Salmonella, E.coli, food allergies, dirty dining, Cross-Contamination, the list goes on. Food safety has become a major concern for everyone involved in the processing, manufacturing and preparation of the food for human consumption.  Your establishment reputation is critical to success, so food safety is not only vital, it is one of the most fundamental elements to success.

Food Safety Month is September, what better time to brush up on your HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) knowledge.  Every county that implements HACCP follows seven principles.  Over the next two weeks the Discriminating Chef will go through each HACCP principle to help you avoid any possible food hazards!

Principle one:

This principle is Hazard Analysis.  Hazard Analysis will help identify all possible food safety hazards that may cause any product to be considered unsafe for human consumption.  Once you have identified the hazards that may exist in your kitchen, take the appropriate measures to eliminate those hazards. Hazards exist in the kitchen and can be eliminated by following through on proper cooking, proper storage or proper cleaning to name a few.

Principle two:

Principle 2 is for identifying critical control points. This is the point of the production process where you yourself can take action and prevent, eliminate or reduce a food safety hazard.  Things you can do to prevent hazards may be the proper cooking temperature of the chicken you may cook or the proper cleaning of the salad you are mixing together. Proper cleaning of lettuce is important. In 2015 the number one cause of food-borne illnesses in the U.S.A. was lettuce. Be sure to clean your veggies!

Principle three:

The third principle is to establish critical limits for each critical point. This limit is the limit at which the hazard has become acceptable without compromising food safety.  The limits can be the time that it may take to cook the food of choice or cooking your food of choice at the appropriate temperature.

For more information of food safety check out our previous blogs Colored handles and Temperatures: The Danger Zone. Next week we will go through the other four HACCP principles as food safety month continues. Help celebrate #FoodSafetyMonth by following through on all your food safety knowledge! Til next time!