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Services

ServSafe Food Protection Certification, food safety audits, illness complaint investigations, HACCP plan development, liaison assistance with local healthe departments, plan review, food handler training and custom seminars, emergency certifications,  and ServSafe alcohol certification.

ServSafe¨Food Protection Certification

The ServSafe¨ Certification course is designed to teach the food service manager all aspects of food safety and sanitation from purchasing and receiving food to serving the customer.  Key issues are thoroughly discussed such as how time and temperature abuses, cross-contamination, and poor personal hygiene can lead to foodborne illness. Most importantly, the food service manager will learn how to avoid costly foodborne outbreaks. Other topics include:  biological, chemical and physical hazards; proper cleaning and sanitizing; waste and pest management; and the basic principles of  HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points).

The class format includes lecture/discussion, videos, activities and games to enhance student learning, encourage student participation, and foster an understanding of the importance of serving safe food.  Each student is provided with a ServSafe¨ book and a packet of materials related to topics discussed in the course.

Visually Impaired: We can provide training materials and verbal exams for qualified students.

Online Exams/ Emergency Certification: We now offer online exams for food safety certification. Online results are available at the time of testing to provide immediate certification.

ServSafe¨ Alcohol Certification Course

The ServSafe¨ Alcohol Certification Course is designed to teach you and your staff liquor laws and your responsibilities when serving alcohol at your establishment. This course pays off by reducing your liability insurance, protecting yourself and your establishment from law suits related to improper alcohol services, and limiting the amount of claims if a law suit is filed.

Food Safety Audits

The food safety audit is an integral part of your quality assurance program.  It's main purpose is to assure that you are in compliance with the most current regulations.  It serves to highlight areas in need of improvement that are often overlooked because of heavy work loads. A regularly scheduled internal audit can identify problems before a health department inspection or before an outbreak can occur.

Each audit is followed up with a detailed report available in four different formats: the Food Establishment Inspection Report by Violation, which includes a signed confidentiality statement and a list of the violations found; an Inspection Report by Employee which is a detailed explanation of each violation by the responsible employee; an Inspection Report by Area or Room which is a detailed explanation of each violation by room; and a Discussion section which highlights overall strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement that would have the greatest impact on protecting your guests against foodborne illness.

Illness Complaint Investigation

Did you know that of all the foodborne illness complaints to the health department, 73% of those complaints blame a restaurant as the cause of their illness.   In reality, of all confirmed cases of foodborne illness, only 30% are a result of eating in a restaurant.  By having a complaint formally investigated, you demonstrate to your customer that you take their complaint seriously and that you are commitment to providing the safest, highest quality food.

The Complaint Investigation is a two part process.  The first of which is interviewing the individual who made the complaint.  The interview will illicit important information such as date and time of the meal and of the onset of illness; type and duration of symptoms; whether or not medical care was sought; and menu items consumed.  The second part is the environmental investigation.  This involves inspecting the food establishment.  The focus of this inspection will be of those food items suspected of causing illness:  where they were purchased, how long they were in storage, who prepared them, what ingredients were used, what cooking temperature were used andhow long were they cooked, and how long they were held before service.

HACCP Plan Development

HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) is a prevention based system to assure food safety.  It is used throughout the food industry whether is be on the farm, in a manufacturing plant, or in a retail operation.  It is a system that identifies and monitors hazards to food and identifies key processes in the flow of food where these hazards can be controlled. 

A HACCP plan is required for Sushi restaurants, establishments that: conduct vacuum packaging, smoking or curing meats or fish, and for establishments that will use " time as a public health control".

A HACCP plan is the written documentation and is based on seven basic principles:  1. conducting a hazard analysis;  2. determining the critical control points to reduce or eliminate the hazards;  3. establishing critical limits for each critical control point; 4. establishing monitoring procedures; 5.   establishing corrective actions;  6.  establishing verification procedures; and  7.  keeping records. 

Each HACCP plan is customized to your facility.  Usually, an initial meeting is set to determine your needs and expectations.  Each plan is developed over a period of time by the HACCP  "team".  The "team" consists of a member from Berger Food Safety Consulting, the manager or person-in-charge from your facility, and any other facility staff members who will help develop and execute the plan.   

Custom Seminars

Do you need training in HACCP plan development?   Are you looking for an introductory food safety seminar for new employees?  Do you have a few employees in need of personal hygiene training?  Any type of food safety and sanitation seminar can be developed depending on the needs of your facility. Our most popular seminar is a "Food Safety 101" seminar for all new and experienced food handlers. "Food Safety 101" reviews food safety basics such as how to to prevent cross contamination, proper personal hygiene, safe temperatures and proper procedures for cleaning and sanitizing.

 

Liaison Services with your Health Department

If you have been shut down for food code violations or have "trouble" with the health department, we can help you by working with you and your health inspector to solve the problems. Often, the solutions include representing you in an official hearing at the health department, certifying additional managers in Food Protections courses, conducting "Food Safety 101" training for your staff, and providing food safety audits that are used as training tools for you and assures compliance with the food code for the health department.

Individualized Consulting

General consulting services are available as needed.  If it has anything to do with food safety we can solve the problem. We can make sure you are serving the safest food possible in the least intrusive way possible. Please call to inquire.

 

Plan review

We offer full plan review for new construction or remodel of existing restaurants.