Lesson 3. Safety, Sanitation and Hygiene in food and beverage service operation.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson the student should be able to:

 Refresh or recall hygiene, sanitation and safety practices in the workplace

 Exhibit understanding of the importance of observing hygiene, sanitation and safety

in the working environment.

 Critically analyze and assess hygiene and safety and sanitation practices in food and

beverage service.

Introduction

Maintaining personal hygiene and sanitation is important for several reasons such as

personal, social, psychological, health, etc. Proper hygiene and sanitation prevent the

spread of diseases and infections. If every food service personnel maintains good hygiene

for himself and the things around him, diseases will eradicate to a great level.

Hygiene and Safety

It is an extremely important responsibility of every F&B Services to serve their

guests hygienic food and beverages. The guests keep faith in F&B Services businesses that

they will provide them the best food and serve it the best careful manner. The F&B services

are bound to provide safe-to-eat food that is prepared by following hygiene and sanitation

practices.

Importance of Hygiene in F&B Service

F&B services have direct access to guests’ health through food and beverages. The

working staff handles every food and drink item closely that the guest is going to eat.
Hence, if these services do not follow proper practices of hygiene and sanitation, the guests

might get foodborne diseases such as food poisoning, nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting.

Types of Food Contaminations

There are three main sources of food contamination:

 Physical: This is accidental in nature and is caused by employee carelessness. The major

culprits are air, dust, smoke, and dirt. To prevent this, food must be properly covered and

stored.

 Biological: This contamination is caused by pathogens and microorganisms such as

bacteria, molds, parasites, and fungi.

 Chemical: It is accidental contamination of food caused by cleaning solvents, pest control

sprays, or other chemicals used in entire food production chain. This food contamination

occurs when utensils or other tableware are not wiped dry after washing them using

cleaning liquids. It also takes place when the food is not stored properly when pest control

chemicals are sprayed.

Personal hygiene is essential when one handles the food or beverage that the other

is going to consume. The service staff must follow the given basic principles it is said that

the hygiene starts from home. Perform your daily cleanliness regime without any excuses.

 Wash hands and arms immediately:

o When you come from toilet.

o When you sneeze, blow nose, yawn, or cough covering your mouth with hands.

o After eating food, tobacco, or touching animals.

o After you touch hair, scalp, skin, or any body-opening.

 Wash hands with mild cleansing soap and warm water; not merely with running water.

 Wipe sweat often.

 Do not smoke or eat tobacco while working.

 Cover cuts, burns, or wounds on the skin.

 Keep hair and nails trimmed.

 Try using hand gloves as much as possible. Kitchen staff must use toque.

 Do not work when facing cold, cough, or any other contagious diseases. Inform your

superior staff if you are not well.

or forks to handle such food.

 Do whatever required to let not your skin, body fluids, or any clothes you are wearing

to meet food or food containers.

 Ensure a clean uniform.

 Do not wear loose jewelry. Avoid wrist jewelry.

Hygiene Concerns of F&B Services Business

Any food business must be concerned about:

 Training all food handling and service staff with a detailed knowledge of food and

equipment

hygiene and safety

 Ensuring food handlers and servers not to handle food in case of contamination possibility

 Supplying hand-washing facilities with soap, running hot water, and paper towels for

its staff
Food Safety Concerns

Every F&B Services business must also be concerned about food safety and adhere to safety

of food and beverage that it serves. It must ensure:

 Marking Date on Food: The perishable ready-to-eat food refrigerated for more than 24

hours must be clearly marked at the time of preparation to indicate the date by which the

food should be consumed.

 Storing of Food: Hot and cold foods and beverages need to be stored at the right

temperature. The food temperature measuring devices must be accurate.

 Cleaning Equipment: The area and facilities allocated for cleaning food preparation and

service equipment must be large enough to immerse the utensils and sanitize them.

 Limiting Cross-Contamination: Storing raw food such as raw meat or vegetables from

cooked food is essential to avoid cross-contamination of the food.

 Employing FSS: The F&B Services businesses must employ at least one Food Safety

Supervisor depending upon the business size.

Safety of F&B Services Staff

Hygiene and safety of food starts right from selecting raw material carefully, preparing food

with health and safety cautiousness and serving it in the clean environment.
The service staff must:

 Attend duty in clean and tidy uniform.

 Wear less jewelry while working. This avoids entangling articles and calling for trouble.

 Be aware of the equipment and their appropriate application.

 Be careful of handling hot food and beverages.

 Clear spillages on the floor immediately.

 Never run in the workspace.

Summary

There are three main sources of food contamination and that is physical, biological,

chemical. And there are different hygiene concerns of food and beverage staff some of

these concerns include washing hands immediately when and after personnel comes from

the restrooms and when the personnel touches parts of the face like hair and nose. Every

F&B Services business must also be concerned about food safety and adhere to safety of

food and beverage that it serves. It must ensure that it has marked date on food, proper
storing of food, cleaning equipment, limiting cross contamination and having a food safety

supervisor.