OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Outlook on Dining Safety Issues— And How ServSafe Can Help
By Sara Wildberger T
he National Restaurant Associa- tion’s ServSafe™ program is widely respected in the foodservice industry
as the leader in food safety training and cer- tification, offering resources and examina- tions created by foodservice and regulatory experts. Argentum is the only senior living industry association providing discounts to members for this required training. Through the pandemic, as many changes
came to senior living dining and even more to the restaurant industry, ServSafe kept ahead of the needs through offering free training resources, monitoring content for any chang- es needed, and making its paid training and examinations virtual when possible. In this interview, senior vice president
Larry Lynch addresses some of the changes and essentials to know through this time.
Q. Did many food safety issues need to change because of COVID-19 considerations? A. From the beginning of the pandemic, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have been emphatic that this is not a foodborne illness; COVID is clearly a viral issue and not something that’s transmitted by food. Be- cause of that, the FDA has been hesitant to make adjustments to the food code, which is a big piece of what drives ServSafe training. However, there are elements of the food code that do address viral transmission and health and safety issues because we still have issues with for instance influenza and noro- virus. A side effect of COVID is getting back to the basics that we teach in ServSafe. Prob- ably 80 of what people had to do to protect themselves and their guests we were already doing—or people should have been doing if they were trained properly. It was pretty simple: If an employee is sick, keep them
home; wash your hands; keep things clean. Now, however, we’ve gotten a little more
prescriptive in what that means: How to wash your hands, how often to wash, when you change out gloves, when gloves should be used. Guidance about cleaning and sanitizing itself is similar, but you need to pay more attention to the kinds of sanitizers you’re using, and the suppliers. But there’s far more awareness through-
out the industry of the risks to employees, and the importance of keeping employees healthy and safe.
Q. What sorts of changes do you see as here to stay? A. Presuming we begin to move to a more endemic phase, we’ll probably shift to re- lating some advice on a regular basis that focuses on employee safety and guest, or in your case, resident, safety. Some of the changes you’ve made in
the senior living industry, going from three meals a day in one big room to using out- door and small tables are absolutely the right thing—avoiding those large congre- gate settings by spreading people out. Also, as we move forward, we’re seeing a
better comfort level with face coverings. The fact that you have greater accessibility now, particularly to the N95 and KN95 masks, which have greater efficacy, also helps. Another factor is testing. Before, if an employee felt like they may be getting the
RESOURCES
• ServSafe offers free COVID-19 guidance on precautions and on re-opening at
servsafe.com
• Argentum members get a 20 percent discount on ServSafe training: Visit
argentum.org/servsafe
MARCH/APRIL 2022
ARGENTUM.ORG 43
Change Agent Profile
Larry Lynch, FASAE, CAE Senior vice president, health, safety, and regulatory services National Restaurant Association
flu, they had to go to a doctor to find out what it was. I’m hearing about new rapid tests due to come out: These won’t just test for COVID-19, but for influenza A and in- fluenza B. So we’ll have more tools by fall. Air circulation is a big unknown. It needs
to be addressed in concert with different industries. We participate with the Inter- national Code Commission (ICC), which is taking a look at building code to understand what can be done to improve air circulation from a safety perspective. We’re working on ensuring that as building codes change, it dovetails with what we’re doing in terms of teaching people health and safety. We update our COVID resources and
the free courses and try to relate and ex- plain CDC guidance. I think our biggest challenge now is trying to keep the indus- try guided in terms of what has become a rapidly changing series of messages coming from the federal government.
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