Safe Food Handling & Sanitation Tips
 

Below are brief tips on how to safely handle food.  Please visit the websites referenced at the bottom of this page for more detailed information on safe food handling. 

1. Wash hands
   • Wash hands before beginning work, after using restroom & other times as necessary
   • Use soap with hot water (as hot as you can stand) and rub hands together for 30 seconds
   • Rinse and dry with single use paper towel or touch free hand dryer
2. Avoid bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food.  Use tongs, spatulas & gloves when preparing or serving food
3. Wear hair nets or full coverage caps to confine hair
4. Properly defrost potentially hazardous food
   • Never defrost food at room temperature
   • Defrost food in refrigerator, microwave or under cool running water
   • Food that is defrosted in the microwave must be cooked immediately
5. Sanitize food preparation areas
   • Use 1 tablespoon chlorine bleach in 1 gallon warm water
   • Use single use paper towels to clean area
   • Wiping cloths should be stored in sanitizing solution between uses
   • Sanitize cutting boards, sinks, brushes
6. Avoid cross-contamination
   • Avoid cross-contaminating foods by washing hands, utensils, platters and cutting boards after they have been in contact with raw meat or poultry and before they touch another food
   • Properly store food in refrigerator, do not store raw meat above vegetables, etc
7. Proper temperatures
   • Cook potentially hazardous food to the correct temperature
   • Potentially hazardous food must be maintained at 41ºF and below or 135ºF and above at all times (except during preparation, cooking or cooling)
   • Follow these guidelines when heating or cooling a product:

•  Make sure the product has been heated to the correct temperature  by using a thermometer

•  Cool product as quickly as possible.  Use thermometer to make sure cooked product cools to the proper temperature within allotted time:

a.       Potentially hazardous food prepared at room temperature (such as tuna salad): cool to 41ºF within 4 hours

b.      Cooked potentially hazardous food needs to be cooled from 135ºF to 70ºF within 2 hours, then from 70ºF to 41ºF within the next 4 hours

§          Food kept between  41ºF and 135ºF are in the danger zone.  Immediately discard potentially hazardous food that has been in this danger zone for 4 or more hours, as it has produced enough harmful organisms to result in sickness or potential death.

8. Fruits and Vegetables
   • Always thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables with potable water before cutting or eating, and always refrigerate cut fruit and cut tomatoes
   • Always cut fruits and vegetables with a sanitary knife on a sanitary surface to avoid cross contamination
   • Remove and discard the outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage

For additional information on safe food handling, click on the topics below:

• Hand Hygiene
• Food Temperatures
• Cross Contamination
• Sanitation
• Fight Bac!