Food Service businesses are now gearing up to reopen their business and manage the recovery of their business, as each state and territory lift restrictions on restaurants, caterers, events, accommodation, pubs and clubs.
To ensure no set backs and compliance to the Government requirements, businesses need to be informed, plan for success, and support both staff, and customers to work and transact in a safe manner.
Each business will need to determine a new way of operating, with increased protections for all in place.
There are a number of excellent resources to assist.

• COVID-19 Infection control training from the Australian Department of Health. Link is here
• Food Service free training from NSW Food Authority. COVID-19 awareness for food service is a free, voluntary online course
• Restaurant & Catering have a Corona Virus information hub.
  This includes a  Checklist for restaurants and cafes.
  Training for managers and supervisors COVID -19 Hospitality Best Practice 
• NAFDA Food Service Distributors have a excellent Recovery Toolkit.
  This guide covers tips, links and resources for 
  -Business, Safety, Staff, Menu, Takeaway, Service,  and Marketing and Promotion.
• FSANZ has information on Corona Virus and food safety.
  This includes a link to all state authorities with advice for reopening.
• Safe work Australia has a workplace checklist
• NSW Food Authority has advice for food businesses
  This includes a link to the joint food regulation voluntary checklist to ensure your business is ready to reopen  ( see file below)
• ​NSW Government has various  COVID 19 Safety Plan checklists. Here is the one for Restaurants and Cafes .If you complete a COVID-19 Safety Plan the business can now register as a COVID Safe business.
  
  

​​Correct Food Systems advises all businesses that are reopening to determine an plan that is specific to your operation and will work for management, staff and customers, allowing the business to safely move forward and reopen in the new COVID 19 society.

CFS offers these reminders to businesses, who are operating during the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, or those businesses who are planning to re open, once lockdown restrictions are lifted.

As discussed in the  the CFS U Tube videos and elsewhere, operating of a food business in these times requires each food business to maintain food safety practices.
Operating in these times should see a reinforcement in the importance of procedures such as 

• Health status of staff and any visitors.
• Staff routinely wear PPE (gloves, overalls, protective clothing),
• Strict hand washing procedures, 
• Rigorous, effective cleaning and sanitising programs throughout the entire facility, 

Businesses should implement additional strategies such as 

• Arrangements and procedures to support social distancing between employees (at least 1.5m)
• Review the shift arrangements and social interaction of workforce.
  Consider separation of shifts with staggered work hours, lunch breaks.
  Separation of work teams or pods of people.
• Limit or control people, and their movement within the business.
  Identify any roles that can work remotely, from home.
  Minimise any business meetings, sales visits - consider remote/ alternative meeting strategies.
  Discourage congregation of staff/ people on tea rooms, amenities or car parks.
  Control entry and exit of people/ customers.
• Additional handwashing and sanitising points should be set up throughout the business
• Health checks should be done on a daily basis to review the health status of workers. e.g. do staff report feeling unwell with any flu like symptoms (sore throat, fever, cough)?
  Encourage staff to report any minor symptoms of illness, without retribution
• Provide sufficient hours to encourage staff to work solely for the one business. 
  Staff to report if they have worked or attended another business.
• Multiskill, upskill or plan for any essential workers/ roles to be covered should that critical person/ role be infected and need to self isolate for 14 days or longer.
• Plan for infection. Have a plan for if/ when a worker or person reports ill, or a positive Covid 19 result. Quick and timely quarantine of confirmed cases and close contacts is essential to prevent further illness, and may avoid complete shutdown of the business.
  All businesses must work with local public health authorities to rapidly trace any close contact of an infected employee to minimise further risk of spread.
  Prompt tracing of close contacts in the workplace ( work colleagues, and visitors) will be essential.

​
Each State and Territory Health Authority has information for businesses during these times.
NSW Food Authority has some guidance available at 
https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/help/covid-19-advice-for-businesses

https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/resource-library/COVID-19-Coronavirus

With the relaxation of state and territory planning laws, and allowances for changes of scope of business activities in the food service industry, many restaurants and caterers are finding alternative ways of selling their produce. We have seen many businesses offer delivery services for meals, ready to eat, or offering meal or grocery meal components.
Here are some reminders on food safety for home deliveries.
There is also a useful resource sheet published by The Victorian Health Department :
https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/food-safety/food-businesses/food-how-to-keep-it-safe/food-business-home-delivery-guide.

• Prevent contamination- including cross contamination from product to product- including microbial and allergen cross contamination. All packaging should be in tact.
• Allergens and other information such as storage conditions need to be available, at the request of the customer.
• Deliveries of cold food should be < 5 degrees C. Frozen food should be hard frozen.
  Hot food should be hot > 60 degrees C. The normal food safety temperature controls in the Food Standards Code applies to deliveries of food.
• Aim to maintain the temperature controls by using refridgerators , eskies, ice packs.
  Be aware- ice packs may not keep the food under 5 degrees C, but will reduce the temperature and prevent a rise to temperatures where bacterial growth is rapid- ie 20+.
  Should you not be able to control the temperature within the limits , ie < 5 degrees then the 2/4 hour storage rule applies. That means the packing and the delivery should be achieved less than <2 hours, given the customer will be then placing this back in their refrigerator.
• If you can show that the ice packs successfully keep the food temperature under 5 degrees then you don’t need to worry about the delivery time limits.
  Alternative may be to put all perishable items in one central esky, powered refrigerator, and maintain the temperature of those perishable items to less than 5 degrees and assemble the customer package on arrival at each address/ site.
• There should be some records- Packed time, it left the refrigerator and time of last delivery is one such option.
  or temperature of last perishable item.
  Aim for 30- 1 hour delivery time for last delivery…
  Have instructions for delivery staff if delivery time  or temperature exceeds limit.
• Let customers know of delivery time, so they are home and can place the food quickly in their refrigerator.
  Advise of need to store in the refrigerator.
  The customer should be advised that the safety of food cannot be guaranteed if it has been left unattended.​

