Absolutely! In today’s fast paced food service environment, a good, simple food safety system can give you more consistency and quality in the final food product that goes to your customer. However, in any good system, there are some types of records that insure you are following your plan and maintaining that quality. In the worst-case scenario of a suspect foodborne illness, written proof that your crew follows food safety procedures to the letter could save your behind, so to speak. In a court of law, records that have detailed your production along with food safety steps are the best defense.

The recording challenge –Record keeping is no doubt the most challenging part of an effective food safety system. It’s tough enough to train your crew to handle food safely, but then to get them to write it down? The questions come up – what to track, when to track it, who tracks it, who checks what you track overall, where do you store records and for how long? The truth is, you don’t need to go off the deep end documenting every single food receiving, storing, prep, cooking, cooling and holding step your crew performs every day. But think about this-- if they’ve got to write it down, those records serve as a reminder that there are steps that need to be taken for safe food handling. It’s also verification that the food was handled properly during those steps –it shows someone is watching and you’ve built record keeping into that job.

What food safety data do you need? We need to record what, who, when, where, and how. Food temperatures and the time it was recorded are crucial records needed, particularly at "critical control points" (CCP’s --where food if mishandled, can become a risk). For example, on a typical cooking log, the columns you might have are: date, product, time started /finished along with the internal food temperature, any corrective action, initials of the person who prepped the food, and the initials of the supervisor who verified that log is being maintained and meets your system requirements. Keep in mind, any logs you use, must be tailored to your operation and should include the temperature standards for the foods you serve so employees know what your target temperature is for quality and food safety (i.e. Internal chicken cooking temp. range 168 to 170° F even though the FDA Food Code minimum is 165° F for 15 seconds). The crew must know the "danger zone" for food temperature control (41° F to 140° F) and that we move food through the zone as quickly as possible.

Other simple records to keep that are specific to the person responsible, might be such things as, spot checks of food receiving temps. (note them on the actual invoices), daily calibration of thermometers, refrigeration temperatures, automatic dishwasher temperatures, sanitizer concentration checks, pest control, equipment cleaning and maintenance, employee basic training, maximum handwashing intervals for the crew, and a shell stock identification tag if you serve fresh shellfish.

Who’s responsible? Managers are ultimately responsible for keeping records, but the best way to keep records is to build record-keeping into an employee’s job description and focus on their own work area. A manager cannot possibly record all temperatures in your facility, so delegate that responsibility.

How often and how long do we keep food safety records? The FDA Food Code recommends food temperatures are spot checked every 2 hours for foods in production or holding on a buffet or prep table. If we have to deal with a report of foodborne illness, it might come weeks, to days, to a few hours after a customer consumes the food. Experts suggest keeping food safety records for about six months.

HACCP --If you have a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) food safety system in place, you already know record keeping is part of the system. HACCP-based food safety systems are designed to help you evaluate and monitor the flow of the food through your operation from receiving to serving. You can keep your records simple on paper or go high tech with specially designed equipment and thermometers that record temperatures and times at points in production. There are also a variety of color-coded production labels available that can be customized and specify to your staff what to record.

Bottom Line: Records not only document the history of what happens in an operation, they’re also evidence of your commitment to food safety. FoodHandler has examples of 5 different temperature charts that might give you a framework for a better record system. If you would like a copy, email me at: lthrall@foodhandler.com.

‘Til next time,