Lately, the news has been full of horror stories about food poisoning. Many food poisoning cases have been linked to food served at restaurants. Wherever your restaurant may be, safety regulations are in place to protect the health of diners. Victoria, Australia is no exception to this rule. Whatever sort of food is served by your restaurant, following food safety regulations and general cleanliness are crucial habits, since this prevents food poisoning from happening.

Whatever sort of food is served by your restaurant, following food safety regulations and general cleanliness are crucial habits, since this prevents food poisoning from happening.

Salmonella is a bacterium which can affect many types of food items. Usually, raw poultry and eggs are the prime suspects in salmonella related food poisoning cases, but contamination from faeces and pet reptiles can also carry these bacteria. There are two ways to prevent salmonella form causing food poisoning which are guaranteed to be effective: thoroughly cooking food before serving and regular, thorough hand washing before, during and after cooking or eating.

Escherichia coli (or E-coli for short) is a form of bacteria which can cause serious illness or even death. Found naturally inside of the human body and in some foods, some strains can be lethal. E-coli produces harmful, toxic substances and includes unpleasant (to say the least) symptoms including watery and/or bloody diarrhea. A healthy adult can generally weather a case of E-coli food poisoning, but the elderly, the sick and young children are at risk of getting very ill if infected. As with salmonella, the way to prevent E-coli infection is thorough cooking and regular hand washing, along with careful cleaning of all cooking areas. Hand washing should become a thoroughly ingrained habit. You use your hands to pick up everything – even harmful microbes.

With all of the stories about food poisoning in the news, it’s understandable that some people are a little nervous about dining out. To make sure that your establishment keeps your customers safe from the risk of infection, be sure to follow the HACCP principles. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and is a set of principles designed to make sure that foods prepared for people to eat are safe. Many of these regulations are simply common sense, such as putting milk back into the refrigerator after use or dating items before freezing.

Running a restaurant kitchen requires that you stay on top of a lot of different things. If you’ve got employees whom you supervise, you must ensure they are up to speed on HACCP principles and adhere to them. You don’t want all of the work you’ve put into your restaurant to be ruined by one mistake made out of ignorance of the HACCP principles.

Having a HACCP certified kitchen is very marketable. If you have received stickers or certifications from health officials, be sure to place them where your customers can see them. This way they know that the food which you are serving to them was prepared in a clean kitchen which complies with health and safety regulations and they can dine in without getting anxious.