Certified food safety manager certification may not be a requirement for your restaurant, but it is a good idea to have. The health department and customers love to see that your workers have taken a food safety certification course, even if it is a food handlers permit online, because they trust the person who has put in the time to earn their certified food safety manager certification.

Having that certified food safety manager certification means two things to customers who see the safe food handling certification. That the restaurant cares enough to pay for its workers to be properly trained, and it means they can confidently eat, knowing their food was prepared with the best knowledge and care. Knowing that workers are trained in the specific food knowledge to keep customers out of any food borne danger is a selling point for many a customer.

Before dismissing the idea, thinking that your workers do not need any training, think. You cannot afford a poor grade from the health department. Plain and simple. Though their grading systems differ between municipalities, any unsatisfactory grade can have a negative impact on the restaurant. Know the codes for your region. The FDA requires that all food be at least six inches off of the ground, but some local health codes insist on it being a whole foot from the floor, to prevent any contamination.

Have not seen your health department guy yet this year? You had better be ready, because they make visits two to four times a year, very often with no warning. Best practices should not be while you are waiting for the health department, they should be all the time, and then you will always be ready and never have anything to worry about. Make sure that you have minimized the exposure to any of the eight known pathogens that can lead to the majority of illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths that come from food borne illness.

Half of all adults have had some job in the food industry. A third have cited a restaurant job as their first. While not all need to be certified, make sure that your managers are. This will please the health department and your customers. And it will make sure that only the best practices are being utilized in your kitchens, so your workers have all of the best knowledge and that you will never need to worry about a case of food borne illness tarnishing your establishment. Check out this site for more: www.keepingitkleen.com