Thanksgiving Food Safety Tips Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control: Make the holiday meal memorable – and tasty – by following CDC’s tips to safely prepare and cook your Thanksgiving turkey The CDC feature (also in Spanish) guides you through the key steps of serving a safe feast for family, guests and friends. If you don’t have a food thermometer at home, pick one up before Turkey Day, and use it to make sure foods have been cooked to a safe internal temperature.

10 Dangerous Food Safety Mistakes:  While this is directed toward the consumer rather than restaurant staff, we are all consumers, aren’t we?  This is a good summary of food safety behaviors to embrace or avoid.  Visit the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Don’t Wash Raw Chicken Before Cooking:  Washing raw chicken before cooking may leave your sink contaminated with pathogens.  If the sink is not correctly cleaned and sanitized afterward, these pathogens may contaminate the sink and anything inside of it.

Hepatitis A Outbreak Still On the Rise:  Florida’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants has posted information about Hepatitis A including an information line, email contact info, and a link to a Florida Department of Health web page for more information.

Emergency Management Tips from Florida’ s Regulator of Hotels and Restaurants: The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Magazine published emergency management tips straight from the horse’s mouth this Summer.  Read what the Division recommends for safe food before and after a disaster.  Visit  FR&L to read more.

Emergency Management Tips and Resources:

Emergency Management is a topic that we always need to maintain proficiency in, and with the 2019 Hurricane Season here, it’s a great time to offer some tips and resources for your information.

Emergency preparedness for your business is something that you and your staff should be schooled in throughout the year, as emergencies don’t always result from hurricanes.  From power interruptions to boil water notices due to contamination in the water line, food establishments should be practiced and prepared for any contingency

Hepatitis A: Keep Guests and Staff Safe: The number of Hepatitis A cases in Florida has steadily increased each month for the last year, and FRLA has partnered with the Florida Department of Health to help spread the word about how to keep guests and staff safe. Hepatitis A is highly contagious and can cause death. While Central Florida currently has the highest concentrated number of confirmed cases, activity levels are increasing state-wide.

The number of Hepatitis A cases in Florida has steadily increased each month for the last year, and FRLA has partnered with the Florida Department of Health to help spread the word about how to keep guests and staff safe. Hepatitis A is highly contagious and can cause death. While Central Florida currently has the highest concentrated number of confirmed cases, activity levels are increasing state-wide.

Hepatitis A Is On The Rise In Florida:  With several Florida restaurant workers infected with Hepatitis A so far this year, it is important that all employees and managers are aware of Hepatitis A: its causes and how to handle if a staff person is infected with this communicable disease.

Wash Your Hands!  It’s cold and flu season and the easiest way to stay healthy is to wash your hands often and correctly. It’s time to wash hands after using the bathroom, taking out garbage, when changing tasks in food preparation, after working with raw foods, before working with ready-to-eat foods, before or after treating a wound, before and after caring for someone who is sick, after touching an animal, after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, and after using tobacco. READ MORE