Home > A Reference Guide for Food Service Operators

More and more people are eating away from home each year, some due to convenience or recreation and others due to necessity. Whether dining in a fast-food restaurant, a school foodservice, a hospital cafeteria, or a fine dining restaurant, people expect safe food and a clean environment.

Providing safe food requires careful attention by both management and employees. Since foodservice operations are characterized by high turnover rates, employee training often poses a challenge to managers.

The objectives of this manual are to 1) review basic aspects of food sanitation throughout a foodservice operation and 2) provide reference materials on food storage and other aspects of food safety.

The High Price of Foodborne Illness:

Foodborne illness costs lives and money. Millions of people become sick each year and thousands die after eating contaminated or mishandled foods. Children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable to foodborne illness.

New estimates for the cost of foodborne illness were released in 2010 and 2012. Scharff (2010; 2012) estimated the cost of foodborne illness in the U.S. to be $152 billion and $77.7 billion, respectively. Scharff included 30 identifiable pathogens plus foodborne illnesses for which no pathogen source can be identified in his estimate, while Hoffmann et al. (2012) estimated that illness from 14 major pathogens that account for more than 95 percent of the illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. cost $14.1 billion.

Serving safe food has numerous benefits. By preventing foodborne illness outbreaks, establishments can avoid legal fees, medical claims, wasted food, bad publicity and possibly, closure of the establishment.

An outbreak occurs when two or more cases of a similar illness are caused by eating a common food. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), these are the annual statistics related to foodborne illness in the U.S.:

• 48 million gastrointestinal illnesses
• 128,000 hospitalizations
• 3,000 deaths

Some people are more at risk of becoming ill from unsafe food. These populations include young children, elderly, people with compromised immune systems and pregnant women.

What Makes Food Unsafe?

Hazards can be introduced into foodservice operations in numerous ways: by employees, food, equipment, cleaning supplies and customers. The hazards may be biological (including bacteria and other microorganisms), chemical (including cleaning agents) or physical (including glass chips and metal shavings).

Microbiological hazards (bacteria in particular) are considered the greatest risk to the food industry. Bacteria usually require Food, Acidity, Temperature, Time, Oxygen and Moisture in order to grow. Controlling any or all of these factors can help prevent bacterial growth. Remember “FATTOM” and how it relates to food safety.

Temperature and time are the two most controllable factors for preventing foodborne illness. The temperature range between 41 F and 135 F is considered the “danger zone” because these temperatures are very conducive to bacterial growth. Within this range, bacteria grow most rapidly from 60 F to 120 F. When the conditions are right, bacteria double in number every 10 to 30 minutes. For instance, in three hours one bacterium can grow into thousands of bacteria. Cooking food to safe temperature and cooling food quickly, therefore, are critical steps in the prevention of foodborne illness.

Weighing the Risks:

Certain foods and foodservice procedures are more hazardous than others. High protein foods such as meats and milk-based products and foods that require a lot of handling during preparation require special attention by foodservice operations. Roast beef, turkey, ham and Chinese foods, for instance, have been linked with more outbreaks of foodborne illnesses than pizza, barbecued meat or egg salad, yet all of these foods are considered potentially hazardous. Other foods such as garlic in oil, rice, melon and sprouts also have been linked with outbreaks of foodborne illness.

Researchers have identified common threads between outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Outbreaks usually involve one or more of these factors.

• Improper cooling of foods— the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks.
• Advance preparation of food (with a 12-hour or more lapse before service).
• Infected employees who practice poor personal hygiene.
• Failure to reheat cooked foods to temperatures that kill bacteria.
• Improper hot holding temperatures.
• Adding raw, contaminated ingredients to food that receives no further cooking.
• Foods from unsafe sources.
• Cross contamination of cooked food by raw food, improperly cleaned and sanitized equipment, or employees who mishandle food.
• Improper use of leftovers.
• Failure to heat or cook food thoroughly.

Safe Food Production and Service:

After monitoring receiving and storage for safety, it is essential to avoid cross-contamination and temperature/time abuse during preparation, cooking, serving and cooling. Calibrated thermometers should be used to monitor temperatures. The following guidelines illustrate safe food handling at each stage. 

Preparation

• Wash hands before beginning a task and after every interruption that could contaminate hands. The handwashing sink — not the prep sink — should be used.
• Avoid cross-contamination
• Use proper handwashing procedures
• Use clean and sanitized utensils and cutting boards when preparing food
• Store cooked food and raw food separately
• Wash all fresh fruits and vegetables with clear running water
• Disassemble, clean and sanitize meat slicers (and other equipment) on a timely basis
• Wash, rinse and sanitize can openers. Wash and rinse tops of cans before opening
• Prepare batches of food no further in advance than necessary

Thawing

• Thaw foods in refrigerator units, under cool running water
• Thaw ready-to-eat foods above raw food, so the thaw water does not contaminate the ready-to-eat food
• Cook microwave-thawed foods immediately
• Frozen food, such as vegetables and seafood, may be cooked directly to the recommended internal temperature. Allow additional time for cooking. Large food items, such as whole turkeys, should not be cooked from the frozen state.

