Make your food deliveries, storage and prep safer in the COVID age.

Food safety has always been the most important part of the kitchen. In the current economic age, all protocols for safe food storage still apply. Due to the decline in the foodservice businesses, it is more important than ever to make sure your customers know that you are following all of the safety protocols to prevent food spoilage while also protecting the health of your staff who handle and deliver that food. Here are some tips for your operation to maintain the highest level of health and safety.

Receiving Deliveries:

• Control your delivery area – establish a no-touch delivery system
• Require delivery drivers to wear face masks
• Limit delivery personnel’s access to kitchen or office areas
• Avoid hand-to-hand transfer of any deliveries
• Use your own pen to sign invoices
• Consider monitoring the body temperature of delivery personnel

Food Storage:

• Demonstrate extreme vigilance in proper storage protocols
• Disinfect storage areas and door handles daily
• Log your storage temperatures
• Remove perishables in a timely manner, even if it means throwing away food
• Wash and sanitize storage shelving in a commercial dishwasher when possible

Food Prep:

• Assign one kitchen staff member per shift to enter food storage areas
• Establish no-touch hand-offs of foods and kitchen tools
• Create a ‘six-foot kitchen’ by making sure prep stations are at least six feet apart (utilize closed dining room area if needed)
• Allow one prep cook per station
• One single person should deliver supplies to assigned stations

July 01, 2020