Here's how to handle personal hygiene, check temperatures (and know the right temps- safe and dangerous), how to deal with and prevent pests, how to check deliveries, and plan HACCP. Must have for those who work with food.
Whatever device is used, you should make sure that it is calibrated according to the manufacturer’s
recommendations and, at intervals, check that it is measuring temperatures accurately.
Checking core temperatures
It is important to measure the core temperature of any high-risk food that is under refrigeration or
being cooked, reheated, cooled or defrosted.
If a temperature is taken anywhere else it may give you a false reading:
- Air temperatures may not be the same as food temperatures
- The surface temperature of food may be warmer or cooler than the temperature in the
centre (core) of the food.
Deliveries
When food is delivered, it should be at an appropriate temperature:
- Chilled food should be delivered at or below 5°C
- Frozen food should be delivered at or below -18°C
The temperature of the products must be checked when delivered to ensure they have arrived at the
correct temperature. If the products are above or below the required temperature the products must
be rejected.
Chilled Food Storage
Refrigerators and other chilled storage units should ideally operate at a temperature between 1°C
and 4°C to make sure that food is held at 5°C or below.
To keep chilled food safe during storage:
,Good Food Safety Practice
- clean the refrigerator/chilled storage unit regularly
- clean and disinfect the door handles of the refrigerator/chilled storage unit daily
- clean up spills immediately
- keep raw and high-risk food apart – preferably in separate units, but if this is not possible
store raw food below high-risk and ready-to-eat food
- keep food covered and use food-safe containers
- label food and make sure the use-by date is displayed clearly
- rotate stock appropriately
- keep refrigerator/chilled storage unit doors open for as little time as possible during access
to avoid temperature fluctuations.
Chilled Display
Refrigerated display units should hold chilled food at 5°C or below, so ideally they should operate
between 1°C and 4°C. The temperature of food should be taken, checked regularly and recorded.
To ensure food safety:
- protect open food on display from any form of contamination (for example using covers,
sneeze guards and other physical barriers)
- reduce the amount that food is handled by using clean tongs and other serving equipment
rather than hands
- do not top-up food on display – leftovers should be thrown away and fresh supplies should
be provided in fresh containers.
Frozen Storage
To ensure food safety:
- store frozen food at -18°C or below
- ensure all packaging is intact to prevent both cross-contamination and freezer burn through
loss of moisture; air does not need to circulate, so food can be stored close together
- ensure all food is labelled and use the First In First Out (FIFO) principle of storage (over time,
frozen food will undergo chemical changes that can lead to colour, flavour and nutritional
losses)
- only fill freezer units to the load line (overloading will reduce the efficiency of the unit and
may prevent the correct temperature from being maintained)
- check and record the temperature of the freezer unit and the food it contains regularly – at
least once a day (based on an eight-hour day)
- defrost and clean freezer units on a regular basis to avoid ice build-up (transfer the contents
to another unit first, always maintaining an acceptable temperature).
Preparing Food
During preparation, food is uncovered while ingredients are handled and mixed; it is therefore at a
high risk of contamination and should be protected accordingly.
Food may also enter the danger zone, allowing bacteria to multiply quickly on high-risk food which
may not be processed further before it is consumed.
Ensure that the time the food spends at temperatures within the danger zone is kept as short as
possible.
, Good Food Safety Practice
Cooking Food
Cooking is a critical stage of the food process, because it is when harmful bacteria and viruses can be
killed and the food made safe.
If food is not cooked properly, harmful bacteria and viruses may not be killed and these could cause
food-borne illness.
When cooking, the core of the thickest part of the food should reach 75*C for 30s or equivalent
(70*C for 2m). These temperature/time ratios will ensure that potentially harmful bacteria and
viruses are killed.
Visual Checks for Cooked Food
With whole cuts of red meat, bacteria are only found on the outside surfaces. So long as you ‘seal’
the meat on all surfaces – ensuring the visual change from red to brown – it is generally safe to serve
it underdone. (Remember that the same is not true for rolled joints, which must be thoroughly
cooked through to the core.)
If red meat is ground/minced, surface bacteria can be spread throughout, so it must be cooked
thoroughly, i.e. the meat must have turned from red to brown all the way through.
In poultry, bacteria are found dispersed throughout the flesh; it must therefore be cooked until all
the flesh has turned from pink to white all the way through and until all the juices are completely
free of blood.
Liquids such as soups or sauces must be bubbling throughout when stirred.
Hot Display of Food
Hot food should be kept at 63°C or above for the duration that it is on display.
Control measures to ensure that food is safely held hot include:
- Protecting open food on display from any form of contamination (e.g. using covers, sneeze
guards and other physical barriers)
- Make sure that the hot-holding equipment is adequately pre-heated and its temperature is
taken before food is put in
- Stirring liquid food, such as soups, so that no cold spots exist
- Regularly monitoring the temperature of the food while it is held to ensure it is kept out of
the danger zone.
Cooling Cooked Food
Cooked foods that you intend to chill and use later must be cooled to 5°C or below as quickly as
possible (within 1–2 hours).
The less time that food spends between 63°C and 5°C during cooling, the less opportunity there is for
harmful bacteria to multiply.
Methods for cooling cooked food
- use a blast chiller
- limit the size of joints of meat to no more than 2.5kg
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