Free food-safety videos offered for restaurant workers

As restaurants contemplate their post-COVID path to recovery, one thing is certain: customer confidence that food is being handled safely will be a key factor to successfully reopening dining rooms. To help restaurant workers prepare, the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe program, which trains workers in food safety, is offering free courses through the end of the month.

Until April 30, the organization is waiving its fees for its online ServSafe Food Handler training course, with online assessment. Those who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion.

“It’s a two-hour program that is designed for front-line employees — the people who have to actually touch the food, clean, bus tables — to really understand the core elements of food safety,” explains Larry Lynch, senior vice president of science and industry for the National Restaurant Association.

In the meantime, to aid restaurants adjusting to the realities of pickup and delivery service as their dining rooms are closed, ServSafe has produced a pair of free training videos covering those topics. Titled “ServSafe Takeout: COVID-19 Precautions” and “ServSafe Delivery: COVID-19 Precautions,” each is designed to reinforce safe food handling during the coronavirus outbreak. They’re available in English or Spanish and run between 10 and 15 minutes.

“We want to make sure that the process is safe,” Lynch says of the new business models restaurants are adopting. “At the same time, we want to reassure the public that the restaurant industry is doing everything in its power to connect with everybody in this chain to make sure that the delivery system is safe.”

Both the training videos and the Food Handler course are available online at ServSafe.com.

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5250. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter.