SITEX Celebrates World Health Day
Your favorite restaurant likely has beautifully set tables and great food, but all it takes is one tiny thing, microscopic in fact, to bring that all down: food poisoning. Each year, 1 in 6 Americans contract some foodborne illness after consuming contaminated food, which is why food safety is the topic of the World Health Organization’s 2015 World Health Day.
Tomorrow, international organizations dedicated to food safety will be giving talks and providing educational materials on how to make your kitchen and food safer for everyone. SITEX believes in this mission wholeheartedly, and take food safety very seriously in our own facilities.
What does SITEX have to do with food safety?
WHO identified the need to communicate simple global messages based on scientific evidence to promote safe food for all types of food handlers, including the consumer. In doing this, they also highlighted five keys to keeping your food safe:
- Key 1: Keep Clean: Wash your hands often, and protect all surfaces and equipment that are used in food preparation.
- Key 2: Separate raw and cooked food: Store food in separate contains to avoid cross contamination, and especially take care to separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from other foods.
- Key 3: Cook thoroughly: Especially meat, poultry, eggs and seafood. Bring all foods to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit, and make sure to reheat cooked food to an appropriate temperature.
- Key 4: Keep food at safe temperatures: Do not leave cooked food at room temperature for more than 2 hours, and be sure to refrigerate cooked food as soon as you can.
- Key 5: Use safe water and raw materials: Select fresh and wholesome foods, and wash all produce thoroughly if you plan to consume it raw.
While this information is good to know, points two through five are ineffective if the food you’re using is contaminated. A way this happens in otherwise stellar kitchens is from contaminated or improperly designed linens, which can contribute to the spread of germs and illness. This is where SITEX steps in, stopping the chances of food contamination from your garments or linens with our food and medical grade products, microorganism-killing washing systems, and production line that separates out items used in kitchens from our other linens.
All of SITEX’s linens used in food service industries have been subjected to extensive testing and are designed to be the most effective at cleaning and are easily cleaned ensuring no food residue or microorganisms survive the wash process. SITEX purchases textiles that are non-toxic and are manufactured according to ASTM standards to be used in healthcare and medical services, food processing and food service. We wash all our food service and medical grade garments at higher temperatures to increase the water solubility, increase our detergent’s effectiveness, and to ensure all organic materials are eliminated from linens of all wash classifications.
We continue providing the best care for your garments with a bleaching operation to remove anything that may have survived the washing process, and dry your garments and linens with a direct, high heat, which can reach a temperature up to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. SITEX knows the importance of food safety, and takes all steps necessary to protect you and your customers.
As we recognize World Health Day tomorrow, consider if you’re making the best choices for your customer’s health in all aspects of your business. Are you choosing the best food available and using food safety best practice? Are all objects coming in contact with your food safe and sterilized? If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions, it may be time to rethink what you’re doing, and time to give SITEX a call 800.278.3537.