Storing Food After Delivery

Storing food after delivery is very important when food safety is considered and the food should be stored as quickly as it can be put away. For instance, in a previous eLearn Safety blog post Receiving Food Delivery from 19th January 2024 we talked about the importance of proper and planned handling of food deliveries. Most importantly, it is very important to note that once the food is accepted from delivery operators it should be unpacked from the outside packaging before storage. In addition, frozen foods should always be stored first. It is extremely important to remember that raw meat and ready-to-eat foods should be handled and stored separately. All food handling staff should be competent and trained in safe food handling. An easy and convenient way to achieve this is by taking one of eLearn Safety fully online Food Safety courses.

 

Plan for Storing Food After Delivery

Never tightly pack food in storage areas. For instance, food should always be kept at least 15cm above the floor and at least 5cm away from the walls. This is because it will make cleaning and pest inspections easier.

In addition, keep records of all food temperatures. If you observe high temperatures, report this immediately to the Supervisor/Manager. This can be the result of a delay in storing food, allowing it to warm up to room temperature. Such delays can be avoided by having allocated time slots for staff to store food correctly.

 

Contamination is Dangerous

Food contamination is very dangerous! You must remember to:

• Keep raw meats in a separate refrigerator or on the bottom shelf. This is to avoid contaminating anything below.
• Clean soil from vegetables before storage as soil can contain dangerous bacteria.
• Check all seals of fridge and freezer doors are working properly and are clean. Fridges and freezers should be checked every day and detailed, stringent temperature records maintained. If you are using a walk-in freezer – always make sure that the door is closed properly behind you.

 

Stock Rotation

Stock rotation is important when we talk about storing food after delivery. Therefore, you should always practice a FIFO system (First In First Out). In addition, you should label each item so that anyone who would check for these items knows when it was delivered and its shelf life. For instance, never sell food that has passed its Use-By date and make sure that all the correct storage requirements are followed.

For additional information about Use-By and Best-Before dates please check eLearn Safety blog entry Shelf-life of Food Products from 10th March 2023. In addition, you might find some very useful information on Teagasc website and their page Shelf Life of Food Products from 9th January 2022.

 

Basic Storage Rules

Always remember to:

• Store all frozen food at below -18°.
• Store all fresh food at below 5°.
• Store dry goods quickly.
• Keep fridge and/or freezer doors open for the shortest time possible.
• Immediately report a fridge or freezer malfunction. A breakdown can be an expensive and serious food safety hazard.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Receiving Food Delivery

Receiving food delivery is an important activity in any food handling business. This is to ensure that all food is received fresh and safe when it enters the foodservice operation. All food deliveries must be moved to proper storage as quickly as possible.

 

Getting Ready for Receiving Food Delivery

Clean designated receiving tables must be provided for all food. It is essential to keep raw meats away from ready-to-eat food such as salads, breads, etc. If the food is not separated, dangerous contamination can occur. It is very easy in a busy environment for delivered foods to come into contact with each other. This is why great care must be taken at all times to prevent this. Always use separate probes for different types of food. For example, never use a probe that was just used for raw meat, such as chicken, to measure the temperature of a ready-to-eat food. Never bring packaging material into the kitchen. It may have become contaminated outside.

Record and check all food coming into the kitchen. All personnel responsible for receiving and storing must be fully trained and empowered to reject any food that is not fit for use. eLearn Safety offers an easy and convenient way to train your staff in basic safe food handling through fully online food safety courses. The Food Safety (HACCP) Level 1 is an ideal starting point! This course is designed to introduce participants to food safety and hygiene issues. It is based on the training criteria set down by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s Guide to Food Safety Training Level 1.

 

Things to watch Out For

It is important to check every delivery before the food is accepted.

Always check the following:

1. Inspect the delivery truck when it arrives to ensure that it is clean, free of putrid odors. The truck must be also organised to prevent cross-contamination. Be sure refrigerated foods are delivered on a refrigerated truck.
2. Check the interior temperature of refrigerated trucks.
3. Confirm vendor name, day and time of delivery. Verify driver’s identification before accepting delivery. If the driver’s name is different from what is indicated on the delivery schedule, contact the vendor immediately.
4. Check frozen foods to ensure that they are all frozen solid and show no signs of thawing and refreezing. For example, look for the presence of large ice crystals or liquids on the bottom of cartons.
5. Check the temperature of refrigerated foods.
6. Check dates of milk, eggs, and other perishable goods to ensure safety and quality.
7. Check the integrity of food packaging.
8. Check the cleanliness of crates and other shipping containers before accepting products. Always reject foods that are shipped in dirty crates.

