Top 10 Tips for Food Safety
1. TRAIN EVERY EMPLOYEE TO PROPERLY WASH THEIR HANDS.
An employee should wash his/her hands every time necessary for
at least 20 seconds. Hand washing is imperative to help reduce the likely
hood of food contamination and possible illness. And, let’s face it,
unwashed hands are just gross.
2. BE A SAFE FOOD HANDLER.
This means following a strict personal hygiene regiment.
Employees should wear clean uniforms and hair restraints at all times.
Artificial nails and jewelry should not be worn while working with food, and employees should never work
when they are feeling ill.
3. BARE HANDS SHOULD NOT TOUCH FOOD.
Employees should always wear gloves or use utensils when
handling foods they are preparing. Bare hand contact with food can
contaminate the product, leaving it unsafe to eat. Also, please
remember that even with gloves, finger or wrist jewelry should still not be
worn as it poses a greater risk of tearing the gloves.
4. WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT!
Food should be inspected thoroughly upon arrival to ensure
there is no spoilage. Food should also be inspected when it is put in
holding, and when it is being prepared. If you find food that is spoiling,
get rid of it instead of using it more quickly.
5. IDENTIFY AND AVOID HAZARDOUS FOOD TEMPERATURES.
Ideal internal temperature for refrigeration-cooled food is 35-38 degrees
Fahrenheit, but should never rise above 41 degrees Fahrenheit. You should
maintain temperatures of 0 degrees Fahrenheit for frozen products.
6. PREVENT CROSS CONTAMINATION.
You should always observe time and temperature regulations
when storing foods. Label precooked foods with type of food, time, and
date prepared. You should always separate raw and ready-to-eat foods
using utensils or wearing gloves. Many products are manufactured to
HACCP standards to avoid cross contamination, including knives, kitchen
utensils and cutting boards.
7. DO NOT LET FOODS STAY IN THE “DANGER ZONE.”
Foods within the temperature zone of 41 -135 degrees Fahrenheit are considered
in the “danger zone.” Hot foods should be kept hot, while cold foods
should be kept cold. Do not let foods stay in the middle. Check
temperatures with a thermometer in the center and the thickest portion of the
food and then properly clean the thermometer after each use.
8. COOK FOODS ABOVE THE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE.
Foods should always be cooked to above their minimum cooking
temperature to ensure that all bacteria is cooked out. Fully cooked foods
equal healthy customers.
9. QUICKLY CHILL HOT FOODS.
Hot foods should be rapidly chilled to below 41 degrees
Fahrenheit within 4-6 hours of cooking in order to preserve the food. A
blaster chiller is an excellent way to properly chill your food.
10. HOLD HOT FOODS AT A SAFE TEMPERATURE.
Hot foods should be reheated to 165 degrees Fahrenheit and
held at that point for at least 15 seconds. After this short time, hot
foods should be held at 140 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent contamination.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Of Interest, Restaurant Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 7th, 2009 at 3:04 am
My selling of kitchen equipment has led me into many ktichens. One precaution which I have seen in just two restaurants is that those in the kitchen were initially required to wash their hands in water with potassium permanganate in it and then with plain water.
As far as always handling food with hands covered, you can do it in a McDonalds or Pizza Hut but there are kitchens in which it is a hard rule to follow. When a cook has to check the consistency of a mixture even with a ladle (s)he invariably has to remove any handwear.
A big health hazard which is not properly handled by many restaurants is that of reheating of meats. Once a meat has come out of a freezer and is cooked it can at most be stored once and reheated. However restaurants quite often mix lots and reheat more than once.