Food safety and food hygiene management
What the domain tests
This domain examines whether you can run a HACCP-based food safety management system in a Hong Kong food business: hazard analysis, critical control points, temperature control, cross-contamination prevention, personal hygiene and verification. The legal backstop is the Food Business Regulation (Cap 132X) and the Food Safety Ordinance (Cap 619), but the exam tests operational judgement, not just recall.
Core rules and concepts
- HACCP has seven principles: hazard analysis, determine CCPs, set critical limits, monitor, take corrective action, verify and keep records. Prerequisite programmes such as cleaning, pest control, supplier approval and training must be in place first.
- The temperature danger zone is 4°C to 60°C. Keep cold food at 4°C or below, frozen food at -18°C or below and hot holding at 60°C or above. Cook to a core temperature of 75°C or above and reheat to 75°C or above. Cool cooked food from 60°C to 20°C within 2 hours and from 20°C to 4°C within 4 hours.
- For high-risk ready-to-eat food left in the danger zone, apply the 2-hour/4-hour rule: under 2 hours, refrigerate or use; 2–4 hours, use immediately and do not return to storage; over 4 hours, discard.
- Key microbiological hazards include Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus toxin, Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus spores, norovirus and hepatitis A. Spores survive cooking; slow cooling and rewarming allow them to germinate.
- Cross-contamination controls include separating raw and cooked food, using colour-coded boards and knives, cleaning and sanitising shared sinks between uses, washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and avoiding bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food.
- Personal hygiene includes a clean uniform, hair restraint, no jewellery, covering cuts with waterproof dressings and excluding staff with vomiting or diarrhoea until 48 hours symptom-free.
Worked example
A caterer cooks chicken at 11:00, leaves it on a prep table at 25°C and refrigerates it at 15:00. The core temperature was 75°C at 11:00, but the chicken has been in the danger zone for 4 hours. Under the 2-hour/4-hour rule it must be discarded, not cooled and reheated. Spores and toxin-forming bacteria can multiply; reheating may kill vegetative cells but not pre-formed toxin. The corrective action is to record the incident, review the cooling procedure and retrain staff.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming freezing kills bacteria - it only stops growth.
- Cooling food at room temperature overnight.
- Reheating to “steaming hot” without a probe reading of 75°C.
- Using the same cloth or sink for raw and cooked food.
- Returning food to the fridge after it has been in the danger zone for more than 2 hours.