The above list is an important practice – not for safety alone, but for quality as well.

 

Rejecting Foods

Food must be always rejected if the food packaging is damaged, there are signs of pests and relevant food temperatures are not observed. A record of all received and returned food should be kept.  Similarly, it is important to store food as quickly as it can be put away. Above all, always remove outside packaging and store frozen food first. In addition, raw meat should be transported and stored separately from ready-to-eat foods. Never accept a delivery that is left outside of your premises and exposed to elements! Always receive food deliveries directly from a delivery person!

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Food Contaminants

Food contaminants are those things with the potential to contaminate food and make it unsafe to eat. The things that contaminate food are known as ‘food contaminants’.

 

Types of Food Contaminants

Food contaminants may be either:

• Inherent, meaning that they occur or exist in the food naturally. Red kidney beans, for example, naturally contain a toxic compound and can make people ill if they are not cooked correctly. Properly handled, the food is safe.
• Introduced, meaning that they are somehow added to the food. This might (for example) be a pesticide or similar chemical used when growing fruits or vegetables that can make people ill if not properly washed off, or something that falls into the food, such as an insect or a false fingernail.
• Non-biological contaminants are things that are not alive; that is, they are not derived from living organisms or enzymes. (Some cleaning fluids, for example, contain active enzymes which are biological in nature.) Glass, plastic packaging material, and cleaning fluids that do not have active enzymes in them are types of non-biological food contaminants.
• Biological contaminants are living organisms, microorganisms, or enzymes. For example, pests (e.g. flour mites), bacteria, and cleaning fluids that have active enzymes in them.

 

Food Contamination Examples

The things that contaminate food can either exist in the food naturally or be added to it at some point before it is eaten.

Each food handling business must foster a positive food safety culture. Failure to comply with basic food safety legal requirements is not only a potential risk to public health, but also a risk to the food business’s reputation if things go wrong.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) reported that ten Enforcement Orders were served on food businesses during the month of November for breaches of food safety legislation:

Some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in November include: evidence that people were living and sleeping in the food preparation area; dead mice found in the ingredient storage area which is a part of the food production area, along with numerous mice droppings on shelving; ongoing cockroach infestation in the kitchen, storage areas and on the shop floor; large food storage containers found to be covered in food debris, dirt and cobwebs; evidence of mould and mildew on a chip storage container and on the chip scoops; inadequate temperature control measures in place for high-risk foods; no evidence to demonstrate that the food business operator was trained in food safety, with no evidence of a food safety management system; heavy deposits of mouse droppings behind the fridge, freezer and in the main food preparation area and in the dry goods store; evidence that food infested by rodent droppings was placed on the market; an establishment operating as a meat cutting plant, also producing meat preparations and meat products, without approval from the competent authority.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Cleaning and Food Safety

Cleaning and food safety are inseparable terms. A clean kitchen is one that has been thoroughly cleaned to prevent the contamination of food by living and non-living contaminants. Cleaning safely does not mean cleaning areas and surfaces you can see only. Cleaning safely means cleaning in places you cannot see.

 

Priority Cleaning and Food Safety

High priority cleaning should be given to items that are frequently touched. Examples include water taps, door handles, light switches, etc. These should be cleaned more than once a day to prevent contamination and should be cleaned and allowed to dry naturally after every shift. Allowing items to dry naturally removes the chance of contamination by using towels.

A kitchen must be properly cleaned and sanitised. It is of utmost importance to follow the guides and instructions provided with the cleaning agents to prevent chemical contamination of food.

 

Cleaning Plan

The following six-point cleaning plan is one example of achieving cleaning and food safety:

1. Pre-clean. Remove all debris and loose dirt (e.g., sweep floors, wipe work surfaces).
2. Main Clean. Remove grease and waste using detergent and appropriate cleaning materials with hot water.
3. Rinse. Remove detergent.
4. Disinfect. Use the appropriate agent. Always follow manufacturers instructions.
5. Final Rinse. Use potable water to remove all traces of disinfectant.
6. Dry. Air dry or use disposable towels to avoid the chance of contamination by reusable towels.

