Over the years catering and eating out have become more popular and ways to ease the pressure on the caterers and reduce their staffing costs have come in the way of equipment like salad bars. They are self serve stations and are very common with restaurants, mobile caterers and now even super markets. One of the main things the caterer using a salad bar has to think about is the fact that the food in the salad bar has to be safe, ways of them doing this are:

• Preparation – The process starts with the people working behind the salad bar preparing and cooking the food correctly before even placing it on the salad bar. This means they need to wash produce thoroughly under running water before cutting and preparing, this is because if you did this in standing water it would be possible for micro-organisms to move easily from one product to another. This also means if there is meat to be prepared then it is cut using the right knife and chopping board for if its raw or cooked, that’s why its one of the regulations that catering companies have colour coded knives and boards, if not they are violating laws in the Food Standards. It is also a regulation that the staff wear gloves when preparing the food, some groups state that its law for the staff to wear head wear as well. All these preparation steps are to prevent cross contamination from one food group to another.
• Accessories – Depending on the type of salad bar the caterer purchases it is possible for them to buy accessories that make the bar even safer such as sneeze guards. These are made from tempered glass or plastic and are fitted across the food bar below the mouth height of an average size person so if they were to sneeze it would guard the food from the germs that would be released.

There are many things that affect the foods standards the main factor being the temperature the food is kept at. The salad bars are supposed to prevent any problems with this as different salad bars tend to come with different departments for hot or cold foods. As well as the salad bar having the right equipment to keep the food in a good condition its essential the staff running the salad bar are properly trained this means they know when to change the different foods so they don’t spoil, know not to mix fresh food and food that is already on display, know to keep the wiping cloth in a sanitizing substance so to kill any bacteria that may form on the cloth, to clean up any spillages that may occur and to watch children carefully because they are more likely to place their hands in the food compartments.

So for caterers that have a salad bar it can create an easier eating environment for staff and customers if the bar is cared for properly and the staff know exactly what they are doing.