Food Safety
The Food Safety domain tests whether you can keep food out of the danger zone, prevent biological and cross-contamination, and support decisions with HACCP-style records. Questions focus on cooling, reheating, holding, thawing, and monitoring rather than generic cleanliness.
Temperature control
- Danger zone: 5–57°C (41–135°F). Minimise time in it and apply the two-hour rule to food left out; discard after that.
- Cold holding at or below 5°C; hot holding at or above 57°C.
- Cook poultry to 74°C; ground meat to 71°C; whole-muscle pork, beef and lamb to 63°C with a 3-minute rest; fish to 63°C.
- Cool cooked food from 57°C to 21°C within 2 hours, then to 5°C within a further 4 hours. Reheat to 74°C for 15 seconds within 2 hours.
HACCP essentials
HACCP has seven principles: hazard analysis, critical control points, critical limits, monitoring, corrective action, verification, and records. A control point is only useful if it has a measurable limit and a log.
Worked example
A 10-litre pot of stock is left to cool on the stove overnight. The centre stays at 30°C after three hours, so it fails. The correct approach is to divide it into shallow pans no deeper than 5 cm, use an ice bath, stir, and record start and finish temperatures. If the limit is missed, reheat once to 74°C and recool rapidly, or discard.
Traps that cost marks
Relying on smell or appearance; thawing on the bench; overloading refrigerators so air cannot circulate; tasting with a finger or reused spoon; probing without sanitising the thermometer; and recording temperatures after the food has already been served.
Key points
- Danger zone 5–57°C; two-hour rule.
- Cooling: 57→21°C in 2 h, 21→5°C in 4 h.
- Poultry 74°C; ground meat 71°C; whole muscle 63°C plus rest.
- HACCP needs measurable limits and logs.
- Rapid cooling means surface area and an ice bath, not a deep pot.