FOOD SAFETY
INTRODUCTION
This booklet is intended for restaurants, cafes and other
small catering businesses, selling food in Society and
communities.
The booklet is split
into 4 sections:
2.
What Are the Risks
3.
What Can I do?
4.
Next Steps
5.
Further Information
“Safer
Food is better for business”
1. Carry out a hazard analysis;
2. Identify critical control points (CCPs);
3. Establish critical limits for each CCP;
4. Implement monitoring procedures at each CCP;
5.
Develop corrective action procedures in the
event that critical limits are exceeded;
6. