food Safety Inspection?
Reading this article is a great first step in preparing yourself for an upcoming inspection, but you will need to ensure your restaurant is fully equipped before it is ready for the test. To prepare your store, you should have cleaning checklists & guides, history of cleaning & temperatures, food audit checklists and most importantly a functioning temperature monitoring system.
The easiest way to make sure all these areas are covered is with Squizify. We provide outstanding food safety temperature monitoring technology. Our Bluetooth Temperature Probes provide real-time reports and logs. This makes providing temperature history during your next inspection super easy. SQUIZIFY also provides food safety and compliance checklists, cleaning guides and food audit checklists. We can customise checklists to suit each store and identify critical and non-critical task types. This ensures maximum efficiency so that the important tasks are carried out first.
Using SQUIZIFY will benefit your business greatly, not only to keep you up to date with the latest food safety standards but also helping you to be prepared for an inspection at any given time. All you need to do is show them our system.
4 Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Equipment – all equipment must be cleaned and sanitised after use and organised in appropriate areas.
- Storage – food must be stored appropriately in secure containers labelled with the use by date.
- Everything must be cleaned! – this includes benches, floors, inside/outside cupboards, under/inside/outside food storage units and windows.
- Vents, Drains & Sinks – all of these need to be clean and in working condition.
Additional Ways To Really Succeed In Your Health And Safety Audit
- Ensure the business looks spick and span from the outside and inside
- Ask the inspector for feedback – ways to improve the businesses current procedures.
- Comply with the inspector as much as possible
- Engage with staff – everyone should understand the importance of food safety
For more specific information on food safety inspections, you should refer to your local government’s website.
Get in contact with Squizify to find out more about how to top your next food safety inspection and be the best in the business when it comes to food safety standards.
In case you haven’t heard, Woolworths and Coles stores from Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia had been selling eggs infected with salmonella. 9News reported Bridgewater Poultry, a Victorian poultry farm, had been distributing these eggs and is under investigation.
Salmonella infection is a common bacterial disease that affects the intestinal tract. It is commonly associated with food poisoning and the sickness can last 24-72 hours. Usually risk of salmonella is significantly lower when eggs are cooked. Raw eggs should definitely not be consumed as the risk of salmonella is greatly increased.
Egg Product Recalls
- Woolworths 12 Cage Free Eggs 700g
- Victorian Fresh Barn Laid Eggs 600g
- Victorian Fresh Barn Laid Eggs 700g
- Victorian Fresh Barn Laid Eggs 800g
- Loddon Valley Barn Laid 600g
- Affected eggs have best-before dates of March 20, March 23, March 27, March 30, April 3, April 6, April 10, April 14, April 17, April 20, April 24, April 27, April 29
(Loddon Valley Eggs, 2019).
What Is Being Done Now?
Due to the seriousness of this case, many egg farms are having to cull their chickens to ensure the spread of salmonella is stopped. Coles and Woolworths are also urging anyone who has any of the recalled products to return them as soon as possible and not feed them to people or animals.
What Should Store Owners Do?
If you are a store owner, it is safe to purchase eggs now. The threat has been removed but it is now more important than ever to be following correct hygiene procedures. Do not keep any cracked or dirty eggs. For the storage of your current eggs make sure they’re being refrigerated at 4°C or colder at all times. To ensure your eggs are always being stored at a safe temperature, make sure all of your temperature monitoring systems are in working condition. SQUIZIFY can provide your store with this technology, which comes with live sync reports at any moment from anywhere.
Get in touch with us if you would like to know how we can save your eggs and ultimately your business.
- Benjamin Ansell. (2019, March 21). Possible Salmonella Contamination of Eggs. 9News.
- Loddon Valley Eggs. (2019). MEDIA STATEMENT: PRODUCT RECALL.
Whether you are opening your first independent restaurant, or you are in charge of a number of franchise stores there are many important factors to consider before opening your doors. Business owners tend to be so focused on hiring staff and designing menus that food safety is overlooked or left as an afterthought. Unfortunately not putting thought and effort into food safety processes could easily be the downfall of your business. Here are some quick easy tips to make sure your restaurant is meeting Australia’s food safety standards.
