Notes on Participate in Safe Food Handling Practices

Resource Description

Participate in Safe Food Handling Practices
Safe Food Handling Work Practices
Importance and understanding of safe work practices
When handling food, it’s essential to be safe and hygienic in all areas. This includes
practicing high levels of personal and environmental hygiene, regular hand washing and
avoidance of cross-contamination.
Food safety isn’t confined to what happens in the commercial kitchen and must be
considered from ‘paddock to plate’. This means that food safety begins with the primary
producers and continues on through food processing plants, wholesale providers and
supermarkets before it even arrives in a commercial kitchen.
Safe work practices when handling food
Safe work practices when handling food, as mentioned below, are the first step in
ensuring food safety.
Storage
Food handlers must ensure that food is stored safely and to industry standards. This
includes placing food in the correct storage area, following First In, First Out rules when
storing food items and undertaking regular cleaning and maintenance of storage areas.
Checking the temperature of food storage areas is an important part of any safe food
handling practice. The purpose of following procedures such as FIFO and conducting
regular temperature checks is to ensure that food is safe at all times and customers are
receiving the freshest products.
Preparation
Safe work practices when handling food for preparation includes high levels of personal
and environmental hygiene, regular hand washing and keeping high-risk food items out
of the temperature danger zone. Any food that has been pre-prepared should be stored
appropriately until it’s needed for the preparation of a dish. A food handler can also wear
disposable gloves to help protect against the transference of bacteria and viruses.
Display
When displaying food, keep hot food hot and keep cold food cold. All hot food should be
held at above 70 degrees Celsius and all cold food at 4 degrees Celsius or below. When
holding food, a food handlers must follow the 2-4 hour rule as mentioned. The purpose
of the 2-4 hour rule is to minimise the risk of the growth of bacteria and the presence of
viruses and toxins when holding, displaying or cooling food. 0-2 hours – Use immediately

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or keep it stored below 5 degrees Celsius or above 60 degrees Celsius. 2-4 hours – Use
immediately. Over 4 hours – Throw it in the bin.
Service
Food should be plated up on clean and sanitised crockery and cutlery should also be
cleaned and sanitised. Service staff should only hold cutlery by the handle and
glassware should be held by the stem, handle or base of the glass. When cleaning drips
or spills off the side of a plate, the chef should use clean paper towel that is immediately
thrown away. There should be minimal delays between the kitchen and the dining room
to avoid food spending too much time in the temperature danger zone.
Disposal
All foods should be disposed of once a customer has finished eating. Any food that has
been prepared but not used and been stored at the correct temperatures can be
refrigerated and used again for the next service period. When disposing foods, it’s
important to remember to maintain environmentally friendly work practices.
Food contamination and vulnerable customer groups
All customers are susceptible to food poisoning and it’s the food handler’s responsibility
to ensure they minimise this likelihood as much as possible. There are groups within
society that are more susceptible to food poisoning than others. These include:-
* Babies and children.
* Pregnant women.
* Elderly people.
* The chronically ill.
* People with allergies.