All kitchen work areas should be cleaned after each task.

You can find out all about essential food safety in eLearn Safety fully online food safety course Food Safety (HACCP) Level 1 which is based on the training criteria set down by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s Guide to Food Safety Training Level 1.

There are many additional resources available online that look into great detail of cleaning and food safety. For example SafeFood has plenty of very useful information on their website page titled Kitchen hygiene and food safety.

 

General Advices on Cleaning and Food Safety

To keep the kitchen clean, always ensure the following:

• Always clean as you work.
• Make sure that your work area is cleaned and disinfected after each task and that all waste is cleared away.
• Ensure your work space is as clean and uncluttered as possible as otherwise this could lead to cross-contamination and is a hazard.
• Try to leave tasks such as the preparation of raw meat until last. Always clean and disinfect  thoroughly the work area immediately after preparing or handling raw meat.

Never store chemicals in the same area as food. If food gets contaminated, it can seriously harm all that consume contaminated food.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Spores and Toxins in Food

Spores and toxins in food can be a cause of a serious food poisoning. Spores are a bacteria’s survival package. Some bacteria when faced with adverse conditions such as rising temperatures will form a survival spore. A spore has a protective shell which can withstand higher temperatures than those reached in cooking.

 

Spores in Food

Water boils at 100°C. This means that most of cooking will be only a little hotter. However, spores can survive temperatures of up to 120°C. When the heat returns to room temperature, the spore opens.  Once this happens, the bacteria starts growing to form another colony. This is why hot holding at temperatures above 63°C prevents spores become active, whereas rapid cooling does not give a chance to spores to open.

Two common spore-forming bacteria are Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus. Some foods such as red kidney beans simply need to be cooked to break down the toxins and render them harmless.

 

Toxins in Food

Some toxins are produced by careless defrosting food (e.g. scombrotoxin). Toxins are poisons that are produced by bacteria and plants. Toxins can be deadly, such as that produced by Clostridium botulinum. The verocytotoxin produced by E. coli and its relatives causes damages to kidneys and the intestine. This may result in death, especially in the elderly and the very young. Seafood can also contain dangerous toxins. One of these toxins can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Paralytic shellfish poisoning as the name suggests, causes paralysis. Shellfish such as mussels feed on smaller animals that produce this toxin. In large groups these animals can be seen as a red bloom known as ‘red tide’. There are monitoring systems such as satellite images, that warn where and when shellfish must not be harvested.

 

Spores and Toxins in Plants

Plants can contain toxins. Some toxins are produced by moulds. These toxins include aflatoxin, which can seriously harm the liver. Such toxins are found in cereals and dried fruits that have been poorly stored. All these examples demonstrate the importance of always obtaining quality food from reputable suppliers.

 

Preventing Food Poisoning

• There are 4 simple steps to prevent food poisoning. As SafeFood writes in their article Food poisoning: causes, symptoms and treatment, steps you can take to prevent food poisoning are:
  Clean – always wash your hands before and after handling and eating food, after visiting the toilet or playing with pets or animals.
  Cook – make sure that food is thoroughly cooked in order to destroy any harmful bacteria that might be present.
  Chill – keep food cool in order to prevent bad bacteria from growing; make sure that your fridge is at the correct temperature to keep cold foods chilled – aim to keep your fridge at 5°C or below.
  Prevent cross-contamination – separate raw and cooked foods during storage and cooking and never let raw food, for example raw meat, come into contact with food that is ready-to-eat.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Unwitting Food Poisoning

Unwitting food poisoning is the result of people being unaware of basic food safety. It is usually brought on by implementing unsafe practices, taking chances and common misconceptions. Examples of common misconceptions are washing raw chicken before cooking or smelling food to make sure it’s not gone off.

 

What is Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is any disease of an infectious or toxic nature caused by the consumption of food or water. This includes all food and waterborne illness regardless of symptoms. They usually appear within 1 to 72 hours after eating contaminated or poisonous food. You can read some additional information about food poisoning in our blog entry Food Poisoning from 10th February 2023.

Most cases of food poisoning are the result of people not working properly in the kitchen. Another often cause is not paying proper attention to the delivery and storage of food. This is the case when we talk about food handling at home and in a food business.

By nature most food poisoning is unwitting food poisoning. However, it is most certainly always preventable.  This is why training and education are important. To ensure you know how to handle food safely we recommend completing one of eLearn Safety online Food Safety courses. The Food Safety (HACCP) Level 1 is a good starting point.

