Food Safety Practices & General Requirements

When visiting a restaurant, you rely on the kitchen staff to be not only producing tasty food but to also be working in a safe way so you do not get food poisoning. It is also important to understand food safety when cooking at home. Simple precautions can prevent food-borne illnesses.

Storage

• Storage of food is an important step in maintaining the quality of products and keeping them safe to consume. When storing fresh foods in a refrigerator, keep the unit at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit are advised for freezers. Food should always be kept covered while being stored to prevent cross contamination with other products.

Refrigerator Layout

• Keep diary on the top shelf then as you move down each shelf place cooked meat, salad items, pastries, raw red meat, and finally poultry at the bottom. This organization technique protects against cross contamination from dripping juices.

Cutting Boards

• Clean your cutting board with hot soapy water each time it is used for a new product or to have multiple boards. The best system to prevent cross contamination is to have different colored boards for different tasks, for example, red for raw meat, yellow for poultry and so on.

Personal Hygiene

• Before starting food preparation, wash your hands with hot soapy water for at least 20 seconds. If moving from preparing one product to another, rewash your hands, especially if handling poultry or raw meat.

Cooking Temperatures

• Cook food to the proper temperature. In certain products, harmful bacteria must be killed off with the heat. Products like beef and lamb can be cooked to a lower temperature than other meats--around 145 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Pork and poultry are more prone to dangerous bacteria and need to be cooked to around 165 degrees or above.