PREPARING YOUR TEAM FOR 5 FOOD HYGIENE STARS

If you are unsure how a 5 star rating could help your business we have a handy guide that you can find here.

To become a successful business with one or multiple sites, employees right through to the top layer of management, should be able to work hand in hand and understand the importance of a solid food safety management system (FSMS), a HACCP (Hazzard Analysis Critical Control Point) and a training policy for health and safety and food safety hygiene. Once all these elements are set up, gaining the sought after 5 star rating on the door should be achievable with few difficulties.

Although it is not compulsory to display your hygiene rating at the door, it makes business sense for any food establishment to show publicly, that food hygiene is important to them and therefore it is a safe place to buy or eat food from their premises. An outsourced health and safety consultant can aid you on your way to achieve your 5 stars on the door, by helping you audit your preparation methods and premises, compiling the necessary documentation for your business, such as the food safety management system, which includes e.g. Food Safety Policy Statement, food handlers, supply chain, hot and cold food, food protection, food intolerance and allergies, HACCP, risk assessments, hygiene matters such washing hands, contact time, avoiding contamination such as e-coli, food labelling, best before date, pest control, cleaning the premises, about lighting and ventilation, waste disposal, reporting procedures and a policy to health and safety and food safety training. They will also sit down with management and discuss areas that need possible changes or improvement.

It is vital for all staff to understand the various paperwork in order to keep it up-to-date. A clean and hidden in a cupboard food safety management systems is the first sign, that food safety checks have not been made and hygiene levels are low. Whilst online training can be beneficial to small businesses, face to face health and food safety training is invaluable to any business. Not only will it address in-house issues, such as multi culture and different languages, it furthers morale and the sense of team inclusion, brand awareness by skill enhancement, but most crucially, it improves the understanding of their responsibilities. And this is the key to successfully running a hygienic and health and safety aware business.

Staff who have achieved a food hygiene certificate, such as the food hygiene level 2 or food hygiene level 3 for chefs and front of house managers, are better equipped in concentrating on providing outstanding service to customers and dealing confidentially with the EHO (Environmental Health Officer). Kitchen staff, cleaners, waiting staff, any staff from any position, should never have any fear of reporting any issues that is bothering them e.g. noticing short cuts are being undertaken and could endanger their colleagues, incidents, no due diligence, staff issues etc.

Good communication throughout the various layers of management and staff is also one of the elements that is looked at when the EHO (Environmental Health Officer) considers writing up the hygiene score 1-5. Just be aware that an EHO visits is always unannounced and you should not be worried if you have your health and safety and food safety in place. They will give constructive criticism and advice and put a plan in place where necessary and re-visit if necessary. But if all of the above mentioned elements are in place, it really should not be difficult to reach the 5 star rating for your restaurant, café or food establishment.