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To those starting small meal service facilities or volunteer meal service activities
Regarding the provision of meals through small meal service facilities or volunteer meal service activities
For small meal services that serve around 20 meals or less at once, and for the provision of meals
with the aim of welfare (volunteer meal servicees), such as with so-called children's cafeterias,
activities that are not considered business do not need a business operation license or business
notifications under the Food Sanitation Act.
However, caution must still be exercised with sanitation control in order to prevent food sanitation
hazards, such as food poisoning.
Therefore, this page is a compilation of things you need to be careful about for small meal
service facilities and volunteer meal service activities. Please refer to it when providing
meals.
In addition, health centers ask you to please send optional notifications so that we can give you
suitable advice.
For details, please contact your nearest health center.
Procedures
To understand the actual state of small meal service facilities and volunteer meal service
activities, appropriately cooperate with them, and to support the safer provision of meals, we ask
you to submit an optional notification before you start providing meals.
For details, please contact your nearest health center.
☆Form and Entry Examples
| Form | Form（Word:36KB） |
|---|---|
| Entry Examples | Start Notification (Entry Example)（PDF:515KB） |
About Sanitation Management (Excerpt)
Please keep the following points in mind to prevent the occurrence of food product sanitation hazards, such as food poisoning. In particular, when serving the elderly and children, who are at risk of severe symptoms when they come down with food poisoning, you must exercise extra caution for food sanitation control.
Sanitation Management for Cooking Facilities
- Use cooking facilities that have equipment for washing food products and utensils, and equipment for washing hands.
- Keep the cooking facility clean and tidy.
- Have soap and disinfectant for fingers, paper towels, cleansers and disinfectant liquid for cooking utensils, and clean washcloths.
- Store chemicals such as cleansers in a separate area from the food.
- Keep bathrooms sanitary by regularly cleaning and disinfecting them.
- Use trash boxes with lids that won't leak out foul liquids and smells and keep them clean.
Sanitation Management for Cooking Staff
- Before starting cooking, check the health condition of cooking staff, and when they have symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, and fever, they should refrain from serving food. The families of cooking staff must also take care of their health.
- Those with scratches on their fingers should refrain from cooking.
- Cut your nails short and remove any rings, piercings, and watches.
- Cooking staff should wear clean workwear, such as aprons, triangular bandages, and masks.
- Take off your cooking workwear when using the bathroom or when cleaning.
- Wash your hands properly at the necessary times.
Other Caution Points
- When you have learned of health hazards being caused to people you've served food to, you should quickly contact a health center.
- If there is a case of vomiting at your cooking facility or food serving area, use paper towels and chlorine bleach and quickly throw away the items that were vomited on. Dispose of any food that may have been contaminated by the items with vomit on them.
- Keep a record (receipts can be substituted) of menu items, where and when food was purchased, etc. for at least one month.
- When receiving food products from food bank organizations and other similar organizations, confirm how to store the food products, the management of expiry dates and best-by dates, whether the foods contain allergens or not, and if there is any damage to the packaging.
- Managers should decide on a policy for dealing with allergies (including for times when you will not do anything) and accurately convey it to cooking staff and participants.
- If people other than cooking staff designated by managers participate in the cooking, for example joint cooking with the people you're serving, the managers must responsibly direct and guide everyone.