Poor operational hygiene, errors in food handling and deficiencies in hygiene management are still one of the main reasons for complaints by the official food inspection. Unfortunately, this has hardly changed over several years (see article “Lack of Hygiene – Main Reason for Objections“).
Poor hygiene affects the quality of food and this can lead to an increase in cases of food poisoning.
The most common mistakes when handling food can be avoided with simple measures.
Staff often lack the tools or expertise to get a better grip on hygiene. The topic of food safety culture is currently on everyone’s lips, especially since it has been enshrined in law. In order to promote this, it is also necessary to provide staff with the means to fulfill their tasks.
Alcomo HACCP App
Progress has made it possible for us to use technical means to meet hygiene requirements much more easily, quickly, efficiently and paperlessly.
The Alcomo HACCP app on your mobile phone or tablet supports you with efficient HACCP& hygiene documentation.
Records of quick chilling, heating, food temperatures at the buffet, delivery service, training, cleaning and cleaning plans can be easily recorded electronically.
Examples of errors in food handling and measures to reduce or avoid them:
| Examples of hygiene errors | Possible measures |
| Foods such as sauces, stews and pasta are not cooled properly. Cooling after heating is too slow and not under controlled conditions. | Document quick chilling: Cool down food quickly, within 2 hours to at least 10°C or colder in blast chillers; check cooling times incl. measurement of temperatures. |
| Foods such as eggs, meat and fish are not heated through properly. | Document heating: Measure the core temperatures of animal foods during heating. The core should reach at least +75°C for 3 minutes. |
| Perishable food is stored too warm and/or for too long, for example at the buffet. | Documentation of food temperatures at the buffet: Measurement of food temperatures at the buffet and monitoring of buffet times. |
| Food is not kept sufficiently hot or cooled during transportation. | Documentation during the delivery service: measurement of temperatures on leaving the kitchen and on delivery to the customer and monitoring of delivery times. |
| Food is stored for too long and then processed further. Expired goods are still being used after the best-before date and consumption date. | Storage checks: Regular checks of the food in the warehouse, correct storage according to FIFO (fist-in-first-out) and FEFO (first expire-first-out) principles. Consistent labeling of the food produced by means of defined maximum storage times, e.g. color code system. |
| Food is not (correctly) declared, there is a lack of traceability, a date that provides information about the shelf life, such as a goods receipt date, opening date, production date, freezing or defrosting date. | Staff trainingTraining of staff on the correct labeling of foodstuffs and provision of appropriate labels for declaration. |
| Food is handled incorrectly, for example, touched with unclean hands, not washed sufficiently, not peeled correctly, cut on unclean surfaces (chopping boards, for example) and then insufficiently heated or stored in a cool place. | Conduct and document staff training: Train staff on the correct handling of food. Hygiene concept and staff training on personal hygiene, correct hand washing, etc. |
| Food for raw consumption (e.g. salad) is treated on surfaces on which food that is not intended for raw consumption (raw meat) has previously been treated. | Conduct and document staff training: Train staff on the correct handling of food. |
| Food is not adequately protected from foreign bodies such as hair, plastic splinters or pieces of glass. Food is not stored (correctly) covered. | Conduct and document staff training. Document cleaning and disinfection: Creating a cleaning plan and monitoring the cleaning and disinfection of rooms, surfaces, equipment, etc. |
