Bar Safety and Hygiene

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Understand the importance of maintaining cleanliness and good hygiene practices behind the bar. Learn about safe handling of equipment and ingredients, and how to avoid cross-contamination.

Personal hygiene: Ensuring personal hygiene is maintained before and during work is critical to prevent the spread of germs and bacteria.
Food safety: Understanding food safety is essential to avoid food poisoning and to maintain the health of customers. This includes proper handling, storage and preparation of food.
Sanitation: Proper sanitation of bar equipment, including glasses, shakers, and dispensers, is vital to prevent contamination and the spread of diseases.
Safe handling of hazardous liquids: Knowing how to handle hazardous liquids, such as cleaning chemicals or alcohol, and following proper safety protocols, is necessary to prevent accidents.
Fire safety: Being familiar with fire safety protocols and having fire safety equipment readily available can save lives in emergency situations.
First aid: Knowing how to administer basic first aid and having access to a first aid kit is essential in case of accidents at the bar.
Alcohol awareness: Understanding the effects of alcohol and the dangers of overconsumption is important for all bartenders to avoid unnecessary risks.
Customer service: Ensuring customers are happy and well catered for in a safe and hygienic environment is key to the success of any bar.
Legal requirements: Knowing and complying with legal requirements around health and safety is essential for your bar to operate lawfully.
Emergency procedures: Being familiar with emergency procedures and having evacuation plans in place is necessary to protect employees and customers in an emergency situation.
Hand hygiene: Hand hygiene is critical in bartending as the hands come into contact with a lot of surfaces and ingredients.
Glassware hygiene: All glassware used for serving drinks should be thoroughly cleaned, dried, and stored in a clean environment.
Ice hygiene: Ice should be made from clean, fresh water and should be handled with clean hands and utensils to prevent contamination.
Utensil hygiene: Utensils such as shakers, jiggers, and strainers should be cleaned thoroughly between uses to prevent cross-contamination.
Surface hygiene: Bartenders should regularly sanitize all surfaces, including bar tops, prep areas, and equipment to prevent the buildup of bacteria.
Ingredient hygiene: All ingredients, including garnishes, should be washed, stored, handled, and used properly.
Personal hygiene: Bartenders should maintain high personal hygiene standards, including showering regularly, wearing clean clothes, tying back long hair, and avoiding handling food or money with their bare hands.
Food safety: Bartenders should be aware of food safety guidelines, as many bars also serve food.
Environmental hygiene: The environment surrounding the bar should be kept clean, and pests should be prevented through proper waste disposal and cleaning of the bar area.
Storage hygiene: Proper storage of ingredients, equipment, and cleaning supplies is crucial to keeping the bar area clean and free of contamination.
"Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness."
"The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak."
"In this way, food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers."
"Food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods."
"The usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer."
"Food safety, nutrition, and food security are closely related. Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well."
"The main types of pathogens are bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungus."
"Food can also serve as a growth and reproductive medium for pathogens."
"In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries there are fewer standards and less enforcement of those standards."
"In the US, in 1999, 5,000 deaths per year were related to foodborne pathogens."
"In theory, food poisoning is 100% preventable."
"This cannot be achieved due to the number of persons involved in the supply chain, as well as the fact that pathogens can be introduced into foods no matter how many precautions are taken."
"The origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods."
"Another main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item in the spreading of diseases."
"Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well."
"Food can transmit pathogens, which can result in the illness or death of the person or other animals."
"The concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer."
"In lesser developed countries there are fewer standards and less enforcement of those standards."
"Food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers."
"Food hygiene is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness."