KITCHEN BASICS Creative foods unit 1 INTRODUCTION TO

KITCHEN BASICS Creative foods: unit 1

INTRODUCTION TO FOOD SAFETY What do you need to know?

What Is a Foodborne Illness? All restaurant and foodservice operations must keep food safe. Every person in the operation must work toward this goal. ■ A food-borne illness is a disease transmitted to people by food. – A food-borne illness outbreak is when two or more people get the same illness after eating the same food. ■ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there will be 76 million cases of food-borne illness in the United States each year.

Who is most at risk? ■ High-risk populations have a higher risk of getting a food-borne illness than others. – Pregnant women – Children – Elderly ■ The immune system is the body’s defense against illness. – When the system is weak, it cannot fight off illness as easily as a healthy system.

Forms of Contamination To prevent food-borne illness, it is important to recognize the hazards that can make food unsafe. ■ A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm. ■ In the preparation of food, hazards are divided into three categories: – Biological – Chemical – Physical ■ Contamination means that harmful things are present in food, making it unsafe to eat.

Unsafe Practices ■ Food can become unsafe through: – Poor personal hygiene – Time-temperature abuse – Cross-contamination – Poor cleaning and sanitizing – Purchasing from unapproved suppliers

Biological Contamination Microorganisms are small, living organisms that can be seen only through a microscope. ■ The four types of pathogens that can contaminate food and cause food-borne illness are: – Bacteria – Viruses – Parasites – Fungi Biological toxins, another form of biological contamination, are made by pathogens, or they come from a plant or an animal.

Biological Contamination: Bacteria Pathogens need six conditions to grow. An easy way to remember these conditions is by remembering the phrase FAT TOM: – Food – Acidity – Temperature – Time – Oxygen – Moisture

TCS Foods ■ TCS Food: – Food that is most vulnerable for pathogen growth is food that needs time and temperature control for safety ■ To control temperature, food handlers must keep TCS food out of the temperature danger zone. 41 -135°F

Ready to Eat Foods ■ Ready-to-eat food: – Food that can be eaten without further preparation, washing, or cooking – Needs careful handling to prevent contamination – Wear gloves when working with these foods

Other Biological Contamination: Viruses ■ Viruses are the leading cause of food-borne illness. ■ ■ Can survive refrigerator and freezer temperatures Can’t grow in food but can grow inside a person’s intestines – Can be transferred from: ■ ■ ■ Person to person People to food contact surfaces ■ Stay home if you’ve been vomiting, have diarrhea, or have jaundice ■ As a whole, avoid using bare hands on ready to eat foods

Other Biological Contamination: Parasites ■ Parasites cannot grow in food. – They must live in a host organism to grow. ■ A host is a person, animal, or plant on which another organism lives and feeds. – – – Cows Chickens Pigs Fish Also found in contaminated water ■ Purchase food from approved, reputable suppliers

Other Biological Contamination: Fungi ■ Fungi can cause illness, but usually they cause food to spoil. – Found in: ■ ■ ■ Air Soil Plants Water some food

■ Mold that is visible to the human eye is actually a tangled mass of thousands of tiny mold plants. – Can grow in any condition but grow especially well in acidic foods with little moisture. ■ Yeast can spoil food quickly. – The signs of spoilage include the smell or taste of alcohol, white or pink discoloration, slime, and bubbles. – Also grow well in acidic foods with little moisture.

Chemical Contamination ■ Chemicals contaminants come from everyday items that are found in restaurant and foodservice operations and may cause food-borne illnesses.

Chemical Contamination Prevention ■ Store chemicals in a separate area away from food, utensils, and equipment used for food. – Foodservice chemicals can contaminate food if they are used or stored in the wrong ways. ■ Includes: Cleaners, sanitizers, polishes, and machine lubricants – To prevent toxic-metal poisoning: ■ only use utensils and equipment, including kettles, pots, serving-ware and pans, that are made for handling food.

