Food Safety
Food, Lodging & Pools routinely inspects all food service businesses in the City of Minneapolis. Businesses include restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, caterers, groceries and confectionery stores, meat markets, farmers markets, short term events where food sold or given away, vending machines, indoor food carts, and ice-cream and mobile vendors (food trucks).
Food Safety Videos
Food safety videos educate viewers about commercial kitchen food safety. The videos, produced by the City of Minneapolis Health Department, are for staff and managers of commercial kitchens.
Video titles are Be Your Own Food Safety Inspector, Times and Temperatures, Safe Facilities and Equipment, Employee Health and Hygiene and Protection from Contamination.
Food safety inspection video pages by language:
Resources
Time as a Public Health Control Form (PDF) - English, Español, Soomaali, Hmoob, Tiếng Việt, Korean
Non-continuous cooking (par-cooking) form (PDF) - English, Spanish
Conscious choking poster (PDF) - English
Preventing foodborne illness at large events (PDF) - English, Spanish
Self-Inspection Checklists and Temperature Logs
Self-inspections and logging temperatures create internal peer to peer learning, strengthen training efforts by the person in charge, change facility standards and make businesses safer and more successful. Materials are available in multiple languages.
- Food Service daily checklist (PDF) - English, Español, Soomaali, Hmoob, Tiếng Việt, 中文 , Thai, Bengali, Korean, Arabic, Telugu
- Food Temperature Log (PDF) - English, Español, Soomaali, Hmoob, Vietnamese, 中文, Thai, Bengali, Korean, Arabic, Telugu
- Cooling Log (PDF) - English, Español, Soomaali, Hmoob, Tiếng Việt, 中文, Thai, Bengali, Korean, Arabic, Telugu
- Management Self-Inspection checklist (PDF) - English, Español, Soomaali, Hmoob, Vietnamese, 中文, Thai, Bengali, Korean, Arabic, Telugu
Employee Illness
Infected food workers present a severe food safety risk.
The person in charge is required to notify the local health department or the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) if any food employees are known to be infected with
- Salmonella
- Shigella
- Shiga toxin-producing E. coli
- Hepatitis A virus
- Norovirus
- Another bacterial, viral or parasitic pathogen.
- Employee Illness Log (MDH) (PDF) - English, Español, 中文
- Minneapolis Sick and Safe Time for food businesses (PDF)
- Employee Illness Decision Guide (MDH) (PDF)
- Employee Do Not Work flyer (MDH) (PDF)
- Norovirus flyer (PDF) English, Español
- How to clean up vomit and diarrhea (PDF) - helpful instruction from Olmstead County, MN
Be a Germ-Buster, Wash Your Hands poster
This poster shows the six steps to cleaner hands.
Visit the MN Department of Health website for posters in Somali, Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Nepalese, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
Food Protection Self-Audit Picture Guide and Poster Set
This picture guide and poster set can be paired with the self-inspection checklist and temperature logs above. It can be especially useful for staff training where language or literacy barriers exist.
- Food Protection Self-Audit Picture and Poster Set (PDF) - English, Español, Soomaali, Hmoob, Tiếng Việt, 中文
Food Safety Posters
- Keep Hot Foods Hot (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Keep Cold Foods Cold (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Cooling Time (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Is it done yet? Cooking Temperatures (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Safe Refrigerator Storage (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Date Marking (PDF) -English, Spanish
- No Bare Hand Contact (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Shellstock tags (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Handwashing: No one wants to eat your poop (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Cooling in Shallow Pans (PDF) - English, Spanish
- Cooling with Ice (PDF) - English, Spanish
Service animals in food businesses
Are service animals allowed in food businesses? Are emotional support animals allowed in food businesses?
Find the answers in the Service Animals in Food businesses flyer (PDF).
Impersonating a service animal is illegal poster (PDF) from Hospitality Minnesota and the Minnesota Council on Disability.
Foodborne Illness Risks
Minimize your risk of foodborne illness. Review your business's food handling practices.
The five main risk factors for foodborne illnesses are:
- Improper hot and cold holding of food
- Not cooking foods to proper temperatures
- Cross-contaminating food
- Poor personal hygiene
- Purchasing food from unsafe sources
To reduce foodborne illness risks:
- Keep cold foods below 41 degrees.
- Keep hot foods above 135 degrees. When holding hot foods, check the temperature every two hours. Reheat if needed to maintain a safe holding temperature.
- Prep raw meat, poultry, seafood and ready to eat ingredients separately. Use separate cutting boards, equipment and utensils or clean and sanitize all equipment and utensils after working with each ingredient.
- Anyone handling food should practice good personal hygiene. This includes proper handwashing and avoiding bare hand contact with ready to eat foods.
