Monday, September 30, 2013

Final lesson of National Food Safety Month

Each week during the month of September, the Louisiana Restaurant Association has brought you different aspects of serving guests safely with food allergens. Based on the newly-released National Restaurant Association online training course—ServSafe Allergens—we’ve learned about the Big 8 and cross-contact, reading labels, preventing cross-contact in the front of the house, purchasing and transportation and finally, separation in equipment and storage.

One of the main ways to prevent cross-contact is to keep food and equipment separate. Use separate equipment and utensils when preparing food for people with food allergies, and store food containing food allergens separately from other food.
Equipment and utensils that have touched a food allergen can spread that allergen to other food. So it’s important to always wash, rinse and sanitize all equipment and utensils correctly. One extra step that can be taken is having designated equipment for food that contains allergens. This equipment should be stored separately and it should be labeled in some way to signify that it is only to be used on food allergens.

One common designation is to use purple-colored equipment and utensils for food containing allergens.
When storing food that contains food allergens, keep it separate from other food. A good way to do this is to store the allergen-containing food in separate, sealed containers. It should then be kept in a completely separate area from other food that does not contain allergens.

Visit www.foodsafetymonth.com for downloadable activities to help you and your staff understand the tenants of serving guests with food allergies safely.

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