How fly screens can help with food hygiene requirements for your business

Here at Strip Curtains Direct, we work with businesses in all sorts of niches as well as an increasing amount of food businesses. When you are thinking about setting up a food business it is essential to introduce ways of working that will ensure the food you are going to serve is safe to eat, right from the start.

Good food hygiene is based around four things:

Cleaning
Cooking
Chilling
Cross-contamination

So, let’s take a closer look at these in order:

Step One: Cleaning

In order to prevent harmful bacteria from spreading onto your food from dirty equipment and surfaces you should ensure your employees:

Clean and disinfect equipment and food areas between different tasks, especially if they have to deal with raw food.
Clean as they go, especially if they spill things.
Do not let food waste build-up.
Use only cleaning and disinfection products that are suitable for the job, and follow the manufacturer's instructions closely.
Make sure disinfectant products meet BS EN Standards - either BS EN 1276 or BS EN 13697.
Have a cleaning schedule and stick to it

Step Two: Cooking

Thorough cooking can help to kill any harmful bacteria in food as undercooked food has been known to cause food poisoning.

This video from the Food Standards Agency shows how to cook safely:

Step Three: Chilling

Chilling food correctly is another way you can stop harmful bacteria from growing. There are many foods that need to be chilled in order to be kept safe, including any food with a ‘use by’ date, any food that has been cooked, and other ready-to-eat food such as prepared desserts.

It is really important that these foods are not left standing around at room temperature, and so they should be put in the fridge straight away. Also, make regular checks to ensure your fridge and display units are cold enough. If you are having issues with regulating the temperature of your fridges or display units, then you should take a look at our polar-grade kits as these have been manufactured especially for cold stores, freezer rooms and refrigerated vehicles. They are suitable for temperatures from -40c to +25c.

Step Four: Cross-contamination

Cross-contamination is when bacteria is spread between equipment, food or surfaces. One of the most common ways this can happen is through flies entering the premises. Flies can transmit bacteria to food by regurgitating and or defecating on it after feeding. They can also contaminate food with bacteria that is already on their body when they land on it. Quite revolting!

Here at Strip Curtains Direct, we have a range of fly screens that can help to easily prevent this problem. Our fly screens are all made to measure and can be used for both commercial and domestic premises. They not only keep pests, such as flies out, but they allow air to flow through the premises - keeping employees happy too.

As well as flyscreens, we also offer fly screen doors and electric fly zappers as well as part of our pest control range, to make sure your food business is as protected as it can be.

This is just a brief overview of the things you need to think about when it comes to hygiene and your food business. If you have any questions about any of the products we have mentioned in this post, then please call the team on 0333 999 7171 or email us at sales @stripcurtainsdirect.com

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How fly screens can help with food hygiene requirements for your business