5 Opportunities for Cross Contact in the Dining Room

One of the most harmful parts of having a food allergy is when the “clean” food comes in contact with a known allergen. Cross-contact can occur at any point during the flow of food through the operation.

1. Receiving: The flow of food within a restaurant begins when the food is delivered to the operation, during the point of receiving, the way boxes or cases of ingredients are stacked can cause cross-contact. All ingredients should be handled according to food safety principles and stored in their original containers.
2. Storage: Make sure that all ingredients are stored in their original container and the outsides of the containers are kept clean of spills and debris. If the dining room has a cooler for condiments or other service items, the cooler should be used strictly for service items. No personal items should be stored within that cooler. All items should be labelled and dated as well.
3. Preparation: This is when most cross-contact occurs because there are opportunities for both dining room and kitchen staff to touch and manipulate products. When preparing allergy-free food, there should be designated staff, equipment and space in the kitchen and prep area for this to happen. The designated staff should be following the recipe and not add any additional ingredients or change anything about the recipe. They also should read the guest check carefully so that the exact allergen is omitted from preparation and any possible garnish of the plate.
4. Service: This is another huge opportunity for cross-contact. Once the allergy-free menu item is produced and ready for delivery, only the designated table’s server or manager should deliver the plate. Before touching the plate, they should properly wash their hands; and this should be the only plate they carry. However, it is not simply the plate that could cause cross-contact, but the tray, the tray stand, and any condiments that the servers deliver to the table may also include residue of the allergen.  Any condiments for that guest should be portioned into individual serving cups and brought to them separately from the bottles and jars used for the table.

Other opportunities in the dining room for cross-contact:

1. Employee uniforms and uniform pockets hold a great deal of food debris and lots of bacteria. Every time the server puts their hand into their pocket, they pick up contaminates that they spread to every other thing they touch.
2. Servers handling multiple plates that may contain an allergen thus cross-contacting with an allergen-free plate. This includes not properly washing hands before handling the allergy-free plate.
3. The menu, if the operation still uses a physical document, needs to be washed, rinsed and sanitized after every use. This should be standard practice regardless of accommodating guests with allergens. The menu document holds food bacteria as well as other physical contaminates from every person who touches it.
4. Guest check folios should be treated like the menu document. It should be washed, rinsed and sanitized after every use. If the operation uses tabletop kiosk monitors, they should be washed, rinsed and sanitized at every table turn. Many times, these kiosks have games that children will play while waiting for their meal. As they are playing, they are leaving fingerprints and possibly food debris on the monitor screen, not to mention picking up contaminants from previous guests.
5. Communal condiments that the server presents, for example, cheese graters or pepper mills, bottles and jars that will be shared between guests.
6. Condiment containers and holders remaining on the table. Items that remain on the table between guest groups, such as salt and pepper, need to be washed, rinsed and sanitized as it is impossible to monitor every table, every guest, every time to see what they touch or manipulate. Assume that anything that remains on the table between guest groups will be touched or moved and therefore needs to be cleaned.
7. Something overlooked in many restaurants are the tables, specifically the sides and bottoms of the dining table, chairs and chair backs. Particular attention to the undersides of tables and chairs. Anywhere that the guests’ hands can touch. These areas are not cleaned often as they are out of sight, what is out of sight is out of mind. Because these are the areas that any guest can touch at any time, a cross-contact reaction can result.
8. Do not ignore or overlook non-traditional areas: the walls or partitions surrounding booths. Very often these areas have food debris, such as dried sauce, etc that has been splashed up by previous guests.
9. Serving trays. A standard practice should be to wash, rinse and sanitize after the tray is used. Especially when the server knows a guest with a food allergy will be using the table.
10. Tray stands. While not a food contact surface and the guest rarely touches the stand itself, but as a standard practice it should be cleaned and sanitized just as often as the trays.
11. Pre-set tableware and linen
12. Other overlooked areas include any contact surface that is part of the public space: light switches, door knobs, bar stools, bar top, bathroom contact surfaces, grab bars, railings, walls.

Yes, it should be noted that many of the items on the list should be included on a master cleaning sheet that may be part of the shift opening or closing duties, but with the rise of allergic reactions, more emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring these tasks are completed.