All of the above answers can lead to the contamination of food. While sanitary wipes or cloths are good for cleaning spills, they cannot substitute as a method of cleaning. Therefore, they can lead to the contamination of food. A slicer should be cleaned after cutting each type of meat of cheese by unplugging the machine and taking the components off. From here, you should take the components to the dishwasher or pot washing sink for a thorough cleaning.
A penetration thermometer is the correct type of thermometer to use when determining the temperature of meat loaf. Surface detecting thermometers only tell you the temperature of the outer surface of the meat, while you should be concentrating on the internal temperature of the meat. A pop up thermometer is in no way accurate and a hand temperature check does not exist.
Home preserved foods are not an acceptable form of food to serve in a restaurant. All sources of food served in your restaurant should come from reputable dealers of food, such as wholesalers and distributors. At no time should you bring home preserved foods into your restaurant.
All of the above listed foods have a safe minimum internal cooking temperature of 160°F. This means that any internal cooking temperature of 160°F or above will significantly reduce the chances of food borne illness.
Cooling a soup on a counter in a cool area of the restaurant is not an acceptable method of cooling a potentially hazardous food in the kitchen. The goal is to reduce the temperature of soup to below 41°F as fast as possible, while cooling a soup on a counter can take well over eight hours to completely cool.
A Pop-up thermometer is not permitted in a restaurant kitchen for use as a cooking temperature indicator. Often found in poultry products on supermarket shelves, these plastic tools are helpful for home cooks to determine if the meat is cooked or not. However, this thermometer is not suitable to gauge the temperature of a food product within a restaurant kitchen.
A food that advertises that a soup is homemade still needs to make the soup in the restaurant. At no time should a soup be made at home and brought to a kitchen for serving to customers.
Changing fry oil every night is the best way to reduce the chances of food borne illness due to fry oil. While fry oil reaches high temperatures during the day, as the oil cools and residual food grows in the oil over night, the chances of food borne intoxicants growing to dangerous levels increases significantly.
Using different colored cutting boards for raw meat and raw vegetables will help to reduce the risk of cross contamination. By using colored cutting boards for raw meat, you can add a level of assurance to your food safety protocol since it is very hard to miss two crucial food safety steps in the kitchen (the cleaning and color of the cutting board).
You should always make sure to insert a thermometer into the meat until the line on the thermometer is completely inserted into the meat. This ensures that you are receiving an accurate reading of the foods temperature that is not adulterated by the temperature that surrounds the meat.
The minimum cooking temperature for a raw pork product in a restaurant is 145°F. The FDA previously recommended the minimum temperature to be 160°F, but lowered it in 2011.
The internal temperature at which potentially hazardous foods must be stored to prevent rapid bacteria growth is 41°F or lower. This temperature is the lower limit of the Danger Zone, meaning that foods should be stored at temperatures below this minimal threshold to avoid such bacteria growth. While you may store foods at lower temperature, you need to make sure they do not rise above this temperature barrier while in storage.
Defrosting on the counter top is not an acceptable method for defrosting meat. It can take a very long time for foods to defrost on a counter top, meaning that bacteria on the outer surface of the meat can grow to dangerous levels, while the inner portion of the meat is still frozen. For this reason, it is important to defrost foods in a proper manner.
Poultry should always be cooked to 165°F. This ensures that all pathogens related to the poultry are completely killed during the cooking process.
Foods that contain raw eggs as an ingredient should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 160°F. While other ingredients in the food might not need a specific temperature goal, anytime you add raw egg to a recipe, you should follow the cooking temperature that has the highest value of all included ingredients.
A stainless steel surface is considered a proper food contact surface. The reason for this distinction is due to fact that stainless steel is easy to clean and will not allow small microbes to grow inside the surface of the metal. Copper and lead are both considered chemical hazards, while plastic surfaces will readily allow microbes to grow on the surface even if constant washing occurs.
Potentially hazardous food must be cooled from 135°F to 70°F in two hours and from 70°F to 41°F in four hours. This reduces the risk of food borne illness tremendously. The reason for the sliding scale is due to the rapid ability for bacteria to grow quickly in the upper temperature region.
All of the above are actions that can cause foods to become unsafe. To avoid illness due to the actions listed above, make sure to limit a food’s exposure in the danger zone, change butting boards and utensils when handling raw foods, and make sure your employees follow good hygiene practices.
The basic way to ensure a safe environment for food preparation is through the procedure clean, separate, cook, and chill. By following these four basic steps, you can significantly reduce the chance for a food borne outbreak from occurring in your restaurant.
