Food Premises, Equipment and Waste Management
Premises must be designed and maintained so that food is protected from contamination. Key requirements: adequate hand-wash basins with soap and drying facilities, separate food-prep sinks, sufficient lighting and ventilation, washable, non-toxic, smooth surfaces, and pest-proofing at doors, windows and openings. Layout should follow a linear flow - delivery, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, service - so that raw and ready-to-eat foods do not cross paths.
Equipment must be fit for purpose, easy to clean, and maintained. Food-contact surfaces should be smooth, impervious and non-toxic; damaged equipment (cracked boards, chipped utensils) must be replaced because it harbours bacteria. Utensils and boards should be colour-coded.
Waste management: waste must be stored in lidded, labelled, pest-proof containers, removed frequently, and kept away from food areas. External bins need lids and should be sited away from doors and windows. Waste must never be allowed to accumulate in preparation areas.
Traps: candidates confuse hand-wash basins with food-prep sinks (they must be separate and clearly designated); miss that ventilation matters for condensation and contamination; and forget that waste containers must have lids and be emptied regularly.
Rule of thumb: design the kitchen so that food only moves forward from dirty to clean, never back. If raw food must pass through a ready-to-eat area, that is a layout failure, not just a cleaning problem.