The importance of proper food storage (North Carolina)
Food safety is a critical issue in all settings involving food but of particular importance in the senior living industry. Proper storage and handling of food are essential to increase resident safety from food contamination and illness. Unfortunately, survey tags involving food storage and handling are a common occurrence. During a recent survey in a long-term care community, several safety practices on food storage were found lacking. The issues identified were failure to store milk at a proper temperature at or below 41◦F, expired foods stored in the walk-in refrigerator in addition to failure to discard potentially hazardous thawed food, failure to properly cover, label, and date multiple food items, poor refrigerator sanitation, and lack of repair on a freezer unit. (USDA guidelines for food safety)
These deficient practices serve as an important reminder of food safety and the significance of safeguarding residents from the serious health consequences that can result from improper food storage. The issues identified during this survey had the potential to lead to several problems such as food spoilage and waste, harmful bacteria growth, and even widespread food-borne illness.
Implementing strict systems, policies, and procedures regarding food storage and routinely monitoring and training all employees who work with food and food storage areas are key to successfully promoting food safety and providing quality food products to residents.
Learn how CrandallSystems can increase food safety for your community.