September is Food Safety Month

There’s a good reason that the lunch ladies always wore hairnets; they weren’t making a fashion statement, they were practicing food safety! It’s not just hair nets that they would wear though, they would also be wearing things like these antimicrobial gloves (which helped prevent cross contamination).

Food safety is a necessity in the food service industry, and should be practiced diligently in home kitchens, too. This is why companies invest in high quality equipment when it comes to their food businesses. Putting your money towards something like sous vide vacuum packing machines by Sous Vide Tools would definitely increase the hygiene aspect of your restaurant and the quality of the food. Taking precautions to avoid cross-contamination, illness, and unwanted debris in your food are important to ensuring safe, nutritious food for yourself and others. Food businesses could also check that their refrigeration is still set to the correct temperature to ensure the food is safe. If you require new retail refrigeration, you could always consider a company such as CoolSys to provide refrigeration services or even to check that your existing refrigeration is still working efficiently.

Food Safety Training is required for most restaurant industry and food service positions. It’s a way of making sure that people know how to safely provide food for the public. In addition to food safety, many public restaurants and kitchens also have to make sure they undertake other health and safety training courses. One of these courses includes fire safety. Fire could easily break out in a kitchen, so it’s vital that there is UK fire exit signage put up around the kitchen to make sure that kitchen staff can easily evacuate the kitchen. Fire exits signs are vital for public areas, so it’s important that things like that are also taken into consideration. As there is so much to know before people can work in a kitchen, there are plenty of resources in Montgomery County to ensure the proper training is easily accessible to those who need it. The ServSafe program, developed by the National Restaurant Association, provides up-to-date and comprehensive educational materials and certification courses to the restaurant and food service industry. Those interested in obtaining Food Safety training in Montgomery County can find information on offered certification programs, courses, and instructors by following the links below.

For more information on county requirements, please visit the Montgomery County Government’s Food and Facilities Licensing page.

Community Food Rescue also offers other Food Safety resources for businesses and organizations that provide food assistance. Follow the links below to access the resources offered by Community Food Rescue.

If you’re interested in learning more about food safety or sharing Food Safety Month resources with your networks, you can find National Food Safety Month materials and posters here.

Upcoming Events

Apr 25

Equitable Land Access Working Group Meeting

Join us on Thursday, April 25th, 11am-12pm, for a meeting of the Equitable Land Access Working Group. We will be discussing the potential of farm incubator and community programming in the County, where beginning farmers are given the land, tools, and support they need to flourish. Additionally, we will learn about farmland preservation efforts in the County, and learn about USDA's recent initiatives and opportunities to promote local and regional food systems. We plan to have a lively discussion to learn more, and to connect to and fuel the momentum of these exciting efforts.

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Apr 27

Montgomery County Green Fest

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Apr 30

Local Food Procurement Working Group

Join our local food procurement working group on April 30th at 11am-12:30pm. During this meeting we will hear from local retailers, Troy Sexton, Category Manager at Common Market and Mike Leveille, Fresh Category Manager at Common Market as they share industry insider knowledge on what retailers are looking for in a product when stocking shelves. You do not want to miss this! We will also go over sell sheet examples and share a template for local businesses to make their own. We hope to see you there!

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