Food and Placenta Safety – For Football Fans and New Moms
I have a child that plays the trumpet in our local high school band. As a band parent I am expected to volunteer and one of the jobs that I do frequently is working in the concession stand during the Friday night football games. One Friday as I was serving nachos to hungry football fans, I realized that working in the concession stand and encapsulating placentas have a lot in common, and it all revolves around food and placenta safety.
What is Safe Food?
The State of Texas has regulations that people who handle food are expected to follow in order to insure the public health. Those who work in restaurants and other places that serve food take a class and earn a Food Handler’s Card. As placenta encapsulators, we take this class and carry a Food Handler’s Card too. The state does not require it (and not all encapsulators choose to get this training) but at Great Expectations, we feel taking this extra step is important in showing our commitment to our clients’ safety. While the class does not focus on placenta safety, it does teach many important concepts like proper hand washing and the most practical information concerns keeping food safe during preparation, storage and in properly cleaning surfaces used to prepare food (think bleach).
Temperature
When I am working in concessions, one of the most important tasks is to make sure we sell nachos – lots of nachos. In order to do this safely the nacho “cheese” (and I really do use that term loosely) has to be heated appropriately so that the internal temperature is safe. We do the same thing with the chili that is often requested to go on top of the nachos. When I am in charge of the nacho toppings I often have to measure the internal temperature several times and do some more microwaving to make sure the temperature is safe for us to sell our nachos to hungry football fans.
Do you know when I else I measure internal temperatures? When I steam placentas of course! If our placenta clients have chosen the steamed method of processing (also called Traditional Method), monitoring the internal temperature while the placenta is steaming is one of our tasks. When we process using raw prep we also monitor the temperature by ensuring the placenta is kept very cold until it is put in a food safe temperature dehydrator. Making sure your placenta is an appropriate temperature at all times is one of our biggest jobs when it comes to the placenta safety during the encapsulation process.
All the Cute Hats
Another thing volunteering for band in the concession stand has in common with placenta safety? The cute hats. They are not just for to look cute doing our job though, hats are another thing required for food handlers – we have to cover our hair. Nobody wants hair in their nachos – or their placenta pills!
Do you have any questions about Great Expectations commitment to safety or what we do to ensure that we have the highest level of safety at every step of our process? Contact us and let’s chat food safety!