May 2020

tory food-safety training and certification and this certification
requirement is still being enforced. Operators must have at least
one person per shift with a food-handler certification — even
if there are only one or two people working in the kitchen.
Another requirement is that operators have measures in place
to protect food from contamination.
With this major shift in day-to-day foodservice operations,
restaurant operators are grappling with how to keep their
employees and customers safe. The first step of a food-safety
plan is to assess potential hazards. Since COVID-19 is so
new, the jury’s out on whether or not the virus can be passed
through food. The World Health Organization says food is not
known to be a route of transmission of the virus. At the time
of publication of this article, there has been no evidence of
cases where the virus was passed on through food. That said, it
always makes sense to practice good food-safety habits.
Transmission of the virus via ready-to-eat foods and foodcontact
surfaces is another matter. Cross-contamination is a
possibility if a sick employee sneezes or coughs onto takeout
packaging or food not requiring cooking.
COVID-19 needs a living host so sick employees must not
work. This is not a new food-safety policy, but because of
COVID-19, many operators have stepped up their personalhygiene
policies, while others are offering paid sick leave to
support employees who develop symptoms. Employees off
work due to COVID-19 are covered under the federal benefits
being offered. (see story on p. 16)
To combat transmission, operators must develop and enforce
new physical-distancing guidelines for their employees who
often work in a fast-paced, compact environment.
Distancing measures include limiting the
number of employees working per shift and per
work area. Some operators have placed coloured
tape on their kitchen floors to remind employees
to stay within their own work zones and away
from each other.
Many foodservice operators have reduced
their hours of operation to allow more time for
cleaning and sanitizing and a number of quickservice
operators have increased employee safety
by redesigning their drive-thrus. Tap payment
by debit/credit card is being promoted and
employees who handle cash must use gloves and
are encouraged to wash their hands frequently.
In some quick-service chains, hand-to-hand
contact is being reduced through the installation
of metal bins so customers can take their bagged
purchases from there.
Operators who use delivery services should
ask these companies what they’re doing to
ensure their employees are delivering food safely.
New measures have already been implemented, such as contactfree
curbside delivery, which supports physical distancing.
In order to stop, or at least slow down, the transmission
of COVID-19, operators must increase their dedication to
teaching safe food-handling practices, enforce strict employeehygiene
policies and ensure stringent cleaning and sanitizing is
happening even more frequently in this new normal.
If employees are not working, or are working reduced
hours, utilize this time to have them get certified in a foodhandling
course.
Finally, the importance of physical distancing in their restaurants
cannot be overstated. Right now, we don’t have a vaccine
for COVID-19, so what we must do as food handlers is diligently
practice proven tried-and-true food-safety strategies to
lessen the impact of the COVID-19 virus.
We’re in this together. So, let’s figure it out together and
take these best practices with us when we come out the other
side of COVID-19. FH
Margaret Spence is manager, Education
and Special Projects with TrainCan, Inc.
A full-service provider, TrainCan, Inc.
supplies hospitality, foodservice, education,
public health and food-retail clients with
management- and employee-level training
and certification programs in both book
and electronic formats. Spence can be
reached at Margaret@traincan.com
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32 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY MAY 2020 FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM