Definition of Food Hygiene and Food Flow

Definition of food hygiene - Food hygiene is an essential aspect of food safety. It relates to the processes that deal directly with food - including storage, preparation and cooking. Good practice in these areas ensures that customers receive food that is safe and described The main elements of food hygiene are: Personal hygiene. This includes hand washing, protective clothing, sickness procedures and other duties (e.g. avoiding smoking). Prevention of cross-contamination. This includes preventing bacterial, physical, chemical, and allergenic contamination, especially by using appropriate equipment (e.g., separate cutÝng boards). Cleaning procedures. Thorough cleaning of the kitchen, utensils and kitchenware (including plates and cutlery) is essential. Allergen control. All businesses must clearly explain which foods are allergenic and prevent allergens from contaminating other foods. Safe food storage. This includes storage locations and containers, a FIFO (First in, First out) system, labelling, and temperature control. Cooking temperatures. Businesses need to ensure they cook and shop food at appropriate temperatures to avoid bacterial risks. Everyone who works with food is required by law to understand food hygiene. However, the level of knowledge required will depend on the job role and how involved they are in food preparation. In some cases, a more comprehensive understanding of food safety may even be required. Definition of Food Flow - Food flow is the handling or preparation of food ingredients or products by the food establishment and service to a customer. Food must be handled safely at each step. The steps are: -Receiving Receiving is the food service's first contact with food. Food must be obtained from approved sources. Food prepared in a private home may not be used in food service. Once received, food must be noted on the invoice and stored appropriately and quickly. The temperature of frozen and refrigerated foods must be measured upon delivery to ensure that they have been adequately refrigerated during transport. To avoid errors and to store perishable food as quickly as possible, deliveries should be made at times when the food service operation is not busy. - Storage The freezer, refrigerator or walk-in cooler, and pantry are storage areas where food is kept until it is prepared. Follow the FIFO Principle - first in, first out. Turn the food over so that the newest ingredients are in the back of the storage area, while the older products are brought to the front. If food packages do not have a date on them, date the packages when you receive them. - Preparation. Avoiding cross-contamination and controlling the temperature of foods are both very important habits to develop during the preparation phase. When preparing large quantities of a food with time/temperature control (TCS), the batch method is recommended for food safety. Work with only a small amount of ingredients at a time. For example, if 200 cream puffs are to be filled with custard, process only 25 ingredients at a time. Fill those 25 and refrigerate them before processing another 25. This way, the perishable ingredients will not be exposed to room temperature for a long time. TCS foods kept in the danger zone (5°C to 57°C) for more than four hours are considered adulterated and must be discarded. - Cooking When cooking, the temperature must be checked with a thermometer to ensure that the food is adequately cooked. When cooking TCS foods, specific temperatures and times are required to ensure that pathogens are killed. - Holding Holding food is common in a buffet setÝng. Hot foods must be kept above 57°C and cold foods must be kept below 5°C to keep TCS foods out of harm's way. Food must be stored in approved serving units. Food temperatures must be checked at least every four hours. - Serving. Serving means either dishing up customers' orders one at a time or offering self-service. Be aware that customers can contaminate a menu without realizing it. - Refrigeration. Large quantities of food do not cool quickly. Therefore, divide food into several smaller, shallow containers before storing in the refrigerator or freezer. - Reheating Reheating must be done within two hours to the required temperature of 73°C for fifteen seconds (or in some cases until boiling) and checked with a thermometer. Instant-read thermometers. "Instant-read" refers to thermometers used to check the temperature of food at a time before it is removed from the cooking process. They do not remain in the food during cooking. There are two common types: Dial thermometers and digital thermometers. - Dial thermometers (bimetallic coil). These instruments take about 15 to 50 seconds to register a temperature correctly. The temperature is measured over a 2"-2½" length of the bottom of the thermometer stem (where the bimetal coil is located), so the thermometer must be inserted deep into a food item to get an accurate reading. A dial thermometer can be used to test the temperature of a hamburger if the patty is thick enough by inserting it into the side of the patty. - Digital thermometers. These devices have a thermistor (a ceramic material whose resistance changes with temperature) located in the bottom ½-in tip of the stem to measure temperature. A digital thermometer must be inserted ½ inch into the food to get an accurate reading, so it is a good choice for measuring temperature in thin foods. Be sure to position the tip of the stem where you want to measure the temperature on the food - usually in the center. A digital thermometer takes 15 to 40 seconds to measure the temperature. The digital thermometer requires battery. