 In this film, our purpose is to show you how to conduct sanitary surveillance and inspection in food service areas aboard ship as a part of the preventive medicine program. You will learn what to look for when inspecting food service personnel and how to evaluate their performance as they prepare equipment for food service, then serve the food and finally clean the food service area in the post meal period. Inside this ship, dishes are clean and dry, a good indication that close attention is being paid to proper sanitary procedures by food service personnel. It is your responsibility to conduct sanitary surveillance and inspections in food service and storage areas to identify factors that could lead to illness and to recommend corrective action. A board ship, your efforts have added significance since you could become a victim of shortcomings in your disease prevention efforts. Sanitary surveillance and inspection are continuing requirements that extend throughout the day, perhaps even while you pass through the serving line. You need to verify that responsible individuals inspect food service personnel daily. You should also monitor for communicable disease conditions that may have occurred since their initial physical examination. Nails will be clean and neat. Personnel will have no symptoms of respiratory disease and will be free of acne. Skin about the face and hands will be free of lesions or open cuts. And nails will be clean and trimmed short. Hair will be neatly trimmed and covered by a cap or other hair restraint while working in food service areas. Beards must be covered by an appropriate mask while food handling is performed. This prevention of foodborne disease depends so strongly on intercepting possible sources of infection before they can affect food service. You need to be sure that personnel with acne or open lesions of the face or neck or of the hands are prohibited from performing food service duty. In this case, inspection confirms that food service attendants are satisfactory, but there are other items of concern. While successfully have they absorbed and then put into practice, the information and procedures learned during food service orientation training. Formal training in food sanitation is a requirement established by the Secretary of the Navy for all mess management specialists. And you need to verify that these personnel have received the prescribed training. Additionally, food service attendants and the mess deck master at arms require orientation training in cleaning and dishwashing procedures, personal hygiene and food service techniques. But it is the frequent observation of actual practices in the course of the working day that tells you whether or not sanitation principles are being followed. For example, you are required to verify that prescribed hand washing facilities exist in or adjacent to food service facilities. These visits will also make it possible for you to monitor numerous other conditions in the food service area where sanitary principles must be applied. The multiple use of dispenser tubes is prohibited on milk dispensers and also on containers used for fruit juice or other beverages. Single service dispenser tubes are to be cut with a sanitized cutting instrument at a point one-quarter inch beyond the termination of the dispensing mechanism. Potentially hazardous foods such as milk and ice cream must be maintained within prescribed temperature ranges to remain safe for consumption. The temperature in bulk milk dispensers must be between 38 and 44 degrees Fahrenheit while milk containers are stored there. The same rules apply to reconstituted milk, for it must then be considered a potentially hazardous food as libel to spoilage or contamination as fresh whole milk. To ensure compliance with sanitary procedures, ice cream prepared from a mix should be blended in a sanitary manner. This procedure must be conducted only by personnel who have received proper training. In order to observe many of these procedures, it is necessary to inspect at different time intervals. Ice must meet the same sanitary standards as other food in terms of cleanliness and freedom from contamination. The scoop should be of smooth impervious material and stored outside the ice compartment or inside above the highest ice level. To prevent contamination of the ice supply, you also need to verify that there is an air gap of at least two pipe diameters between the ice machine drain and the deck drain. The purpose is to prevent backup of contaminated water, which could happen in the presence of a cross connection. Ice contaminated in this way could cause serious health problems. Other potential hazards exist around microwave ovens due to possible emission of non-ionizing radiation. Operating instructions must be posted. The unit should be checked quarterly for radiation leakage. Air gaskets and their opposing surfaces must also be checked to ensure they are in good physical condition and that they are free from food or grease buildup. As you monitor conditions in the food service area, you will be looking for factors that could contribute to the spread of foodborne disease. Meal periods are a good time to be looking for habits and practices that won't be visible at other times of day but could cause trouble. Inside this ship, food service attendants are well trained and conscientious about the need to prevent possible transfer of contaminants. You need to be on the lookout for actions like this, or this, or this, or this. All violations of the rules of personal hygiene. You need to be on the scene intermittently to assure that food service personnel are practicing the sanitary principles they have learned. Sanitary surveillance and inspection continue to be important requirements following the meal period so that you can observe conditions during cleanup. For example, that cleaning gear and supplies, detergents, disinfectants and other toxic materials are stored in specifically designated places outside of food preparation, serving or storage areas. You also need to check if dining tables are being washed with hot detergent water and rinsed with hot clear water using the two-pan method. All tables and chairs need to be cleaned in this fashion after each meal and then left to be air-dried. And special attention must be paid to crevices so that accumulated food can be removed. Disassembly of food service equipment during the required cleaning provides an opportunity for other aspects of sanitary surveillance and inspection. Services of equipment must be impervious, free from corrosion, cracks, chips, crevices and open seams. Non-food contact services are also to be cleaned and the equipment is to remain disassembled to completely air-dry before it is reused. Food service equipment used to dispense milk or milk products need to be checked to ensure that they are free of milkstone and odored. All equipment must be in a good state of repair and have no inaccessible spaces that might allow moisture or soil to accumulate or harbor cockroaches. In most cases you need to be as familiar as food service personnel with the operation and cleaning of food service equipment so you can objectively evaluate their efforts. Your interest needs to extend to such housekeeping factors as proper washing, rinsing and air-drying of cloths used for cleaning. Observing to see that food service personnel are prevented from changing or storing their clothing in all food service spaces and that the prohibition on the use of tobacco in food service areas is enforced. And your visits to food service areas need to be frequent enough, whether formally or informally, to confirm that required supervisory inspections are in fact taking place. It's all part of the preventive medicine program you will establish aboard ship to prevent the onset and spread of foodborne disease.