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Seafood Safety in 4 Easy Steps

Seafood is becoming ever more popular among restaurantgoers. However, from a food safety viewpoint, it is one type of food that can put customers at risk, without proper food hygiene training.

Over the past few weeks, there have been public health officials warning of increasing dangers from foodborne bacteria in raw and undercooked shellfish as summer approaches.

With seafood being a high-risk food, there are several things you can do to reduce the chance of foodborne illness greatly. Here are 4 easy steps to reduce the risk of spreading a foodborne illness to your customers when serving seafood.

Wash Your Hands Properly

Wash your hands, properly! You’ll be surprised at the amount of people who don’t know how to wash their hands properly. Below is the simple 6-step guide.

  1.      Wet your hands with warm running water and apply soap
  2.      Rub your hands together palm to palm to make a lather
  3.      Rub the palm of one hand along the back of the other and the fingers. Repeat with the other hand
  4.      Put your palms together with fingers interlocked and rub in between each of the fingers thoroughly.
  5.      Rub around your thumbs on each hand and then rub the fingertips of each hand against your palms.
  6.      Rinse off the soap with clean water and dry your hands thoroughly on a disposable towel. Turn off the tap with the towel and then throw the towel away.

Prevent Cross-Contamination

Food prep, things to remember - With food preparation, there are a few simple steps to minimize cross-contamination, which is a huge reason for many cases of foodborne illnesses. Below are just a few things to remember:

Sanitize your chopping boards after every use 

Warm water and soap will not kill all bacteria on your chopping board after handling raw meat or seafood, so you must clean all areas including chopping boards, work surfaces, knives, etc. properly with hot water and sanitizer.

Use different chopping boards for different food groups

To stop cross-contamination, we recommend using different chopping boards for different food types. Below is an example of how you could use different colors to represent different food groups.

  • White - bakery and dairy products
  • Yellow-cooked meat
  • Brown-root vegetables
  • Red - raw meat
  • Blue - raw fish
  • Green - salad, fruit, and fresh vegetables

Avoid The Temperature Danger Zone

It’s important for someone who works in the food industry to understand how to heat and refrigerate food correctly so that food does not remain in the temperature danger zone (40°F - 140°F), and pathogenic bacteria do not have the chance to multiply.

Eat shellfish promptly after cooking

Don’t allow shellfish the chance to enter the temperature danger zone before consumption. Take it out to diners quickly after it is done cooking.

Refrigerate leftovers

Recommend that diners get their leftovers into their refrigerator as soon as they get home to keep food from being in the temperature danger zone for too long.

Be Aware of Fish and Shellfish Allergies

Both fish and shellfish are considered one of the 9 main allergens, which are 9 food groups that are responsible for 90% of allergenic reactions.

It’s important to prevent cross-contact by storing allergens separately from one another, cleaning and sanitizing your equipment, and properly labeling any hidden allergens on your menu.

 

Need help with your restaurant's food safety? Take a look at our Food Handler, Allergen Awareness, and Food Protection Manager certifications.