The Difficulties of Being a Food Safety Professional in the Catering Industry

With a projected value of more than $516.8 billion in 2020, the catering sector is one of the biggest in the food business. By 2026, it is expected that the catering industry would have grown by 4.5 percent, surpassing $672.9 billion in market value.
However, it is wise to take into account how often the catering business has food safety accidents. Since this industry is well recognized for being labor-intensive, there is a greatly increased danger of food safety problems happening as a result of human mistake. The sector’s food safety experts bear the bulk of the responsibility for resolving and preventing these occurrences from happening in the first place.

A Failure to Emphasize Food Safety Among Employees and Management

Lack of a food safety culture in the workplace is the main problem facing professionals in the catering industry. In a labor-intensive sector like catering, management commitment to food safety is essential, and this commitment has to be shown to other workforce members. Employees are better able to understand the scope of the sector and the everyday food safety concerns they are addressing when management commitment is evident.
An example of management commitment would be a straightforward announcement to staff about the implementation of a food safety policy, routine inspections of the production facilities, or in some cases, conducting monthly or quarterly audits to help support the findings of formal audits and inspections.

Monitoring of Processes

A food safety specialist in the catering business monitors receiving, storage, cooking, and serving procedures. In big facilities, careful, in-person monitoring of all processes may not be practicable or possible; this may be a problem for determining the underlying cause of customer complaints. Food safety professionals’ most powerful weapon is training. Trained supervisors should be stationed throughout a plant to offer food safety specialists a “bird’s-eye view” of all operations at any one moment.
Consider a 10,000-square-foot caterer with two production sections. Monitoring cooking temperatures and processes in two independent manufacturing zones would be difficult. A food safety expert should select two trustworthy and qualified supervisors in each manufacturing location to watch and record the process in real time. The food safety specialist may then confirm the temperatures and method. This method becomes more realistic when a food safety professional’s facilities grow.

Staff Turnover and Training

Attrition is related to the necessity of food safety and hygiene training. Training personnel in food safety and cleanliness is important in a labor-intensive profession like catering. How can a food safety trainer maintain food safety when trained personnel leave for different reasons and untrained staff is introduced regularly? A strict fitness routine may help, but it’s not always easy.
An effective training program for a catering facility includes regular safety briefings at the start of the production cycle. Monthly classroom refresher training in food hygiene will enable all personnel, old and new, to maintain food safety requirements. All new workers should be contractually required to get food and workplace safety training. This orientation should address fundamental food hygiene, such as the company’s personal hygiene policy and manufacturing don’ts. Appointing food safety-savvy mentors would help new workers understand the rules from a veteran’s perspective.
Disposition of Complaints and Identifying Their Sources
Complaint management is a major part of a food safety professional’s work, although the form of complaints in the catering business may differ from those in other industries (e.g., manufacturing). The catering business creates various items virtually hourly, which increases the number of components utilized and the number of personnel engaged in every step of production, making traceability and root cause analysis challenging for a single product.
When contrasted to the bigger food business, it’s simple to think the catering sector has issues. Catering’s large workforce and potential of human mistake may be intimidating. Given the prevalent management commitment concerns, the sorts of complaints received, and the considerable training demands, a catering food safety specialist may encounter distinct challenges than in other food industries. With careful thought and the collaboration of other departments, food-safe solutions may be devised and implemented.
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