If you run a food business, it is absolutely critical to maintaining good hygiene standards not only for your reputation but also for the health and safety of your customers and employees. Restaurant managers need to carefully examine the kitchen areas to ensure the restaurant conforms to hygiene requirements. The best way to keep a tab of it is to maintain a Hygiene Log Sheet, that would ensure if you and your staff are keeping pace with required hygiene standards or not.
RailYatri, along with its partnered restaurants, promises to serve hygienic food on the train, at all times. And hence, they have come up with their ultimate hygiene checklist that must be followed to maintain hygiene standards in the kitchen.
Guidelines for Effective Hygiene Maintenance in your Restaurant’s Kitchen:
1. Storage
High-quality food products that you purchase are really not cheap. Hence, a storage plan maintains the integrity of everything that you purchase so that it can be used to the optimum and doesn’t go waste.
• First In, First Out: Product shelf-life and use-by dates are important for maintaining the quality of your foods. When stocking, place newer items in the back of your fridge and freezer.
• Label Everything: If date codes on food packages are small, write the dates in bigger numbers on the box before you store it, and be sure to place the items in the refrigerator so the dates are apparent.
• Store Meat Products on the Lower Shelves
• Store Delicate Products Away From Fans
• Food should be stored in containers with an air-tight seal.
• Cold Storage: The storage refrigerators must be capable of maintaining food temperatures between 0 -8 degree Celsius.
2. Food Preparation
A clean Food Preparation is one of the most important factors in determining the hygienic standards of the kitchen.
• Food Separation: Keep raw and ready to eat food separate when they are stored, prepared or displayed, to avoid cross-contamination. Ensure a thorough cleaning of surfaces before each food item is prepared. Wash your hands thoroughly after touching raw food.
• Cooking and Chilling: Cook thoroughly so that it kills all the harmful bacteria’s of the food. In case of meat or poultry, defrost the food first before cooking. Wash fruits and vegetables properly. You can serve immediately or check frequently that the food is kept hot until served. If cooking food in advance, cool and chill it quickly. Discard the food if not chilled within 2 hours.
3. Packaging
Presentation and packaging is an important piece of the overall food experience, not just for on-premise diners, but for your delivery customers as well.
• Keep Hot and cold food separate: Train delivery staff should use separate insulated hot and cold bags to keep food at the appropriate temperature.
Note: RailYatri is providing packaging for warm beverages such as baby milk, soups, tea in the state-of-art thermos.
• Place Side Dishes in the Sides: Reduce the risk of handing customers leaky containers by placing all food items in their own containers.
Note: RailYatri has come up with this ‘Wow Meal Box’ that gives you an option of selling spill-proof food to your passengers – and that too with a perfect packaging solution.
4. Staff Hygiene:
It is crucial that good standards of personal hygiene are met by the restaurant kitchen staff. Ensure that they wash your hands thoroughly before and after touching/preparing food. Also, avoid smoking, coughing, sneezing or use of any strong smelling perfumes in the kitchen. Ensure wearing hand gloves while preparing food.
5. Pest Control and Waste Management
• Kitchen premises to be kept clean in order to avoid access to insects or rodents.
• Frequent pest control programs in the restaurant’s building and kitchen premises.
• All waste products must be stored in containers that are pest-proof.
• Keep food waste off the areas where fresh food is prepared.
• Make proper arrangements for disposing off food waste to avoid any contamination.
The fact is, regular cleaning in a restaurant kitchen isn’t a choice and is just as important before you serve food as well as afterwards. Take your kitchen hygiene seriously and you’ll undoubtedly produce far better food and have happy customers.
ALSO READ: RailYatri’s Healthy Breakfast on the Move, Say NO to Oily Spicy Meals
So wonderful if this is now available. We always face problem when travelling long distances by train. The food we get on stations is not hygienic. And the train food is also sometimes not hot and tasty.
Now recently have noticed the food being a little better in taste but issue of hot n cold is always there.
If we can get such good hygienically prepared food on the go in train, it will be superb.
Now i m pinning this website for my future travels. Will certainly post comments when i taste n try one:-)
Thanks a lot for the update.
Yes u are right