Correct Food Systems will continue to post useful Corona Virus documents here on this website/ blog / news page for our client to refer to or pass on....
​
Verification of Domestic Dishwasher effective in destroying Corona Virus on cutlery and crockery.
Validation evidence for killing COVID19 in a domestic dishwasher, provided the correct chemicals are used at the correct rate.
Refer to documents below:

Verification of Environmental Cleaning and Sanitation for COVID 19
South Australia has updated their information about how to effectively clean and sanitise surfaces during the COVID 19 Pandemic

Through handwashing is the best defense for Corona Virus.
Food businesses are reminded to ensure all personnel wash their hands - throughly.
Now is the time to be reminded of the correct technique. Here are some useful handwashing resources:

• Handwashing -visual demonstration, short video
• Wash your hands to the lyrics of any song- make your own poster
• Range of posters- CDC
• Keep calm and wash your hands
• QLD Health simple poster
• NSW Food Authority

Other handwashing resources can be sourced from:
​www.postermywall.com/index.php/s/hand-washing-poster-pdf/all

Correct Food Systems has been approached by a few client businesses asking how to handle the risk of Coronavirus  when handling food and the issue of staff wearing masks etc.
Here is the World Health Organisation's advice  and the South Australian Governments advice on environmental hygiene that we would encourage every business to follow.
Advice for food handlers at this stage is inline with normal infection control procedures.
Here is the general advice to prevent spread of infection.
This includes:

• Cleaning and disinfection is recommended. This can be accomplished using a two-step process, or a combined detergent/disinfectant product.
• Chemical sanitisers shown to be effective are:
  -a TGA approved (registered or listed) hospital-grade disinfectant, preferably with label claims against coronavirus, or
  - a chlorine-base product such as sodium hypochlorite at 1,000 ppm available chlorine
  - Other sanitisers at certain dosages as listed by South Australia Health
   See South Australia Government guideline for Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): environmental management 
• Dishwashers with a effective sanitising cycle- over 82°C hot rinse cycle with a chemical sanitiser
• Enforce thorough and frequent handwashing and hand drying
• Enforce PPE , gloves guards etc when handling ready to eat food
• Cooking of foods to 75°C or equivalent.
• Avoid touching your mouth, eyes and nose
• Practice respiratory hygiene- covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately.
• Food Handlers must not work with food if symptomatic of a contagious illness, such as corona virus.
• Staff and businesses should follow advice and instructions from their local  health and food authority.
• Use disposable cleaning equipment and cloths where possible
• Allow staff to wear masks if they feel the necessity to do so. This is not the norm at the moment.
• Dishwashers with a effective sanitising cycle- over 82°C hot rinse cycle with a chemical sanitiser

Correct Food Systems will issue any advice should the circumstances in Australia change.

Correct Food Systems works with clients to develop product ideas and bring them to fruition.
Recently our food technologist and consultant Kim Staples featured in a major advertisement for CGU small business insurance, working with the owner of "Domuts"- Doughnuts Treats for Dogs. Kim worked to refine the product recipe, source a suitable icing solution, conduct shelf life testing and source suitable packaging solutions. Well done Kim, Well done Domuts on a sucessful small business launch.
See the story here:
https://www.cgu.com.au/abn-rescue/
See the Domuts TV commercial here:
https://youtu.be/kSR4CWTX-Cc

Woolworths have issued a new Code of Practice on Food Safety Culture.
This applies to those supplying a Woolworth's Branded Product, who are certified as Approved Suppliers using the Woolworths Supplier Excellence Program.
This Code of Practice follows in work done  by the GFSI institute.
BRC also has a requirement that businesses take steps to implement a positive proactive culture that builds and develops Food Safety throughout all sections and levels of the business. Demonstrated leadership  and commitment by senior management is a key requirement of both the Woolworths Code of Practice and BRC.

Correct Food Systems has developed excellent resources that will assist any business to assess the internal culture, and take actions steps to improve the values and commitment to food safety across the business.

We have a dedicated presentation suitable for management and QA on " Exploring Food Safety Culture" to assist and start the discussion and plans for the business.
Need some tools and  means to assess the culture in your business- we have surveys, questionnaires and SWOT analysis forms.  These are designed to meet the requirements of WSEP and BRC schemes, as well as incorporate FSANZ content.
We have staff training material to assist staff to understand the importance of food safety to the business.
Let us provide some guidance on how to develop and document the food safety culture within your business.