Foodservice professionals are essential to food-safe schools Knowledgeable and adequately trained foodservice staff can prevent foodborne illness outbreaks from originating in the cafeteria. By following established guidelines on food purchasing, storage, preparation, handling, and service, foodservice staff can greatly reduce the risk of students becoming seriously, or even fatally, ill with a foodborne illness. Safe food handling and preparation can reduce the risk of foodborne illness, even if food is contaminated before it comes into the school. Using key food safety practices, foodservice staff can protect your school from damaging lawsuits and loss of reputation.

Food Safety for Foodservice Professionals

Put your expertise to work

Foodservice staff are the school authority on safe food handling. And while you can control food safety efforts in the cafeteria, there is still risk from food that comes into school from other places or that is handled with unwashed hands. Use your expertise and authority to spread the message about food safety throughout the school—to the staff, students, and their families. More detail for each of the following recommendations can be found by reading the Food-Safe Schools Action Guide.

1. Have at least one manager certified in food safety and sanitation in your school cafeteria. 
2. Train all foodservice staff in basic food safety practices, including cooking foods to proper temperatures, upon employment and periodically thereafter.
3. When foods are delivered to your school, immediately assess their temperature and freshness.
4. Keep hot foods hot (135O F or above) and cold foods cold (41O F or below).
5. Reheat food to 165O F and verify temperatures with a food thermometer.
6. Prevent cross-contamination (i.e. keep foods apart to avoid the transmission of pathogens from one food item to another).
7. Wash your hands at appropriate times.
8. Establish appropriate procedures and documentation for the control and safe handling of food.
9. Develop and distribute clear guidelines for foodservice managers in the event of a suspected foodborne illness outbreak.
10. Encourage local health department inspections and self-inspections of food safety practices and facilities where food is stored, prepared, held, or served.
11. Ensure foodservice equipment is working properly and, if necessary, see that it is repaired, replaced, or taken out of service.
12. Provide a reliable communication system from food source to foodservice and vice versa to deal with food recalls.
13. Serve as a food safety resource for your school by providing food safety information, demonstrations, or workshops and promoting your school’s food safety efforts and accomplishments. 

Learn more about your role in ensuring a food-safe school and find useful tips and resources to help you implement these recommendations. Check out the special ‘how to’ section for school foodservice staff.

Check out the Web sites below for more great resources.

• Biosecurity Checklist for School Foodservice Programs: Developing a Biosecurity Management Plan
  USDA Food and Nutrition Service
  Checklists and advice in PDF format geared towards helping schools create a school foodservice biosecurity management plan.

• Food Safety Training and Education Alliance
  Web site for food safety training and education at the retail level. Includes food safety training, regulations, directories, links to other materials and more.

• Good Learners Need Good Food - A Reference Guide for School Food Service
  Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
  Guidance for every aspect of the school kitchen.

• Healthy School Meals Resource System
  Food and Nutrition Information Center
  Provides information to persons working in USDA's Child Nutrition Programs. Sections include training center, resource cafe, Mealtalk listserve, regulations and food safety.

• Responding to a Food Recall
  National Food Service Management Institute
  Print materials, speaker slides and web cast from an August 2002 satellite conference in which a panel discussed reasons for food recalls, roles of manufacturers, and responsibilities of school foodservice personnel.

• School Foodservice Demonstration Plan
  Iowa State University Extension
  HACCP resources specifically for school foodservice.

• HACCP Guidance Document
  USDA Food and Nutrition Service
  HACCP guidance specifically for school foodservice.