I'm Certified

I just took a course to be a certified food manager. What does that mean? Every restaurant needs one person on staff who is certified. This person is responsible for ensuring that food stays safe throughout the restaurants operation. We are kind of like the food police.  

I was initially excited for the course because I thought it’d be like the motorcycle class I took a few years back.  There is no way to get that range of people in one room other than for something like motorcycles. In that class, I took a quiz with the guy next to me on motorcycle safety.  He reasoned the answers based on knowledge he learned in jail (so he kept saying). I sat behind a young lady who had a tattoo on the back of her neck which I swore was a particular lady part that I’m too shy to write here. I was hoping for similar fun in the Food Manager course.

It was a day-long course. Our instructor was eager, young and had spent 7 years training at McDonalds. The highlight? Drawing pictures of puke and toilets to illustrate common symptoms of Salmonella. The painful part? An afternoon of one cheesy video after another. Nothing like my motorcycle course that included riding a 250cc bike around an obstacle course.

Having no professional background in food service (not sure my stint in the kitchen at Pizza Hut as a teenager counts), I must admit the content of the class was very useful. I learned about the danger zone for food, 41 to 135 F. Dangerous pathogens grow during this time and so you cannot let food sit in this zone for more than four hours (and ideally no hours). I learned about the foods most likely to be contaminated, let’s just say most here. They shared how to store food to ensure that if there is cross contamination it can be cooked off. And then, of course, the memorization part; required heat level and cooking time for different food items to eliminate bad bacteria. Whew!

The make up of the class was also not as exciting as I had hoped. It ranged from a 35 year White Castle employee and a couple folks from Mickey’s Diner (that seemed very concerned about how long you can leave eggs out), to a resort cook from northern Minnesota. The latter gentleman enjoyed sharing his kitchen “war stories” which the instructor did not know how to curtail. I think that added an hour to the course throughout the day.

Honestly, they should have let me just read the book and test on it. The sections on basic hygiene and ­­­­­­­­­­pest management can be shortened to, “Don’t be gross,” and, “Call a professional.” The cleaning and sanitizing section I learned in 5 minutes doing dishes at Piccolo. As much as it’s important, it’s not rocket science ( I wonder what rocket scientists compare their jobs to?).

Most of what we covered is easy to expect of an establishment. Sandcastle can easily build in simple processes to ensure our food remains safe. However it is concerning that some of the suggestions to ensure food safety would preclude buying local and possibly even fresh. I also could not help but think about time spent in homes in other countries (remember that was my past career, I’m not being pretentious), and how it’s customary to leave food out all the time. Okay, maybe not in restaurants (but maybe there too actually). So a part of me thinks about how over-sanitized we can be. Yet, the rule follower in me will be sure to comply with all regulations!