10 Food Safety Facts That Will Make Your Team Say "Huh"
Quick quiz questions for huddles and training. Verified, a little surprising, and each one ties back to the floor.
A food safety culture never shows up overnight, and you can't buy one. It takes a long-term commitment made of many things, from small to big.
One of the best signs it's taking hold: people are engaged in huddles, meetings and training. As leaders, we're always looking for ways to keep those moments interesting.
Here are 10 facts to share at your next meeting. Use them as on-the-spot quiz questions, or just drop one in and watch the room react. The goal is the "I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years" look.
How to use these: read the question, let people guess out loud, then tap "Show the answer." The last line of each answer is what it means for your floor.
HACCP was invented for astronauts.
Ask your teamWho asked for the food safety system almost every plant uses today?
Show the answer
NASA. In 1959, NASA asked Pillsbury to make food for the first space missions that wouldn't crumble, because loose crumbs could float into instrument panels. Then it asked Pillsbury to guarantee that food was free of pathogens.
Pillsbury's answer was to prevent hazards instead of testing for them afterward, and that became HACCP.
On your floorEvery CCP you monitor started as a way to keep astronauts from getting sick where there was no one to call for help.
Your gloves are blue for a reason.
Ask your teamWhy are gloves, bandages and many plastic tools in food plants blue?
Show the answer
Because almost no food is naturally blue. A torn glove fingertip or a piece of bandage stands out against product, especially white powders like flour, sugar or milk powder, where a white or clear fragment would disappear.
On your floorBlue helps people catch a problem by eye, but it doesn't replace detectable materials or metal detection.
Wet hands spread far more bacteria than dry hands.
Ask your teamAfter washing, how much does skipping the drying step matter?
Show the answer
A lot. In a 1997 study, wet hands transferred about 31,000 bacteria to food. After the same hands were dried properly, that dropped to about 655. That's roughly 47 times more from wet hands.
On your floorDrying isn't the optional last step of handwashing. Leaving the station with damp hands undoes much of the wash.
The five-second rule is false, and it takes less than one second.
Ask your teamWhich picks up the most bacteria from the floor: watermelon, bread, buttered bread or gummy candy?
Show the answer
Watermelon. Rutgers researchers ran 2,560 measurements in 2016 and found bacteria start transferring in under one second. Wet foods picked up the most, gummy candy the least.
Surprisingly, carpet transferred much less than tile or stainless steel.
On your floorMoisture drives transfer. Wet product that touches a wet floor or surface is contaminated right away.
A mouse fits through a gap smaller than a dime.
Ask your teamHow small a gap does a house mouse need to get in?
Show the answer
Less than the width of a dime. Oklahoma State University Extension recommends sealing any gap larger than 1/4 inch.
On your floorA dock door that doesn't seal all the way, or a gap around a pipe, is wide open to rodents. If a pencil fits, a mouse fits.
Stainless steel is the hardest metal to detect.
Ask your teamWhy does your metal detector use three different test pieces?
Show the answer
Because metals don't read the same. In dry product, a 300-series stainless sphere has to be about 50% bigger than a ferrous one to give the same signal. In wet products like cheese or meat, it has to be 200% to 300% bigger.
Thin wire is worse: in its worst orientation, it reads like a sphere only as wide as the wire itself.
On your floorMost of your equipment is stainless steel. That's exactly why the stainless test piece matters most.
Allergens became a leading reason products get reported.
Ask your teamWhat share of reports to FDA's Reportable Food Registry involved undeclared allergens by its fifth year?
Show the answer
About 47%, up from 30% in its first year (2009 to 2014). That's not a contamination problem. It's mostly labels, changeovers and the wrong ingredient in the wrong batch.
On your floorLabel checks and changeover cleaning are some of the most important food safety jobs you have.
Water doesn't boil at 212°F everywhere.
Ask your teamWhat's wrong with calibrating thermometers in boiling water in Denver?
Show the answer
Water boils about 1°F lower for every 550 feet above sea level. In Denver, that's around 202°F. A thermometer "calibrated" to 212°F there would read about 10°F high.
That's why extension services recommend the ice-point method (32°F) instead.
On your floorUse an ice slurry, not a kettle, unless you know your elevation correction.
Some cold storage is underground, in an old limestone mine.
Ask your teamWhere in the US can a warehouse stay 65°F to 70°F year-round with no heating or air conditioning?
Show the answer
SubTropolis in Kansas City, an old limestone mine turned into more than 1,000 acres of business space. The rock keeps it around 65°F to 70°F naturally.
Operators report utility costs at least 50% lower than a regular warehouse, and about 70% lower for low-temperature storage.
On your floorEvery degree you keep out of a cooler saves energy. Door discipline and strip curtains are an easy way to do that.
A food safety decision put a CEO in prison for 28 years.
Ask your teamHow many years in prison did a peanut company owner get for a Salmonella outbreak?
Show the answer
In 2015, Stewart Parnell, owner of Peanut Corporation of America, got 28 years. Prosecutors showed he ordered shipments of peanut paste contaminated with Salmonella.
The outbreak sickened more than 700 people in 46 states, and nine died.
On your floorFood safety culture isn't a poster. It's what happens when a result comes back bad and someone has to decide whether the product ships.
Pick one fact per huddle. Ask the question before giving the answer, and let people argue a little. The ones who guess wrong usually remember it longest.