Physical Contamination ■ Physical contamination happens when objects get into food. – Contaminants can be naturally occurring, such as the bones in fish, or result from accidents and mistakes

■ Common physical contaminants include: – Metal shavings from cans – Glass from broken light bulbs – Fingernails, hair, and bandages – Jewelry – Fruit pits ■ Most physical contamination can be prevented by inspecting food closely, practicing good personal hygiene, and following preparation procedures.

Food Defense ■ Restaurant and foodservice employees also must take steps to prevent people from purposely contaminating food. – Prevent tampering by controlling access to the operation’s food storage and preparation areas. – All employees in an operation, from busser to executive chef, should report anything that seems suspicious.

Allergens A food allergy is the body’s negative reaction to a food protein. ■ Employees should be aware of major allergens and the menu items that contain them. – When serving customers with food allergies, servers must be ready to answer customers’ questions about any menu item. – Servers should never take a guess about what a menu item contains. If they don’t know, they should ask someone who does.

Allergens: Cross Contact ■ Cross-contact: – Occurs when allergens are transferred from food containing an allergen to the food served to the customer.

U. S. Regulation of Food Safety ■ Most regulations that affect restaurant and foodservice operations in the United States are written at the state level, but federal, state, and local governments are all involved. – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) writes the FDA Food Code, which recommends specific food safety regulations for the restaurant and foodservice industry.

■ An inspection is a formal review or examination conducted to see if an operation is following food safety laws. – Successful restaurant and foodservice managers understand local food safety requirements and design policies that address them.

GOOD PERSONAL HYGIENE

Food Handlers & Contamination Good personal hygiene is a key factor in the prevention of food-borne illnesses. Successful managers make personal hygiene a priority. ■ Food-handlers can contaminate food in a variety of situations. – Food-handlers are not just the people who prepare food. – Servers and even dishwashers are considered food-handlers.

Contamination Prevention To prevent food-handlers from contaminating food, managers must create personal hygiene policies. ■ These policies must address: – Personal cleanliness – Clothing – Hand care – Health

Personal Cleanliness and Work Attire ■ Personal cleanliness is an important part of personal hygiene. Pathogens can be found on hair and skin that aren’t kept clean. ■ All food-handlers must bathe or shower before work and keep their hair clean. ■ Dirty clothing may carry pathogens that can cause food-borne illnesses. ■ To avoid spreading food-borne illnesses, food-handlers should: – Always cover their hair. – Remove aprons and store them in the right place when leaving prep areas. . – Wear clean clothing every day. – Remove jewelry from hands and arms before preparing food or when working around prep areas.

Hand-washing is the most important part of personal hygiene. Food-handlers must wash their hands before they start work. ■ Food-handlers must also wash their hands after: – Using the restroom – Handling raw meat, poultry, or seafood – Touching the hair, face, or body – Sneezing, coughing, or using a tissue – Eating, drinking, smoking, or chewing gum or tobacco – Handling chemicals that might affect food safety – Taking out garbage – Clearing tables or busing dirty dishes – Touching clothing or aprons – Handling money – Touching anything else that may contaminate hands

Bare-Hand Contact/ Illness Work Requirements ■ Restaurant and foodservice operations have a responsibility to ensure that their employees do not spread food-borne illnesses. – Food-handlers who are sick can spread pathogens to food. Depending on the illness, they might not be able to work with food until they recover.

■ Using bare hands to handle ready-to-eat food can increase the risk of contaminating it. – Gloves, tongs, and deli tissue can help keep food safe by creating a barrier between hands and food. – Change gloves frequently. One product use only.

PREVENTING HAZARDS IN THE FLOW OF FOOD

Flow of Food ■ The steps that an operation takes to buy, store, prepare, cook, and serve food is known as the flow of food. – All steps in the flow of food pose risks to food safety. – Understanding where contamination can happen in this flow and how to prevent it are critical tasks for restaurant and foodservice professionals.

