September 2004
By Dale J. Venturini
President & CEO, Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association
As autumn begins, so does National Food Safety Education Month, created by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation to build awareness of the industry’s commitment to food safety education. As a restaurant or foodservice business owner, you are probably familiar with the posters, activity sheets, and promotional materials offered by the NRAEF during this month-long campaign. This September, before you remind your workers to “Be Aware When You Prepare,” prepare your business for National Food Safety Education Month.
Why should you, as a business owner, spend time putting up posters and quizzing your employees on the fundamentals of food safety, when those fundamentals are simple and obvious? Why should you remind workers about properly preparing, cooking and storing food, when they’ve already received formal training involving those exact safety procedures? Why is food safety so important?
It only takes one food borne illness case to force your restaurant to close its doors. It only takes one incident to destroy the reputation of your business. Reminding your workers about the proper ways to prepare food is one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do to ensure the continued success of your business, and it is also critical to the well-being of your employees and the satisfaction of your customers.
National Food Safety Education Month is a good time to take a look at your establishment and its staff, and ensure that it implements best practices. The theme of this year’s campaign, “Be Aware When You Prepare,” focuses on the fundamentals of safe food preparation, and helps to reinforce simple, yet critical essentials. The educational materials provided by the NRAEF include tips on how to thaw food properly, ways to prevent cross-contamination, controlling the internal temperature of foods, storing cooked food correctly, and more. These are basic things that are probably second-nature to your employees. But, food safety is something restaurant and foodservice operators cannot afford to take for granted, and every precaution should be made to maintain the safest, most enjoyable experience for your guests.
Emphasizing the importance of food safety is not just a message to share with your employees; restaurants should also let their customers know how critical food safety is to their business. During food safety month and beyond, your business can post informative materials offered by the NRAEF on tabletops, checkout stations and entryways. Your patrons will appreciate knowing the steps your establishment takes everyday to guarantee safe food handling, and to ensure the best dining experience possible.
Besides promoting food safety to your employees and customers, National Food Safety Education Month is also a good time to take stock of your establishment’s formal training programs. Does everyone in your kitchen have the proper training, or just the management team? Because food safety is so important to the success of a business, it is not enough to simply train management. Everyone in your kitchen should practice food safety procedures, which is why formal training is so important. The ServSafe® Food Safety Training program, created by the National Restaurant Association and administered by RIHTA, offers training for every level of your organization.
The Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association is doing its part to promote National Food Safety Education Month, and is offering its two-day ServSafe® Manager’s Food Sanitation Full Certification Course on September 13th and 20th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Comfort Inn in Pawtucket. Also offered is the Food Safety Manager Re-Certification Class, taking place on Tuesday, September 14th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at a location to be determined. To register for ServSafe®, or to request NRAEF promotional materials, call RIHTA at (401) 223-1120.
By Dale J. Venturini
President & CEO, Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association
As autumn begins, so does National Food Safety Education Month, created by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation to build awareness of the industry’s commitment to food safety education. As a restaurant or foodservice business owner, you are probably familiar with the posters, activity sheets, and promotional materials offered by the NRAEF during this month-long campaign. This September, before you remind your workers to “Be Aware When You Prepare,” prepare your business for National Food Safety Education Month.
Why should you, as a business owner, spend time putting up posters and quizzing your employees on the fundamentals of food safety, when those fundamentals are simple and obvious? Why should you remind workers about properly preparing, cooking and storing food, when they’ve already received formal training involving those exact safety procedures? Why is food safety so important?
It only takes one food borne illness case to force your restaurant to close its doors. It only takes one incident to destroy the reputation of your business. Reminding your workers about the proper ways to prepare food is one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do to ensure the continued success of your business, and it is also critical to the well-being of your employees and the satisfaction of your customers.
National Food Safety Education Month is a good time to take a look at your establishment and its staff, and ensure that it implements best practices. The theme of this year’s campaign, “Be Aware When You Prepare,” focuses on the fundamentals of safe food preparation, and helps to reinforce simple, yet critical essentials. The educational materials provided by the NRAEF include tips on how to thaw food properly, ways to prevent cross-contamination, controlling the internal temperature of foods, storing cooked food correctly, and more. These are basic things that are probably second-nature to your employees. But, food safety is something restaurant and foodservice operators cannot afford to take for granted, and every precaution should be made to maintain the safest, most enjoyable experience for your guests.
Emphasizing the importance of food safety is not just a message to share with your employees; restaurants should also let their customers know how critical food safety is to their business. During food safety month and beyond, your business can post informative materials offered by the NRAEF on tabletops, checkout stations and entryways. Your patrons will appreciate knowing the steps your establishment takes everyday to guarantee safe food handling, and to ensure the best dining experience possible.
Besides promoting food safety to your employees and customers, National Food Safety Education Month is also a good time to take stock of your establishment’s formal training programs. Does everyone in your kitchen have the proper training, or just the management team? Because food safety is so important to the success of a business, it is not enough to simply train management. Everyone in your kitchen should practice food safety procedures, which is why formal training is so important. The ServSafe® Food Safety Training program, created by the National Restaurant Association and administered by RIHTA, offers training for every level of your organization.
The Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association is doing its part to promote National Food Safety Education Month, and is offering its two-day ServSafe® Manager’s Food Sanitation Full Certification Course on September 13th and 20th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Comfort Inn in Pawtucket. Also offered is the Food Safety Manager Re-Certification Class, taking place on Tuesday, September 14th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at a location to be determined. To register for ServSafe®, or to request NRAEF promotional materials, call RIHTA at (401) 223-1120.
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