SchoolFoodHandler.com Offers 9 Quick Tips for Serving Safe Meals to Students During Coronavirus School Closures

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Mar 19, 2020, 08:02 ET

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. and TUCSON, Ariz., March 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- There are over 30 million children nationwide who rely heavily on school meals for their basic nutrition every day.

SchoolFoodHandler.com has developed a first-in-the nation set of Standard Operating Procedures for schools who are now serving breakfasts and lunch in a never before done way.

"During this period of uncertainty and change school districts nationwide are in uncharted territory. All across the country child nutrition heroes are stepping up to ensure that there are no hungry children in their communities," said Bart Christian, Chairman of the Board of Food Handler Solutions and SchoolFoodHandler.com. He is a nationally recognized speaker with over 25 years in food safety education and has authored two top-selling books along with more than 100 food safety education plans used by K-12 child nutrition departments nationwide.

"We recognized there was absolutely no guidance for school districts on these new non-congregate feeding procedures. The moment school closures were first announced we immediately put our team to work so the first day back school districts would have access to the information they needed. All of us at SchoolFoodHandler.com prioritize the health and safety of our community and loved ones above all else," said West Christian, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Operations, who has more than 12 years in the food safety and restaurant market and has performed education sessions across the country.

These procedures can be downloaded at http://schoolfoodhandler.com/non-congregate-feeding-k12

In addition, here are 9 quick tips for child nutrition departments to ensure that meals are being served in manner that ensures the health and safety of both their customers and their staff.

1. Be sure all staff, delivery drivers and volunteers are properly trained. A free national, accredited food safety course is available at www.FoodHandlerSolutions.com/coronavirus

2. Use common sense in terms of personal health. Wash your hands throughout the day, stay home if you are sick and sneeze or cough cover your mouth properly.

3. Clean and disinfect every "touch" surface like carts, doorknobs and push bars, faucet and equipment handles to name a few, over and over again during the day.

4. Follow standard operating procedures for Hand Washing, Personal Hygiene, Holding Foods along with Proper Glove Use throughout the day. These are all available at http://schoolfoodhandler.com/non-congregate-feeding-k12

5. If shelf-stable foods are used, be sure to abide by the FIFO rule – "First In, First Out"

6. When packing all foods, wear food service gloves. Some people who show no signs of the virus may still be carrying the pathogen. The virus has shown to have an extended life on surfaces.

7. Before serving, it might be a good idea to label meals with a "prep date" and/or "consume by date." This particularly important where shelf-stable foods are not being used.

8. When serving meals to children in their cars or from a delivery vehicle (like a school bus), wear food service gloves at all times even if food is sealed in a container. Wearing gloves will instill confidence that you are doing everything you can to protect the food from possible contamination. Remove gloves if they come into contact with another person or a surface that may not have been disinfected.

9. At the end of the day wash, rinse and sanitize all food contact surfaces and disinfect and sanitize all non-food contact and touch surfaces.

"Thank you for this wonderful resource. I appreciate the quick response and the understanding of what is needed before it is even asked for! The fact that you put in the work and offered it up as a free resource to everyone speaks volumes," said Cory Alexander, Child Nutrition Director at Osborn School District in Phoenix, AZ.

"Our mission in this fight against COVID-19 is to provide the best tools and education to school districts nationwide. Child nutrition safety is our passion," said Bart Christian.

About the Company

Food Handler Solutions - www.FoodHandlerSolutions.com / www.SchoolFoodHandler.com - is a food safety training company that provides ANSI Accredited Food Safety Education programs across the United States. Established in 2015, Food Handler Solutions provides training and tracking tools for school and restaurant food handlers.

Food Handler Solutions has offices in Tucson, AZ and Laguna Beach, CA.

For more information, please call: