Food Safety – Advantages Beyond the Law
This blog discusses food safety regulations and how they protect the public health. However, restaurants are in business to make money too. So, a worthwhile article would detail other advantages of food safety.
Let’s list a few of them now
An excellent article from theknowledgeacademy lists ten advantages of food safety, as follows:
Protects Public Health – Many different consumers are likely restaurant customers. They will have diverse tastes, susceptibility to illness and react different to the menu items. Consistent application of regulations, coupled with dynamic employee training will provide a consistent dining experience.
Enhances Consumer Confidence – Restaurant return traffic is closely tied to ‘word of mouth’ review. A consistent high quality public health experience results in return traffic.
Reduces Food Waste – Safe temperatures, streamlined supply chains result in efficient food use and less waste.
Complies with Legal Requirements
Prevents Economic Losses – food costs are reduced, few accidents occur from unsafe or unsanitary conditions
Promotes Global Trade – when an operation follows strict health standards and qualifies for international sanitation standards, the public notices. Import and export of food products is much easier to accomplish.
Enhances Product Quality – while pathogenic bacteria grow best in the danger zone between 41F and 135F, they also grow slowly below 41F. Efficient equipment and good operations, improved supply chain and transportation and good training all make food more attractive and better tasting.
Supports Sustainability – less waste, more efficient operations
Builds Stronger Supply Chains
Improves Employee Safety and Morale – when employees see management’s commitment to training, risk monitoring and investing in the kitchen, they work harder and are motivated.
There are other advantages of food safety not merely satisfying regulations:
Energy Usage and Efficiency – A food service operation uses a great deal of energy. For example, a food service uses 5-7 times more energy per square foot than office buildings. Of that energy budget, the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) uses 28% of energy consumption, preparation equipment 35%, refrigeration 15% (but 40% of equipment failures!), water heating 18%. Careful monitoring can reveal faulty equipment needing repair and overuse of equipment during slow operating hours. Installing reduced phase lighting during off business hours can also save money.
A portion of energy costs are essential for food safety; it’s unthinkable to shut down refrigeration or hot holding units at night to save money (though the author has seen it done). While a few of these ideas require investments up front, there might be long term savings making it worthwhile. Energy savings reduce utility bills but they also reduce food spoilage and waste, improve equipment efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. While every food facility experience will be different, one estimate shows that installing electronic monitors reduced costs by 25-40% in the first year of operation.
Did you know? There may be federal tax breaks for energy efficiency. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included clean energy tax credits for renewable energy sources. There also are credits for energy efficient equipment, repairs and maintenance. Two references are included at the end of this article: consult your tax advisor and attorney for more information.
Did you know? Cleaning and routine maintenance is an essential part of food safety but it also impacts energy costs. A soiled stove top or oven insulates efficient heat transfer. Mineral deposits in an ice machine or plugged final rinse jets in a dish machine cause the equipment to work harder, using more energy.
Poor training is always a food safety problem but it costs money. Employees hold a walk in cooler door open longer because of poor food delivery training and coordination.
Transportation – (Optimizing the food supply chain): Energy for transportation can be reduced by planning efficient distribution routes to retail and using suppliers and distributors closer to home. Balance the cost of more frequent deliveries with reduced inventory, lean inventory management and less energy use to maintain it. These changes save food spoilage and waste but also save vehicle use, energy costs and a hefty food supply invoice.
Equipment Monitoring: Monitoring logs, a core requirement of any HACCP system, can tell a food safety operator when equipment is using too much energy and not operating efficiently. Automatic thermostats and monitors can make fine-tuned adjustments to control operations during slow business hours. Monitors can warn the operator of the need to change filters and provide service based on the equipment operating usage, not calendar days. Refrigeration monitors catch operating problems before they get larger, preventing longer production down time and larger maintenance costs. A walk in cooler cycles more frequently, perhaps indicating refrigerant loss or compressor issues. Electronic monitors can adjust refrigeration set points with fine point accuracy, much faster and more accurately than can be done manually.
One school cafeteria food manager boasted to the author about saving food in an entire walk in cooler on a weekend: a temperature monitor wired to his home telephone warned him of a power outage in time to bring in dry ice and avoid discarding food.
Plumbing – Water leaks create slippery floors and ponding water, a source of pathogen harborage and growth. Water usage is expensive. An ice machine with a faulty fill line or a leak in the toilet supply line can waste water and increase utility bills.
Water leaks also are signs of equipment maintenance and energy use. The installation of smart water leak detectors under sinks, behind ice machines near water heater and around the dish machine and detect early maintenance problems. Early detection results in minimal damage, less down time in production less equipment damage and fewer repair bills.
Resources:
https://envigilance.com/commercial-restaurant-monitoring/ Envigilance ‘How to Reduce Restaurant Utility Costs
Theknowledgeacademy ‘Benefits of Food Safety’
https://www.theknowledgeacademy.com/blog/benefits-of-food-safety/
https://www.afflink.com/blog/balancing-cost-and-sustainability-in-the-food-service-supply-chain Balancing Cost and Sustainability in the Food Service Supply Chain