A food and hygiene course is essential for the development of food and sanitation practices that are up to standards required by most restaurants. A food handling certificate of some kind and should be required for any member of the kitchen management staff to hire new employees working on food in their kitchen. If a new hire has yet to complete a food handling course, the best choice that you as a kitchen manager can make is to enroll any line cook, prep cook, grill cook, dish washer or other member on the staff of your kitchen for a restaurant food safety course. It is possible to have members of your kitchen staff go through a food handlers permit online program. A food handlers permit online program will instruct the new hires to your kitchen staff on how to properly handle meat, sharp objects and other dangerous situations that arise while working in a professional kitchen. They will also learn basic facts such as campylobacter being a bacterial pathogen that can lead to fever, diarrhea or abdominal cramps, and that it is the most commonly identified bacteria around the world due to diarrheal illness.
Perishable foods exist in a danger zone between 40°F and 140°F, as this is the range of temperatures in which bacteria that is very harmful to the human body is able to grow the fastest, and that refrigerated food does slow down bacterial growth, but does not stop bacterial growth entirely. Completing a food handlers permit online program will instruct the members of your kitchen staff to make sure they cook meat and other products to the recommended temperatures before serving any dish out of your kitchen. A reliable food handlers permit online program will also instruct members of your kitchen staff to make sure they deal with food borne illnesses, which are particularly worrisome for small children, elderly citizens and pregnant women, as well as any other person whose immune system may be at risk. The cost of having food handlers permit online programs completed by the members of your kitchen staff are very manageable. In fact, you may want to incentivize new hires to join your kitchen staff by offering to cover the small fee required to earn a food handlers permit online once you have interviewed them and determined they will be a welcome addition to your kitchen staff, someone well versed in food safety and hygiene issues.
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