Cooking

• Cook foods to safe time-temperature exposures.
• Calibrate thermometers regularly by inserting into a mixture of ice and water and adjusting the reading to 32 F/ 0 C.

Holding/Displaying Foods Between Preparation and Serving:

• Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Maintain hot foods at 135 F or higher and cold foods at 41 F or lower. Measure temperatures periodically near the top surface before stirring; stir with a clean, sanitized utensil, measure and record temperature
• Do not use holding units, such as steam tables or chafing dishes, to cook or reheat foods
• Hold cold foods in serving containers on ice; the food should not be in contact with the ice
• Do not put previously held food on top of freshly prepared food. Use up the previously held food first.
• Do not handle ready-to-eat foods such as lettuce, ham and cheese with bare hands. Use spatulas, tongs, clean plastic gloves or deli tissue to handle food.
• In self-service/buffet situations, provide spoons or tongs so human hands do not touch food. Provide clean plates for every trip through a buffet line.
• Linens and napkins used as liners that contact food must be replaced whenever the container is refilled.
• Handle plates by their edges, glasses by the bases and cups by their handles.
• Handle utensils by their handles.
• Use metal or plastic scoops – not glasses, bowls, cups or plates – to scoop ice.
• Discard potentially hazardous foods that have been removed from temperature control for more than four hours.

Cooling

• Label and date food before cold storage.
• Cool foods from 135 F to 70 F within 2 hours and from 70 F to 41 F within 4 hours. Do not cool food at room temperature before putting in the cooler.
• Do not mix fresh food with leftover food.
• Divide food into smaller batches and put in shallow 4-inch-deep metal pans. Liquid foods should be no more than three inches deep, and thicker foods should be no more than two inches deep. Set the open pans on the top shelf of the cooler and cover the food after it has cooled.
• Use an ice bath to speed cooling. Place container of food in a larger container filled with ice water to reduce cooling time. Stir frequently during chilling to promote cooling and measure temperature periodically.

Reheating

• Reheat previously prepared foods to at least 165 F for 15 seconds within two hours. Microwave-cooked foods should be rotated or stirred midway through the heating process and should be allowed to stand two minutes to allow for dispersal of heat.
• Do not reheat foods in hot holding equipment such as steam tables.

Personal Hygiene Guidelines for Employees:

Foodservice workers must pay close attention to personal hygiene. Policies on personal hygiene should be reviewed with employees and posted as reminders. For instance, workers who have a cold, the flu or another communicable illness, should inform their supervisor and not handle food. The following guidelines should be stressed to any worker dealing with food:

• Keep clean by bathing daily, using deodorant, and washing hair regularly
• Keep hair under control by wearing a hair restraint.
• Wear clean clothing/uniform and/or apron.
• Avoid wearing jewelry, which can harbor bacteria and cause a physical hazard if parts fall into the food. Jewelry also can pose a personal safety hazard if it gets caught in the equipment.
• Keep fingernails clean, unpolished and trimmed short.
• Wear a bandage and plastic gloves if you have open cuts or sores. In some cases, employees should perform other non-food-related tasks until the wound heals.
• Do not chew gum while on duty.
• Do not smoke cigarettes while performing any aspect of food preparation.
• Avoid unguarded coughing or sneezing. Wash hands after coughing or sneezing. 

Wash hands thoroughly

• before starting work
• during food preparation as often as necessary to prevent cross contamination when changing tasks and when changing from handling raw foods to cooked foods
• and after—
  • coughing, sneezing, using a handkerchief or tissue.
  • touching bare human body parts.
  • eating, drinking or smoking.
  • handling raw meats, poultry and fish.
  • handling garbage, sweeping or picking up items from the floor.
  • using cleaners and other chemicals.
  • using the toilet.
  • handling soiled equipment and utensils.
  • switching between raw foods and ready-to-eat foods.

Wash, Rinse and Sanitize

Surfaces and equipment may look sparkling clean, yet bacteria may be present in large numbers. Cleaning is the physical removal of food and/or soil from surfaces. Clean does not necessarily mean sanitary. All food contact surfaces must be sanitized.

Sanitizing takes cleaning a step further by reducing the number of bacteria present. Sanitizing does not make a surface sterile or germ-free. Sterility would be impractical and too expensive for foodservice operations.

Sanitizing agents differ in the amount of contact time required and their concentration and temperature requirements. When using combination products, such as detergent-sanitizers, cleaning and sanitizing must done in two separate steps. First use the detergent-sanitizer to clean, then prepare another solution of the same agent to sanitize. Cleaning cloths can contaminate surfaces. They should be stored in sanitizing solution when not in use.

Sanitizing may be accomplished manually or with equipment such as dish machines using heat (as steam or hot water) or chemicals. When heat sanitizing, using a higher temperature generally shortens the time required to kill bacteria.

Since equipment varies, procedures should be written that specify cleaning and sanitizing chemicals and methods for all areas of foodservice. A schedule should be in place for cleaning, with records kept of when it was done.

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