Cooking is your passion, and you have decided to set up a business after receiving positive feedback from your friends and family who have sampled your unique recipe.
You have already completed the paperwork and maybe even rented a commercial kitchen, or you have decided to have your home kitchen licensed. Where should you go from there?
Be Well Informed
If you’ve made a leap and made your hobby a commercial project, there are things that you must consider. Following Health Department regulations and food handling safety standards is top of the list.
Getting a kitchen in violation or negative grading from the inspector, or worse still, if a consumer falls ill after ingesting your product, could kill your business faster than you could imagine. To avoid such scenarios, it is crucial to ensure that you are aware of the dangers of food contamination and have received sufficient food handling training.
The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Services website is one of the most significant sources of such information. This is the official federal website that covers rules, regulations, recalls, and inspections. Your state may have additional regulations, so be sure to research the specifics for the state in which you are conducting business.
How to Ensure Safe Food Handling
Food safety is something that every food business owner must prioritize. Most of the safe and appropriate food safety handling practices are based on common sense. Good hygiene habits, wound care and covering, hand washing, and hair restraints are some of the most robust anti-contamination defenses. You and your staff must be trained in correct handwashing procedures, work area hygiene, and general sanitation standards.
Ensure that every member of your staff observes proper personal hygiene. All kitchen personnel should have well-clipped fingernails, clean clothes, and wear jewelry or other things that could fall into food and pose a danger to the consumers. All cuts should be bandaged and at least one glove worn over it. Double gloves should be worn over any open wound. No one with infections, flu, or colds should be allowed to handle food.
Since the Health Department conducts surprise inspections from time to time, always be prepared. Certified kitchens must demonstrate to the inspector that they can meet all state regulations. This includes kitchen line operations, trash disposal, refrigeration temperatures, and packaging procedures. Certified kitchens must also meet the electrical requirements, must have fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.
Keep Pets Away From the Kitchen
Since most homes have pets, you are bound to find them in home-based businesses as well. However, it is essential to note that pets should strictly stay out of a certified kitchen. You must demonstrate to the inspector that there is no pet activity taking place in the kitchen.
Many products have a “Use By” or “Freshness” date. Check to see if the raw materials and supplies you’re buying are still within the acceptable dates. Baking powder and other pantry staples might lose their strength and hence their efficacy in your recipes.
If you produce a product with an estimated shelf life, make sure that you communicate it to your consumer. “A best before date” is an essential customer protection technique, and it also builds their trust in your products. When creating your custom product labels, be sure to include this information on your label.
Conclusion
Having taken all hygiene and safety measures in food preparation, what remains is packaging your product. The staff handling packaging should also observe the same measures as the kitchen staff.
Since there is stiff competition in the market, it is good to ensure that the packaging speaks for itself while on the store shelves. Designing good packaging could be a bit difficult for inexperienced personnel. For effective packaging, contact a packaging company and get professional food bags for your food products.
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