3 Common Misconceptions About Food Poisoning
I have to admit I love catchy titles and “3 common misconceptions” would have to fit into that category. That now gives me the challenge of coming up with the most common 3. When it comes to food poisoning, there are so many to choose from. 1. “It was the last meal that I ate” […]
10 foods to avoid while pregnant … and why
Pregnancy hormones can lower a woman’s immune system to the point that infections and diseases that she would normally fight off can have much more serious consequences. When talking about food poisoning, the two main culprits are listeria (Listeria monocytogenes) and salmonella. In Australia, one in ten cases of listeriosis is a pregnant woman, and […]
The six big DON’Ts when using raw eggs
Salmonella bacteria is found in the faeces of most birds – including chickens. When faeces comes in contact with eggs, the bacteria is transferred to the egg. Only about 1 in 20,000 eggs have salmonella present on the inside, but a much larger number have the bacteria present on the shell. This can be transferred […]
Whose job is it to check the coolroom temperature?
It’s in your HACCP plan and you know it’s important – that’s why you put your, er, top people on the job. And just because the kitchen is a madhouse, doesn’t mean it’s not getting done when it should, right? They’re not just writing down 3° on the log whenever they remember? Hmmm… There […]
Protecting your customers from listeria
The news today is reporting a story about two people who have died from listeria infection. Ten people in total have been affected by this outbreak, which has been linked to rockmelons from a farm at Nericon in the Riverina in NSW. Every year in Australia, about 150 people are hospitalised with listeriosis and about […]
Chipotle: A Tale About Letting Sick Staff Prepare Food
[row] [column medium=”7″] In 2015, people started getting sick after eating at Chipotle – a chain of fast food Mexican restaurants across the US. Five people were infected by E. coli in Seattle. At least 234 people in California’s Simi Valley were infected with norovirus. In Minnesota, 64 people were diagnosed with salmonella poisoning from […]
Use By vs. Best Before Dates: Differences Explained
There is a critical difference between “use by” and “best before”, and it is what is happening to the food as it ages.
Stopping Australia’s growing Salmonella poisoning problem
At the recent NSW Environmental Health conference, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSW Food Authority, Dr Lisa Szabo, had some disturbing news… While the rest of the world appears to be getting Salmonella under control, Australia’s trend is going in the wrong direction. Preventing Salmonella poisoning So what can be done to reverse this […]
Would your cleaners pass a GlitterBug cleaning audit?
[row] [column medium=”12″] If you did a cleaning audit, would you find your cleaners doing what they are paid to do? Using GlitterBug to audit your cleaners is simple and very effective [/column] [/row] [row][column medium=”12″]We recently had a compliance officer from a medical centre contact us about how to perform a cleaning audit. We […]
A “check the toilets” Reminder
I recommend checking out the toilets of a restaurant to see if the staff care about cleanliness (and consequently food safety). When you complain and get fobbed off, however, that’s a totally different level. It doesn’t matter what rules you have in place if the culture is just wrong.