As a food business operator, you will understand that all staff who handle or serve food must be food safety trained.
But other than it being something that needs to be ticked off your list, surely there are other reasons for getting your staff food safety aware? You’re right - there’s a number of really worthwhile benefits to providing valuable food safety training to your team and in this blog, we’ll discuss them a bit more.
The first step in creating a good food safety culture is by ensuring your food control plan (FCP) is up to date. See how yours measures up with our Food Safety Quiz.
Risk management
Correct training will mean your staff are aware of various food safety risks. They’ll know the potential risks of things like improper storage, cross contamination, undercooking and person-to-person contact. Avoid the disaster of food poisoning and keep everyone safe.
Reputation management
Under the Food Act 2014, establishments legally have to display their food safety rating to patrons, and food safety training can contribute to a higher food safety rating – always a positive thing to show your diners. Also in the age of online reviews and news stories, your reputation can’t afford to be hit with a food poisoning incident – food safety practices can greatly reduce this risk to your reputation.
Culture of food safety
Food safety training can help develop a great food safety culture in your kitchen – a culture where correct food safety practices are the norm. It will cut down the amount of micro-managing that you may have once needed to do as now your team will have the proper training and awareness. It can also give you peace of mind that your FCP is being followed, if you know your team understands the importance of recording food safety processes.
Waste
Correct training can help with quality control and reduction of waste. When your teams are properly trained, it’s likely to result in less food spilled, contaminated or thrown out because of poor handling.
Employees that ‘get’ food safety practices
Employees might sometimes wonder why they have to follow a whole lot of long processes when they’re cleaning and handling food, and it could feel like a bit of a hassle. But if they are trained on the reasons behind why they’re doing it, they might not mind so much. When they see how what they’re doing is directly responsible for the health and safety of the people eating their food, they’re more likely to appreciate the importance of what they’re doing.
It’s win, win!
So, as you can see, there’s a lot to be gained from your staff being correctly food safety trained. It’s hugely beneficial to your customers, and this in turn can have a direct impact to the success and profitability of your business.
Really in any environment where food is prepared, there’s no excuse for not following safe food safety practices - its healthy, it’s what customers need and expect, and it’s the right thing to do. In order for this to be the case, all of your staff that work with food or in the environment need to undertake correct food safety training and it needs to be recorded in your Food Control Plan.
