Food hygiene, sanitation, personal safety and workplace safety in the bakery
What this domain tests
This domain checks whether you can protect food from contamination and work safely around heat, knives, electricity and machinery. Expect personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitising, temperature control, allergen control and accident prevention.
Core rules
- Wash hands with soap and water before work, after toilet use, after handling raw ingredients and after touching bins or money. Keep nails short; remove jewellery; cover cuts.
- Report illness such as vomiting, diarrhoea, fever or infected skin lesions. Do not handle food when infected.
- Separate raw and ready-to-eat foods. Use colour-coded boards and clean utensils between tasks to prevent cross-contamination.
- Clean removes visible soil; sanitise reduces microbes. Use the correct dilution and contact time; stronger is not safer.
- Keep cold food at 5°C or below, frozen food at -18°C or below, and hot food above 60°C. Reheat to at least 74°C. Discard perishable food left in the danger zone beyond the allowed time.
- Personal safety: use cut-resistant gloves or guards, carry knives down, keep handles away from bench edges, mop spills, keep cables dry, use oven gloves and keep fire blankets near fryers and ovens.
Worked example
A bowl of custard is left on the bench at 28°C for three hours. It is in the temperature danger zone and should be discarded. If it had been held at 5°C or below, it could be used within its shelf life. The reasoning is time plus temperature control, not appearance or smell.
Traps
Using sanitizer stronger than the label; storing cleaning cloths in sanitizer indefinitely; tasting with a used spoon; wearing rings; placing cooked cream near raw egg; blocking fire exits.