Employing good food safety at retail is a combination of folks identifying risks and putting in mitigation steps to address them. The rub is that you need to cultivate a good staff who values the stuff that keeps patrons from getting sick. The science and guidance is relatively easy compared to the people stuff.

Mad Eliza’s Cakes and Confections, a pastry and bakery shop in Topeka, KS sorta has the people stuff figured out, according to cjonline.com.

“It doesn’t matter what it is,” said co-owner Mark Murnahan, “I’m going to see it if it’s dirty.”

Murnahan said he has pretty high standards for his kitchen staff of four and constantly monitors everything to make sure they are in compliance. The KDA food guidelines, he said, are never farther than his laptop.

“I don’t want to serve anything I wouldn’t serve to my 98-year-old grandma or my 1-year-old son or anyone in between,” he said.

To accomplish that, Murnahan said, “training is critical” — and so is having a staff that cares about what it is serving.

“You have to know someone will take direction and have pride in what they serve,” he said. “Anyone who really wants to learn, the first thing they need to learn is food safety.”

“Anybody can have a good inspection,” Murnahan said. “It’s not hard to follow the rules. There are a lot, but once you know them, they’re really not hard to follow.”