Safe Food Handling Practices: Purchasing, Receiving, Storage, Preparation, Cooking and Temperature Control
From supplier to service
- Purchasing: buy from approved, licensed suppliers; check labels, dates, and packaging.
- Receiving: reject damaged packaging, swelling cans, pest evidence, expired food, and chilled or frozen food that is too warm. Chilled food should arrive at 5 °C or below and frozen food solid, with no thawing evidence.
- Storage: first in, first out; dry store cool, dry, ventilated, off the floor; chilled at 5 °C or below; frozen at -18 °C or below; date-label opened and cooked items.
- Preparation: thaw in the chiller or under running water, never on the bench; keep batches small; minimise time out of temperature control.
- Cooking: cook poultry and rolled meats to at least 74 °C at the centre; reheating should reach 74 °C; hold hot food at 60 °C or above.
The danger zone
The range 5 °C to 60 °C is where bacteria multiply fastest. Limit time in this zone, ideally under two hours cumulative. Cool cooked food rapidly in shallow trays and refrigerate promptly; reheat only once and never in a bain-marie.
Worked example
A restaurant receives a box of chilled chicken at 12 °C. Correct action is to reject the delivery and record it, because the cold chain has broken and bacterial growth may already have occurred. Accepting it and "cooking it well" ignores that some toxins are heat-stable and that the food's history is unknown.
Traps that cost marks
- Thawing on the bench or in warm water.
- Using a bain-marie to reheat rather than to hold.
- Judging doneness by colour or time only - use a probe thermometer.
- Overloading the fridge so air cannot circulate.
- Ignoring delivery temperatures and accepting damaged packaging.