 

Causes of Food Poisoning

There are many causes of food poisoning, all of which are avoidable. The most common causes are:

• Contamination of food by bacteria and viruses. This is most often by not washing hands frequently or properly.
• Not heating food sufficiently to kill bacteria.
• Holding food: keeping it not hot enough (above 63°C) or for too long a period. This will allow bacteria to grow.
• Not keeping food cold in the refrigerator, allowing bacteria to grow in a warm environment.
• Contaminating food, which will not be cooked, with bacteria. This is why it is important to keep cooked and raw food separate.
• People carrying bacteria and in turn contaminating the food. This may be in the form of an infected boil or cut. Some people can carry dangerous bacteria without sign of being ill.
• Eating poisonous fish.
• Chemicals that may be present in food such as insecticides, excessive additives and fungicides.
• Metals in food such as lead, copper and mercury.
• Eating poisonous plants such as nightshade, or mushrooms such as toadstools.

 

How Does Unwitting Food Poisoning Occur

As Matthew Gilmour, a Research Scientist and Director of the Food Safety Research Network at Quadram Institute in a report published on RTE (originally published by The Conversation) points out – small routine things, such as ‘sniff test’ might facilitate unwitting food poisoning. We all usually do it, as an unconscious reaction, in a hope to detect any issues with the stored food. However, most food poisoning microbes have no smell. In addition, microbes like Listeria and Salmonella are going to be near impossible to pick up with the sniff test.

As Dr. Gilmour points out “energies are best spent on storing [food] at the right temperature and cooking them for the right amount of time, rather than trusting […] nose to sniff out a pathogen”.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

 

Hand Washing for Food Handlers

Hand washing for food handlers is an essential aspect of cleanliness and hygiene. When it comes to food hazards, food handlers are potentially one of the biggest risks in terms of food safety. However, to extend this, hand washing is not important only in a food preparing environment, but in a domestic one as well.

 

Hand Washing at Home

According to a research by BMC Public Health, Denmark tops the ranking when hand hygiene of consumers is looked into. According to a study Hand hygiene practices during meal preparation—a ranking among ten European countries, the ranking is as follows: Denmark, Greece, Norway, Romania, Hungary, Germany, UK, Portugal, France, and Spain. However, the overall conclusion of the study was that the hand washing is often done incorrectly by skipping areas of hand when washing, or washing one’s hands not long enough. Unfortunately, this is also true when handling risky food such as raw chicken. According to the study, the young families and pregnant women are most likely to neglect a proper hand washing technique. On the other hand, the elderly individuals generally do not wash their hands when required.

 

Hand Washing for Food Handlers – Why is it Important

Most likely, the single most important activity in the food preparation area is proper hand washing. Hands are used for everything – scratching your nose, touching your phone, keys, emptying bins, handling cash, and finally touching the food that is being prepared. It is incredibly easy to cross-contaminate food just by using unwashed hands.

Food workers have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that they do not contaminate food. One of the characteristics of a good food worker is a positive attitude towards hygiene and a willingness to help maintain a high standard at the workplace. Hand washing is at the top of hygiene importance.

Food hygiene legislation places a legal responsibility on food workers, proprietors and visitors to maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness.

Keep the body clean – Food workers should wash or shower daily to remove the layers of dirt, dead skin, sweat and bacteria that build up on the body which can be passed onto food.

The law requires that:

• Food workers are required to maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness and wear suitable clean clothes, and, if necessary, protective clothing.
• It is an offense for an employee of a food business to fail to comply with Annex II of the Regulation EC no. 852/2004 (on the hygiene of foodstuffs).

Want to learn more? Explore eLearn Safety fully online Food Safety (HACCP) Level 1 course.

 

When to Wash Hands

Hands can never be washed too often, but they can be washed not often enough. This is especially important when hand washing for food handlers is in question. Always aim to wash your hands:

• Before changing into work clothes to avoid transferring dirt and bacteria onto them.
• Before handling food of any type.
• After handling one type of food and before handling something else, especially after handling raw meat, poultry, seafood, raw eggs and dairy.
• After cleaning surfaces, utensils or any equipment.
• After handling waste.
• After handling money.
• After blowing your nose.
• After coughing or sneezing.
• After touching hair or face.
• After going to the toilet.
• After eating, drinking or smoking.

