How to Conduct a Food Safety Inspection

Running a kitchen requires much more than just putting out excellent food. How food is stored and maintained is as important, if not more important, than the menu itself. An inspection of food safety procedure needs to look at storage methods, how food is prepared and how knowledgeable the staff is regarding proper methods. To be thorough, take your time, ask questions and keep a keen eye as to how cooks move about the kitchen and you should get a good picture of how the kitchen performs.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook
• Kitchen thermometer

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Instructions

• 1

  Talk with the staff. Ask questions of the cooks and managers to determine the level of knowledge the employees have in reference to food safety. Questions should include safe cooking temperatures, proper food storage procedures and where safety equipment, such as the first aid kit, is located.

• 2

  Look for both blatant and subtle violations of safety procedures. A cook that is eating while working the line is not following basic safe food handling rules, which should trigger a closer inspection of the whole operation. Look at the cleanliness of the prep area and ensure that perishable foods, such as meat, are not being thawed improperly.

• 3

  Ask a cook to show you where the sanitizing buckets and test strips are. Every kitchen must have a bucket of water with the proper amount of sanitizing solution in it, along with cleaning rags for wiping down counters. Each employee needs to know how to test the water. Ask them to do so and check the results.

• 4

  Check the temperatures of the refrigerator and freezer units. These must hold at 40 and zero degrees F respectively. Look to see that thermometers in both of these units are clearly visible. An operation that has a daily check log of fridge and freezer temperatures is an example of a kitchen that pays attention to the details of food safety.

• 5

  Look at how foods are stored in the refrigerator. Raw meats must be on the bottom shelves and are not to come in contact with any other product. Blood from raw meats should not be allowed to drip onto a surface that could contaminate other foods. All food in the refrigerator must be fresh--not molding or sour.

• 6

  Inspect the dry storage area and look to see that all goods are stored off the floor and that any open bags are either tightly sealed or stored in containers that prevent insect or vermin contamination. Check the cleanliness of the environment and look for any signs of infestation.

• 7

  Test the temperatures of all food in hot and cold holding on the line. Use your thermometer and gauge that all hot foods are holding at 140 degrees F or above; and that cold foods, such as those sitting on the salad bar, are maintaining a temperature of 40 degrees F or below.