MRA Prepares Members for New Food Code, Offers Food Safety Tips

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) wants to make sure that everyone is handling food properly — both in restaurants and home kitchens — before the state enforces its revised Food Code in November, 2000.
“Since restaurant professionals are renewing their commitment to food safety, we thought now would be an appropriate time to remind the public how to keep their kitchens at home more safe,” said MRA Executive Director Rob Gifford.
MRA members received free training this month on Michigan’s new laws related to food-handling. The updated Food Code enacted by the Michigan Legislature earlier this year was the law’s first comprehensive overhaul in 22 years. Major changes address temperature standards, hand-washing guidelines, inspection procedures and cleaning expectations.
“We support the changes to the new Food Code and are doing everything we can as an industry to ensure the safest food possible — both in our members’ kitchens and in Michigan homes,” Gifford said. “A restaurant kitchen is almost always cleaner and safer than your kitchen at home. It’s important for the public to know how best to handle food at the grocery store and at home to prevent food-borne illnesses and bacteria from spreading.”
To help encourage safe food handling in home kitchens, MRA has parepared “A Recipe for Food Safety” for anyone interested in learning more about better food-handling. Some of the tips included in the recipe are:

• Separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from other foods in your grocery-shopping cart. Placing these foods in plastic bags will prevent their juices from dripping onto other foods. Separate these foods from other foods in the check out line and in your grocery bags.
• If room temperature is 90° F or above, do not leave food out for longer than one hour. This includes items such as take-out foods, leftovers from a restaurant meal, and meals-on-wheels deliveries.
• Use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry, and seafood and a separate one for fresh produce. If you only have one cutting board, chop fresh produce, breads and cheeses on the board before using it for meat. Never cut fresh vegetables after cutting raw meat without thoroughly sterlizing the cutting board in hot, soapy water first.
• When preparing produce, cut away any damaged or bruised areas. Bacteria that cause illness can thrive in those places.
• Do not wash eggs before storing or using them. Washing is a routine part of commercial egg processing and eggs do not need to be washed again. Extra handling of the eggs could increase the risk of cross-contamination, especially if the shell becomes cracked.