Food Safety, Hygiene and Sanitation
Food Safety, Hygiene and Sanitation tests HACCP, safe temperatures, cross-contamination control, personal hygiene, and the difference between cleaning and disinfection.
HACCP
Seven principles: identify hazards; determine critical control points (CCPs); set critical limits; monitor them; take corrective action; verify the system; keep records. Records include temperature logs, delivery checks, cleaning schedules and training files.
Temperature rules
Danger zone 5-63 C. Cold storage 1-5 C; freezer -18 C or colder; hot holding at least 63 C; reheating to 74 C within 2 hours; cooling from 63 C to 20 C within 2 hours and on to 5 C within a further 4 hours; poultry cooked to 75 C at the core.
Cross-contamination and personal hygiene
Separate raw and cooked food. Colour-coded boards: red raw meat, blue raw fish, green vegetables, yellow cooked meat, brown root vegetables, white dairy and bakery. Wash hands for at least 20 seconds. No jewellery, nail varnish or watches; cover cuts; report vomiting, diarrhoea, jaundice or skin infection to the supervisor. Apply FIFO and FEFO rotation with clear date labels.
Worked example
A 10 kg pot of stew finishes cooking at 21:00. It is decanted into shallow 5 cm pans and blast-chilled. The log shows 63 C at 21:00, 20 C at 22:30 (90 minutes, inside the 2-hour rule) and 5 C at 02:00 (3.5 hours after 22:30, inside the 4-hour rule). The batch passes and is labelled with a 3-day use-by date. If the 20 C reading had arrived at 23:30, the corrective action is to discard the batch, record why, and review the cooling method.
Traps
Thawing on a bench at room temperature; washing raw chicken; assuming freezing kills bacteria; reheating the same dish twice; tasting with a finger; one cloth for every surface; using ice to chill food or drinks.