Food Safety, Sanitation, and HACCP
This domain tests prevention of foodborne illness through temperature control, personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitizing, and HACCP. Expect questions on the seven HACCP principles, TCS foods, cooling, reheating, holding, and corrective actions.
Core rules and concepts
- HACCP principles: conduct hazard analysis; determine critical control points; establish critical limits; monitor; establish corrective actions; verify; keep records.
- TCS foods require time-temperature control. Keep cold food at 41°F (5°C) or below and hot food at 135°F (57°C) or above.
- Cooling: 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then 70°F to 41°F within 4 more hours, for a total of 6 hours.
- Reheating for hot holding: reach 165°F (74°C) within 2 hours.
- Handwashing: wet hands, apply soap, scrub at least 20 seconds, rinse, dry with a disposable towel or dryer.
- Sanitizer concentration must match the manufacturer label; verify with test strips. Chlorine is commonly 50–100 ppm for food-contact surfaces; quaternary ammonium is commonly 200–400 ppm.
Worked example
A batch of chili cools from 135°F to 70°F in 1.5 hours, then to 41°F in 3 more hours. First stage: 1.5 hours ≤ 2 hours, acceptable. Second stage: 3 hours ≤ 4 hours, acceptable. Total cooling is 4.5 hours, within the 6-hour limit. If the batch reached 70°F at 2.5 hours, the first critical limit was exceeded; the corrective action is to reheat to 165°F and rapidly cool again, or discard according to policy.
Traps that cost marks
- Monitoring air temperature instead of food temperature.
- Recording a deviation without a corrective action.
- Using the same thermometer without cleaning and sanitizing.
- Relying on time as a control without a written procedure.
- Accepting a sanitizer concentration without a test strip reading.