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) A Standard Operating Procedure is a method for carrying out a task. Food service establishments should have in place SOPs for personal hygiene, basic sanitation, and food storage and handling. Any time a new employee is hired, SOPs should be clearly demonstrated, and then followed up with a review. SOPs don't necessarily have to be written in a manual, but should be habits everyone routinely follows. They can be listed on a checklist for students or employees to check off as they are working. An example of an SOP is: "Use a clean, red colored cutÝng board to prepare cut meats. Do not prepare any other food on this cutÝng board until it is washed and sanitized." Facility and personnel cleanliness are probably the easiest topics for which to develop an SOP checklist. An example would be a checklist covering all the steps an employee should do before starting a work shift, like put on a clean apron or uniform, tie long hair away from your face, remove jewelry and fingernail polish, and wash your hands. Other checklists could cover correct hand-washing procedures (how and when), ware-washing steps (including how much soap and sanitizing chemical to put in the sinks; how full to fill these sinks; what the water temperature should be; and how often the wash, rinse, and sanitizing sinks should have their water changed), plus how to handle garbage disposal. Employees don't need to actually check the steps off each time they work, but having the checklist posted near where the work is done helps remind everyone how to do the job properly. "How to safely prepare a steak" In some food-service establishments this procedure may be a part of the Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan rather than an SOP. Its main points are - Use a thermometer to test doneness rather than relying on the color of the center of the steak or the juices. - Do not touch the meat with your hands, but use a turner to place the meat on the grill and a clean turner to place it on the plate to serve. Environmental health specialists note that some establishments use the same turner to pick up the raw meat as well as the cooked one. This risks cross contamination. - Cook the meat to 235°C and maintain this temperature for 2 to 3 minutes. Test it with a clean and sanitized dial (bimetal) thermometer, inserting the stem of the thermometer 2½ in into the steak. Or insert ½ in of a clean and sanitized digital instant read thermometer probe into the center of the steak - Wash and sanitize thermometers between uses. Food Allergies. The issue of food allergies has become more important in the restaurant industry for years. New foodservice workers need to know that food allergies are serious and can be life-threatening. Although hundreds of foods are known to trigger allergic reactions, the "Big Eight". The top eight allergens are milk and dairy products, eggs and egg products, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy and soy products, peanuts, and tree nuts such as almonds, pecans, and walnuts. By law, packaged foods containing these allergens must be clearly marked on the label (Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004). Students should know the symptoms of an allergic reaction so they can recognize when to call emergency medical services. They should be able to respond to an allergic customer's question for information about allergens in the food or know who in the food service establishment is able to answer these questions accurately. Students should also know how to handle food for customers with food allergies to avoid crosscontact. Water Supply and Protection source. The public water system used by most establishments is an approved source. If a private well is used on site, it must be tested quarterly for bacteria and annually for nitrates/nitrite. Food service establishments are required to keep the last well water test result. Contaminated water can enter the water supply when cross connections occur. Cross-connections are situations where water can flow backward due to siphoning. The most common source of backflow in food service is a hose connected to a faucet that is not equipped with a backflow preventer. If the hose is below the water level in the sink and the water pressure in the system drops, the water in the sink can be sucked into the building's plumbing system - numerous examples of this type have occurred. For example, at a restaurant in Langkawi, a hose was placed in a laundry tub. A change in water pressure caused chemical disinfectant to be sucked out of the tub and into the water distribution system. Water system piping is critical to water safety; For example, sinks, mechanical flushing systems, ice machines, inlets on plunge pools and steam tables, and water supplies to boilers must be properly piped to prevent backflow.