Kitchen food safety

HACCP basics

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is the framework food businesses use. Its seven principles: identify hazards; find the critical control points where they can be controlled; set critical limits (e.g. a cooking temperature); monitor those points; act when a limit is missed; verify that the system works; and keep records.

Temperatures

The danger zone is 5–60 °C, where bacteria multiply fastest. Cook poultry and minced meat to at least 74 °C in the thickest part (or an equivalent time-and-temperature combination). Hold hot food at 63 °C or above and cold food at 5 °C or below. Reheat to at least 75 °C in the centre (UK guidance; US 74 °C / 165 °F), and reheat only once.

• Fridges at 5 °C or below; freezers at −18 °C or below
• Use a probe thermometer and record checks
• Never leave food at room temperature for more than about 2 hours in total

Cooling

Cooked food must be cooled quickly. US Food Code guidance is to cool from 57 °C to 21 °C within 2 hours and then to 5 °C within a further 4 hours; UK guidance is to cool food as quickly as possible, ideally within 90 minutes, before refrigerating. Cooked rice should be cooled within about 1 hour, because spores of Bacillus cereus survive cooking and can produce heat-stable toxins when rice is left warm.

• Divide large batches into shallow containers
• Use an ice bath or blast chiller
• Stir to release heat
• Do not put a large hot pot straight into a domestic fridge; it warms everything around it

Labelling and FIFO

Every prepped item is labelled with what it is, the date made and the use-by date. Stock is rotated first in, first out (FIFO): older stock is moved to the front and used first, new deliveries go behind. Allergens are tracked and declared.

Cross-contamination

Raw meat, fish and eggs are kept below and away from ready-to-eat food. Separate colour-coded boards and knives are used. Hands are washed between tasks.

Related techniques

• Batch cooking
• Mise en place