Time-Temperature Abuse Most food-borne illnesses happen because TCS food has been time-temperature abused. ■ Food is time-temperature abused any time it is: – Stored at the wrong temperature during any part of the flow of food – Cooked to the wrong internal temperature – Held at the wrong temperature – Cooled or reheated incorrectly

Purchasing Restaurant and foodservice purchasers must make sure that their suppliers use good food safety practices along the supply chain. ■ An operation’s supply chain can include: – Growers – Shippers – Packers – Manufacturers – Distributors (trucking fleets and warehouses) – Local markets

Purchasing ■ All the food used in a restaurant or foodservice operation should come from approved, reputable suppliers. ■ An approved food supplier is one that has been inspected by appropriate agencies and meets all applicable local, state, and federal laws.

Receiving ■ To keep food safe during receiving, an operation needs to have enough trained staff available to receive, inspect, and store the food. ■ Use thermometers to check food temperatures during receiving

Receiving ■ The packaging of food and nonfood items should be intact and clean. – Reject any items with packaging problems or with signs of pest damage or expired use-by dates. – Poor food quality is sometimes a sign of time-temperature abuse.

Receiving ■ Shellfish can be received either shucked or live. – Make sure that raw shucked shellfish are packaged in containers for onetime use only. ■ Eggs must be clean and unbroken when you receive them. ■ Milk and dairy products must be received at 41˚F or lower unless otherwise specified by law. – Must be pasteurized and meet FDA Grade A standards.

Storage ■ Food can become unsafe if stored improperly. Store all TCS food at 41°F or lower, or at 135°F or higher. ■ Rotate food in storage to use the oldest inventory first using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method.

Storage & Cross-Contamination ■ CROSS CONTAMINATION: – The spread of pathogens from one surface or food to another. ■ The most basic way to prevent cross-contamination is to separate raw food and ready-to-eat food.

Storage ■ Store refrigerated raw meat, poultry, and seafood separately from ready-to-eat food. – Store raw meat, poultry, and seafood in coolers in top-to-bottom order based on the minimum internal cooking temperature of each food. – Meat cooked to higher temperatures is always stored beneath meat cooked to lower temperatures.

Preparation ■ Time-temperature abuse can happen during preparation. To avoid timetemperature abuse, remove from the refrigerator only as much food as can be prepared in a short period of time. ■ Prepare food in small batches so that ingredients don’t sit out for too long in the temperature danger zone.

Preparation: Freezing & Thawing Freezing & Pathogens ■ Freezing doesn’t kill pathogens. ■ When food is thawed and exposed to the TDZ, any pathogens in the food will begin to grow. ■ To reduce pathogen growth: – Never thaw food at room temperature

Cooking ■ Cooking food to the correct temperature is critical for keeping it safe. ■ Every type of TCS food has a minimum internal temperature that it must reach. – Once reached, be sure that it stays at that temperature for a specific amount of time (dependent on the food item)

Cooking for High-Risk Populations ■ Operations that primarily serve high-risk populations such as nursing homes and day-care centers, cannot serve certain items: – Raw seed sprouts – Raw or undercooked eggs – Raw or undercooked meat or seafood

Holding ■ If cooked food isn’t served immediately, it must be kept out of the temperature danger zone by cooling it quickly, reheating it correctly, and/or holding it correctly. ■ To hold TCS food safely: – Hold hot food at 135°F or higher – Hold cold food at 41°F or lower

Time-Temperature Abuse in Holding Food ■ Food has been time-temperature abused when it remains at 41˚F to 135˚F – The longer food stays in the temperature danger zone, the more time pathogens have to grow. ■ If food is held in this range for FOUR or more hours, throw it out

Cooling ■ Cool TCS food from 135°F to 41°F or lower within six hours. – Cool food from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours – Then cool it to 41°F or lower in the next 4 hours

Reheating ■ If food-handlers plan to reheat leftover or previously prepared TCS food so that it can be held for service: – Must heat the food to an internal temperature of 165°F – The food needs to go from storage temperature to 165°F within two hours and then stay at that temperature for 15 seconds.