The main point to take is – Wash Your Hands regularly!

 

Hand Washing for Food Handlers – How To Steps

Hands must be washed at a wash hand basin supplied with running hot and cold water. Liquid bacterial soap and an approved means of hand drying should be used. The hands, front and back and the gap between the thumb and forefinger must be washed using a rubbing action. It is not satisfactory to run fingers under the tap and then to dry hands on uniforms.

• Hands should be thoroughly dried.
• Separate sinks need to be available for hand washing!
• The correct way to wash your hands:
• If required, make sure your sleeves are pulled up or turned up and they don’t cover your wrists.
• Wet your hands under warm running water.
• Use enough soap to form a good lather, and soap all parts of your hand, fingers and thumbs right up to the wrist.
• Keep washing your hands for about 20 seconds.
• Rinse your hands under running water until they are free of all traces of lather. Use fingers to help remove the suds.
• Turn off the tap with an elbow or paper towel.
• Dry hands thoroughly using fresh paper towels.

To learn more watch the below video prepared by SafeFood.net titled How to wash your hands properly.

 

Hand Washing for Food Handlers – Why Does it Matter?

Hand washing for food handlers is extremely important as correct hand washing will remove bacteria such as E. Coli and salmonella. Bacteria on the hands have an ideal environment, They have food, moisture and a temperature of around 37°C allowing speedy reproduction and a higher risk of infection. This is why hands must be kept meticulously clean at all times.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Food Safety and its Importance

Food safety and its importance matter for many, but mostly two ‘main’ reasons:

• The most important reason of ensuring food safety is that no one should be made ill by the food they eat. Good food practices, supported and guided by law, will ensure protection for becoming ill due to unsafe food.
• The other reason is that providing customers with quality and safe food keep them coming back. This is undoubtedly good for business.

 

What is Food

There are many various definitions of what food is, but for the purposes of catering, food may be defined as:

Any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, that is intended to be, or reasonably expected to be, ingested by humans.

Therefore food is not only meal such as, burgers, steaks, salads, etc. Food includes drink, chewing gum, sweets, condiments, ice, flavourings and any substance, including water, intentionally incorporated into food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment.

 

Food Poisoning

Food safety and its importance can often by undervalued. But ignoring it might have series consequences. If food safety practices and handling standards are poor, food may become contaminated. This might result in people who consume said food to become ill. In extreme cases, food poisoning can be fatal.

If an incidence of food poisoning is traced back to particular business, both, the owner of food premises and an employee who was deemed negligent in preparing/serving the meal could be found liable. They could be prosecuted, and possibly fined, imprisoned, or have their business closed down. At the very least, it will most likely result in loss of customers.

Establishing good practices with regard to food safety will keep both customers and staff safe, and be good for business.

 

The Symptoms of Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is an unpleasant illness which usually occurs within 1 to 72 hours of eating contaminated or poisonous food. Symptoms can be various and can include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting as the body seeks to remove the poisons and prevent damage to the vital organs. The condition can last usually from 1 to 7 days, but can last longer. Other symptoms that suggest a case of food poisoning is particularly serious and requires medical attention include passing blood, either by vomiting or in diarrhoea, slurred speech, blurred vision, or mental confusion.

Identifying the source of the poisoning is necessary, but not always straightforward. This is because the illness might not have been caused by the last food to be eaten.

 

Prevention

Catering businesses can make a huge difference by following procedures and practices that promote food safety. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, simple systems and rules work best as people find them easier to remember and stick to. All of the procedures and practices together form what is known as Food Safety Management System. You can read more about it in our blog entry from 5th May 2023 titled Food Safety Management System (FSMS).

The Food safety Authority of Ireland is a statutory body with main function to ensure that food produced, distributed or marketed in Ireland meets the highest standards of food safety and hygiene reasonably available and to ensure that food complies with legal requirements and recognised codes of good practice.

Food legislation is enforced on behalf of the FSAI by a network of official agencies working under service contract to the FSAI.

 

Enforcement of Food Safety Standards

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act, 1998 contains enforcement provisions which are in addition to the powers to prosecute and other provisions on specific pieces of food legislation. The provisions in the FSAI Act provide a means of reacting to and dealing with situations posing a risk to public health.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has the power to carry out the following in order to determine compliance with food legislation:

• The inspection, approval, licensing or registration of premises and equipment, including premises or equipment used in connection with the manufacture, processing, disposal, transport and storage of food.
• The inspection, sampling, and analysis of food and food including food ingredients.
• The inspection and analysis of food labelling.

