Is your kitchen health inspection ready

Health inspections are put in place by local governments to ensure that patrons are protected against contamination by carefully examining processes and conditions within commercial kitchens.

Upcoming health inspections can be daunting yet vital to ensure businesses responsible for the serving of food, take food safety seriously and be ready to face scrutiny at any given time.

The following checklist can help chefs and kitchen managers ensure that kitchens are always kept sanitary.

1. Safe food storage

Separating and storing food correctly will help protect against cross-contamination, as well as improve efficiency in operations. Food safety inspectors will ensure that all ingredients and meals are safely stored in appropriate containers and locations. Fildes Food Safety offers a range of cross storage solutions including ingredient tubs and pan covers that can assist in ensuring each product is well protected.

2. Temperature control

It is essential that temperatures of food storage locations and refrigerators and freezers are regularly monitored. Utilising software such as the LogTag range available from Fildes Food Safety is best practice; the system is designed to regularly monitor and collect temperature data that can be analysed for easy identification of system faults.

3. Cleaning and sanitising

It is the duty of a health inspector to verify that cleaning and sanitisation processes for the kitchen are in place. This includes checking that cross contamination is evaded by only reusing tools and equipment that have first been cleaned, and that kitchen staff have access to hand washing materials and are regularly sanitising their hands and kitchen surfaces. The Fildes Food Safety Clean & Sanitise Deluxe Bundle provides the necessary items for a simplified cleaning process, with inclusions such as Biofinder and Smart San Hand Antibacterial Foaming Soap.

4. Efficient food labelling

Food labelling within the commercial kitchen is important for a variety of reasons, to prevent cross-contamination, for allergy awareness and to ensure that products unfit for consumption are not provided to patrons. Fildes Food Safety has built a fine reputation as a leading provider of quality self-adhesive labels, with the largest range of food safety labels available.

5. Pest control

Commercial kitchens should utilise formal pest control methods to ensure that pests such as bugs or rodents aren’t able to access food and ingredients. Health inspectors will also look to confirm that any processes being used are HACCP certified.

Keep patrons safe year-round by staying up to date with food safety practices within the kitchen. Better still, why not get on the front foot and arrange a HACCP food safety auditing service via Fildes Food Safety.