CLEANING AND SANITIZING

How to Clean Effectively ■ Cleaning: – Removes food and other dirt from a surface ■ Sanitizing: – Reduces pathogens on a surface to safe levels

Essential Skills ■ Clean the surface ■ Rinse the surface ■ Sanitize the surface ■ Let the surface air dry

When to Clean & Sanitize ■ After food contact surfaces are used ■ Before food-handlers start working with a different type of food ■ Any time food-handlers are interrupted during a task and items may have been contaminated ■ After 4 hours, if items are in constant use

Towels ■ Never use cloths or towels meant for cleaning food spills ■ Store cloths for general cleaning in a sanitizer solution between uses ■ Keep towels that come in contact with raw meat, seafood, or poultry separate from other cleaning towels

Cleaners: Chemicals used to remove food, dirt, rust, stains, minerals, and other deposits ■ Detergents – General purpose or heavy duty ■ Degreasers – Dissolve grease that has been burnt on (oven doors/range hoods) ■ Delimers – Acid cleaners used on mineral deposits and dirt that cleaners won’t remove (ex. Scaling from hard water); applied very carefully ■ Abrasive cleaners – Scouring agent to remove baking-on foods in pots/pans

Sanitizing ■ Heat ■ Chemical ■ Combination

Heat Sanitizing ■ Soak in hot water (171°F) for 30 seconds

Chemical Sanitizing ■ Chlorine ■ Iodine ■ Quaternary ammonium compounds (QUATS) – FOLLOW MANUFACTURER’S DIRECTIONS! – Concentration must be correct or it won’t work

At-Home Sanitizing Solution ■ Bleach solution: – 1 T bleach per gallon of warm water

Factors that Influence Effectiveness of Sanitizers ■ Contact Time – The amount of time a sanitizer must be in contact with the surface being sanitized ■ Temperature – Must be the correct temp. for water or sanitizer to effectively kill pathogens without harming employees or customers ■ Concentration – The level of dilution of a chemical and water solution

Three-Compartment Sinks ■ Remove food from dishes – Wash in hot water (110°F) and dish detergent – Rinse – Sanitize – Air Dry ■ There must be space on each side of the sink to allow for the first and last step

Dishwashers ■ Clean and maintain frequently throughout the day – Follow manufacturer’s directions – Scrape or soak before washing – Never overload the dish racks – Load so water will spray all surfaces – Rewash dirty items

Develop a Cleaning Program ■ Create a MASTER CLEANING SCHEDULE – What should be cleaned – Who should clean it – When it should be clean – How it should be cleaned – Train employees to follow it – Monitor that it works!

Controlling Pests ■ Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM) – Prevent, control, or eliminate pest infestations from happening ■ 3 Basic Rules – Deny pests access to the operation – Deny pest food, water, and a hiding or nesting place – Work with a licensed pest controller operator to get rid of pests that do enter the operation

Tips to Control Pests ■ Check deliveries before they enter the operation ■ Screen all windows/vents ■ Keep all exteriors closed tightly ■ Cover floor drains with hinged grates ■ Seal all cracks in floors and walls ■ Use concrete to fill holes or sheet metal to cover openings around pipes

Pay attention to cleaning! ■ Throw garbage out quickly ■ Keep garbage containers clean and in good condition ■ Clean up spills immediately ■ When possible, use dehumidifiers to keep humidity at 50% or lower (prevent roach eggs from hatching) ■ Keep food and supplies at least 6” off the floor ■ Store all food right away ■ Use FIFO for products in storage

What Would You Do? ■ You manage the foodservice operations for a large nursing home. How do you prevent pests from entering the facility? – Develop an action plan within your group