Why is Food Safety Training Important?

It’s no surprise that food is an integral part of our daily life. If you handle food in any way, you must know the fundamentals of food safety. A person without any basic food training can’t operate a food chain industry efficiently and effectively.

What is food safety?

Food safety ensures that our customer’s food is safe and doesn’t contain any harmful bacteria. From the factory to the retail end, everything we eat must be of the highest quality. When a person inspection doesn’t do his job, many consumers may fall ill due to food poisoning. Food poisoning can be fatal and change a person’s life. A famous example of irresponsible food handling is “ McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case.” Stella Liebeck, who filed the lawsuit against McDonald’s, had severe burns after spilling their hot coffee. The judge later found that this was not an isolated incident. The company’s manual required them to make its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit. This process was dangerously hot and could cause third-degree burns. So the judge awarded almost three million in punitive damages to the 79-year-old lady. 

Purpose of food safety training

Food safety training refers to the practice of maintaining food quality and following food regulatory laws. In every company, people have training on food handling and storage techniques to check products’ quality. This training makes sure that the food that comes to a consumer is safe for consumption and doesn’t contain any harmful bacteria or virus.

What are the benefits of food hygiene training?

Food hygiene training will be an essential process if someone wants to become a health inspector. It can also be useful to prepare guidelines about the food product the companies give out. We have listed some of the benefits of food hygiene training in the below section.

• Food hygiene experts can reduce health risks by minimizing food contamination. They make sure that the produced goods are prepared in a safe and hygienic place.
• People with food hygiene training will know the right storage conditions required to store food products. By knowing them, they can help reduce food waste due to mismanagement.
• Professional food experts prepare food according to the industry standards and provide certificate labels to them. Hence, they offer a much-needed brand reputation to the food companies.  
• The food companies can make more financial gain by achieving increased productivity and fewer wastages. Food experts play a significant role in both of them.

What are food hygiene best practices?

Restaurants, food companies, and hotel chains follow a standard procedure to produce high-quality food products. If they dont take the rules and regulations seriously, they may be penalized heavily. Here are some of the practices these businesses follow daily.

• Clean food equipment before starting any food preparations. They have to make sure that the equipment used to make food is sanitized.
• People must wash their hands with soap and water before making any food preparations. They have to make sure that their hair doesn’t appear in food products as well.
• Raw meat, dairy products have to be kept at a standard temperature in the freezer. This helps in preserving food and eliminating contamination.
• Separate the dry foods and ingredients away from any liquid or fluid.
• Make sure to keep any insects or any other animal away from the manufacturing areas.
• Make sure that the water or any other liquid used for food production is safe to use.
• Clean the workplace before and after food handling.
• Make sure to replace the cleaning products from time to time.