In July 2023 the FSAI issued ten Enforcement Orders served on food businesses. Commenting, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that while the majority of food businesses adhere to food safety regulations, it is clear that some businesses are not fully compliant. Dr. Byrne continued ”  …  All food businesses, from the established to the newly opened, must fully adhere with food safety regulations at all times. Enforcement action will be taken for transgressions, in the interest of public health protection.”.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

The Seven Principles of HACCP

Food handling businesses are legally obliged to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on the seven principles of HACCP.

At first, the HACCP system may seem complex. However, the HACCP process is just a step-by-step process that examines how food is handled. The purpose of this process is to ensure the food produced is safe to eat.

The word HACCP is an abbreviation for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. To better understand the process, this abbreviation can be split in two parts:

• HA – Hazard Analysis and how we identify all possible risks, and
• CCP – Critical Control Point. For example, the CCP for cooking food is 75°C and no cooked food should be served at a temperature below this. The exact temperature of cooked food can be measured using a probe.

 

List of The Seven Principles of HACCP

The Seven Principles of HACCP are as follows:

1. Identify all the hazards that food might be exposed to.

This includes physical, chemical, microbiological and allergenic hazards. Once these hazards are identified, all the preventive measures for each hazard should be listed. Food safety hazard is anything that affects the safety and quality of food. A food safety hazards can endanger the health of a consumer. They can originate in the ingredients, the production process or the final product itself. Some additional information can be found in our blog entry from 5th May 2023 titled Food Safety Management System (FSMS).

2. Identify the Critical Control Points.

There will be various points in the process where hazard exists, but not all of them can or need to be controlled. Food may contain bacteria when delivered, but as long as the food is heated thoroughly and sufficiently to kill all bacteria later on in the process, controlling the microbiological hazard on delivery is not critical. However, carrying out the heating step correctly is vital.

3. Determine Control Actions for each CCP.

Once the critical control points have been identified, control actions can be decided and written down. Precise and clear measures and targets should be defined and documented for every CCP. The actions to be taken will obviously depend on the situation.

4. Establish the monitoring methods for each CCP.

The control actions are then monitored at given intervals. This is to ensure daily control of critical processes. Monitoring in food service relies on various temperature measurements. Daily audits should be carried out to ensure equipment is set up and working correctly. In addition, regular audits will ensure that the hygiene processes are completed satisfactorily and that the food safety policy has been followed. The frequency of monitoring depends on the level of risk. All monitoring results should be recorded.

5. Establish a registration and documentation system (good record-keeping).

Keeping records of all monitoring results and procedures is helpful to ensure and to demonstrate that a food business has taken all reasonable precautions to minimise risks. Good documentation endorses the quality of the work performed.

6. Establish the corrective actions for each CCP.

For all CCPs, pre-planned corrective measures should be defined for situations when the control criteria are not met. For example, if food has not been cooked well enough, it should be cooked again or thrown out. The procedures to regularly measure the CCPs, as well as the responsible person for each task, need to be defined.

7. Verification.

Checking that the HACCP system works. Any food safety system needs to be kept up to date. Audits, microbial testing, review of documents and evaluations of employee training will help to ensure this and that the HACCP system is working well and comprehensively. A regular review of practices should be carried out regularly  to ensure that all the procedures are being actively followed at all times.

 

The Safe Catering Guide

Any Food Safety Management System, HACCP included, must be documented. All records must be maintained and available for inspection when required. Records are important to demonstrate the system is being implemented and managed effectively. Records might include HACCP documentation, deliveries, temperature monitoring, pest control, sampling, customer complaints, cleaning schedules, staff training, etc. For convent, affordable and efficient staff training solutions please check eLearn Safety fully online food safety courses.  The HACCP system should be reviewed annually, if there are any changes, or if something goes wrong.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has developed a guide that is based around the HACCP system. The Safe Catering Pack contains colour coded, easy to understand tick charts that cover hazards, controls and critical limits, monitoring/verification and corrective actions. General food safety information is also included as well as a wide range of forms for monitoring and taking records. This guide also includes specific/chemical contamination and food allergies.

 

Online Food Safety Training

Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie