The Specialty Coffee Association held a webinar this morning on health issues related to the COVID-19 with food safety expert and coffee consultant Mike Ebert, founder of Firedancer Coffee Consultants, and the chairs of the Coffee Roasters Guild, the Baristas Guild and the Coffee Technicians Guild.
The webinar informed and reminded coffee industry executives about best practices for sanitation, which are even more important now due to the coronavirus.
Ebert said executives should determine whether their company can separate employees since this will help with risk management and keeping employees healthy and committed to coming to work to do the work involved in coffee roasting and service. He recommended cross-training employees to minimize disruption to operations if an employee gets sick. Companies should also determine, based on hazards, whether gloves and masks are required, Ebert noted.
He urged caution and noted that there has been no guidance yet from CDC specifically regarding the delivery of coffee to offices. He also encouraged coffee service professionals to stay informed and to neither overreact or underreact.
"It's going to be a battle, but I'm confident we're going to come out the other side," he said.
Automatic Merchandiser livetweeted the webinar. A recording of the webinar appears here on the association's website for COVID-19 news.
