When diners come into your establishment for a meal, they are placing a lot of trust in you. They trust you to serve them a meal which is not only delicious, but safe for them to eat. As you may know, there are a number of restaurants here in Australia which are now paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to patrons who were serving food which sickened them; in one case, a patron even died!
How can you be sure that the food which comes out of your kitchen is safe to eat? Even one mistake which leads to customer illness can seriously and permanently damage the reputation of your business. In most cases, these are mistakes which could be easily avoided.
One of the most common problems is salmonella poisoning which causes stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting, and dehydration in its victims. This is most often a result of poor hygiene when handling food and inadequate oven cooking temperatures.
At least 33 people came down with salmonella in 2004 from food served at the Sofia Pizza restaurant and in the year previous, 135 people filed a class action suit against the Thanh Phu restaurant in Footscray. You can't just shrug the possibility of food borne illness off. Nor can you assume that it could never happen in your restaurant - food safety should be a top priority for anyone in the food service business.
Victoria, Australia has stringent regulations governing food safety. There are several different authorities with which businesses must register, depending on the type of food served by the business. There are also standards in place which cover the export and import of foods.
The FSP or Food Safety Program spells out the requirements which food service businesses must meet in order to ensure that their kitchens are hygienic and the food they serve safe for public consumption. Measuring devices must be calibrated annually and tested semi-annually. Logs must be kept which detail the time that frozen foods have been thawed so that use-by dates can be established at a glance. Logs must also contain the temperature of delivery vehicles and delivery packages and note when foods must be discard if not used.
If these rules are not followed, stiff fines will be enforced. This applies to fresh food stands as well as stores and restaurants.
There are many food safety regulations in place. It is vitally important that your business adhere to them; your reputation and your finances are both at stake. There are training programs available to ensure that all of your staff are aware of the regulations. This will help your business to avoid making a mistake with food safety and potentially save your business a lot of money.

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About the author: Malcolm J. Richmond offers futher details regarding food safety on his site where you can read practical advice to achieve higher standards of food hygiene.

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