The next series of food safety blogs will be related to food handler behavior. Personal habits of food handlers can have a direct impact on the safety of food. Food handlers can unintentionally become carriers of pathogenic micro-organisms to food or food contact surfaces. A few common personal hygiene behaviors are provided below for food handlers to follow in order to avoid food borne illnesses. Ensuring control of personal habits can prevent food borne illnesses from occurring.

Follow Proper Tasting Methods

It is important that proper techniques are used for tasting food. Do not use your finger, mixing spoon or tongs to taste food. These can introduce pathogenic micro-organisms into the food that can result in illness.

Taste testing can be done in two ways:

• Transfer a small amount of food into a separate bowl and then taste it from there.
• Use a clean spoon to taste the food. Once food has been tasted, the dirty spoon must be washed in the dishwashing area.

Top five tips for tasting food for food handlers

Now that you know that food tasting can be done in two ways, here are some important tips that you must follow, as a food handler, to taste it like a pro:

• Smell it – A fact about food tasting, which not many people know, is that 90% of taste is tied to smell. So, before you start your first bite of the dish, make sure that you take a sniff. This gives you a fine skill of experiencing each flavor in the food.
• Leverage non-tongue taste – If you are new to the industry, you must know that not all taste receptors are located on the tongue. There are many food receptors that are located on the top of your mouth. So make sure to use all the taste receptors in your mouth.
• Try a fresh and clean utensil – As we already mentioned that your smell skills play a vital role when you want to taste something, so make sure that you are using a fresh utensil that is free from any kind of bad odor. Using clean dishes is very important for the food handlers to taste like a Pro.

Among the best ways to prevent food borne illness is be getting the proper training in food safety.

This not just helps you ensure proper food handling, but also ensures the safety of your customers by preventing any kind of food-borne disease due to cross-contamination. When you know how to safety handle food at work, you know that you are taking good care of the safety of your food.

Probe It Food Safety provides food handlers with a flexible and convenient option to learn about food safety. Whether you need to be a certified food handler or simply want to learn more about food safety the online food handler course is perfect for you. Click here to learn more about the online food handler certification course.