1. Engage All Staff In Proper Food Safety Practices
When it comes to training staff on food safety it is not enough to hand them a heavy pile of rules and ask them to read them over in their own time. If you want your staff to properly perform food safety practices they need to be engaged and truly understand what food safety means to the business and the danger bad food safety poses to customers. After all, proper food safety can save lives. There are plenty of creative strategies to familiarise your staff with safe food practices in ways that won’t feel tedious and overwhelming. Squizify’s CEO and food safety expert Daniel McDouall says “You are only as good as your weakest link so you want every staff member to be across the basics and every staff member to be an advocate in terms of safety.”
2. Train A Food Safety Supervisor
Across Australia, it is a legal requirement to have a Food Safety Supervisor on the payroll. This is a nationally accredited qualification. According to Daniel, having a good food safety officer is about more than just ticking a box. He says “Having advocates from the business that really care about food safety and are continually checking and following up on general safety and making sure staff are aware of procedures and rules is extremely beneficial for your business.” Nominating a Food Safety Supervisor is also a good way to reward a hardworking staff member by giving them extra responsibility and therefore demonstrating trust.
3. Keep Up To Date With All The Rules And Regulations
Rules and regulations relating to food safety are constantly changing and evolving. As a business owner, it is imperative that you stay up to date with the rules. This can be overwhelming, confusing and time-consuming. Luckily the Squizify platform is up to date with all the current food safety requirements so just by using this platform you know you are covering your bases.
4. Invest In Squizify
If you own a business the sells food you are going to spend a lot of money on staff training. This is just how the industry operates. If you are paying for it, it may as well be worth it. Daniel says, “If it’s not the right training, and doesn’t resonate with the staff members they’ll switch off.” When it comes to ensuring your business is following food safety practices, Squizify is a real game changer. This technology takes a lot of the manual labour out of food safety making it easier for you to focus on the fun part of running a food business. Daniel says “Let us do the heavy lifting, we’ll focus on health and safety while you look after the customers and running your business.”
If you want to make sure your food safety practices are always up to scratch make an enquiry about installing Squizify via our website today.
A food safety crisis is every food business’s worst nightmare. This doesn’t just happen small family businesses and cheap takeaway stores, a food safety crisis can happen to national and global businesses as well. If you are a business owner who has found themselves in the mists of a food safety crisis this article can provide some advice on how it can be managed and what you can do to prevent this from happening again in the future.
What Are The Common Food Safety Crisises Businesses Face?
A food safety crisis doesn’t necessarily mean a massive outbreak of foodborne illness where hundreds of people end up in hospital. While this does happen, it is the very worst case scenario. Some more common cases of food safety crisises are caused by undeclared allergens, contaminated foods which can lead to listeria infection or regulation infringements.
How Does A Business Go About Addressing The Issue In a way that will limit the damage?
1. Remove The Danger
No matter what has caused the food safety crisis your first call of duty is to remove the danger. This might be contaminated food, pest infestations, or incompetent staff.
2. Solidify Your Message
Once the danger is removed you need to consider your messaging. It is important to focus on making sure it is clear and consistent. The tone and wording will depend on the specifics of the situation. Be honest, authentic and apologetic when addressing the issue but also be firm about what changes will be made to address the problem going forward. The goal is to be as transparent as possible in order to regain the public trust.
3. Work With The Media To Spread Your Message
Nothing scares customers away like whispers of food safety infringements. If word has got out about a food safety infringement in your business you need to address the issue head on. Saying ‘no comment’ or ignoring the problem will only make things worse. Provide quotes to media outlets and use your internet platforms to explain the situation from your point of view.
4. Communicate With Customers Online
Facebook and Google reviews can be extremely helpful when positive but catastrophic when negative. If you are experiencing backlash online, it is important to stay calm. Do not ignore these comments but respond accordingly. Apologise directly and assure your customers of the improvements you are making. If it is possible, use these channels to demonstrate evidence of food safety compliance.
How Can Businesses Prevent This Problem From Happening Again In The Future?
If your business makes it through a food safety crisis you are one of the lucky ones. Don’t take this second chance for granted. It’s time to take food safety seriously. Squizify is your one-stop shop to taking care of all food safety areas of your business. Let’s be honest, if you had Squizify this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Let us help you with food safety so you can focus on getting the rest of the business back on its feet.