- Purchase food from approved, reputable suppliers. Know your suppliers and their food safety practices.
For more information visit the Minnesota Department of Health website.
Norovirus
Norovirus information (PDF) English, Spanish
Norovirus infection is the leading cause of foodborne illness.
Norovirus is very contagious. Protect your patrons, employees and yourself with proper handwashing.
The most effective way to prevent the spread of norovirus is to wash your hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds:
- Before working with food.
- After handling raw animal products.
- After using the bathroom.
- After any activity that contaminates the hands.
- Wash your hands more often when someone in your household is sick.
When you are sick with vomiting and/or diarrhea do not work in a food establishment. Avoid preparing food while you have symptoms and for at least three days after you recover.
Remember
- No bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food including garnishes and ice.
- Practice proper glove use.
What if a sick customer or employee vomits or has diarrhea in your establishment?
- Clean up vomit and diarrhea right away. Wear protective clothing, gloves and mask. Use absorbent material to soak up liquids. Do not vacuum. Wash surfaces that contacted vomit or diarrhea with soapy water.
- Disinfect surfaces with a chlorine bleach solution.
- Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. Hand sanitizers may not be effective against norovirus
Botulism - Scarier than Halloween!
This is not your grandmother’s canned tomatoes!
Improper thawing of vacuum packed (Reduced Oxygen packaging - ROP) frozen fish is a breeding ground for botulism. The correct way to thaw frozen (ROP) fish is:
- Cut or peel open the packaging. This step is critical. Botulism spores can form if the packaging is not opened.
- Thaw in the refrigerator, under cool running water, or as part of the cooking process.
Health Inspectors are seeing frozen vacuum packed fish thawing in unopened packaging.
Vibrio Bacteria
A healthy person who is exposed to Vibrio may experience vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. People with compromised immune systems and pregnant women are at much greater risk.
Are you prepared if any of your customers become ill with Vibrio? Does your menu have the correct Consumer Warning? Are shellstock tags kept with the containers? After an oyster container is emptied, are tags kept for 90 days, and filed according to date?
Health Inspectors are seeing establishments that do not properly keep shellstock tags and records as required by the MN Food code.
Visit the CDC website for more information on Vibrio.
Ingredient and Allergen Labeling
Ingredient lists and food labeling are important to customers who must avoid a specific ingredient for medical or religious reasons. MN Food Code requires businesses to provide customers with information on ingredients and allergens on all foods served.
This includes the following:
- Keep the ingredient list from the label of food items purchased in a package, bag, box, can or bottle. Examples: packaged buns from a bakery, boxed pasta, prepared sauces, etc.
- Keep recipes in a centralized location to be able to answer ingredient and allergen questions from your customers.
- Properly label all food items prepared and packaged by your restaurant that are available for self-service. Food is packaged if the food business bottles, cans, cartons, wraps or bags the product and makes it available for self-service.
Labeling
The label on a food package tells consumers exactly what is inside the package. Food package label information must be written in English. There are five parts of a food label:
- Identity (name of food).
- Net Quantity of Contents.
- Ingredient List, including Major Food Allergens* (List all ingredients by their common or usual name)
- List all ingredients in descending order (most to least) by weight. If less than 2% by weight, an ingredient can be mentioned at the end of the list, stating “contains 2% or less of ____.”
- Include all sub-ingredients. Example: Flour (bleached wheat flour, malt barley, flour, niacin, iron, potassium thiamine, riboflavin).
- Include chemical preservatives and food coloring in descending order (most to least) by weight.
- Business Name and Address
- Nutrition Facts
Major food allergens
Allergen labeling is required for packaged food products that contain any of the eight major food allergens:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Fish
- Crustacean shellfish
- Tree nuts
- Peanuts
- Wheat
- Soy
Identify by name any major food allergens in the product, as part of the ingredient list. This must include protein derived from a major food allergen.
Use one of the following options:
- List the common or usual name of the food source, followed by the name of the allergen in parentheses. Example: flour (wheat), whey (milk).
- After the ingredient list, place the word “Contains:” followed by the food allergen. Example: Contains: wheat, milk.
For tree nuts, declare the specific type of nut. Examples: almonds, coconut, pecans. For fish or crustacean shellfish, declare the species. Examples: walleye, shrimp, lobster.
The Minnesota Department of Health has more information. View Food Labeling for Retail Food Establishments (PDF).
Accommodations
Should you require a reasonable accommodation in order to fully participate, or information in an alternative format, please contact 612-673-2301.
Para asistencia 612-673-2700 - Rau kev pab 612-673-2800 - Hadii aad Caawimaad u baahantahay 612-673-3500.
Last updated Jul 9, 2020
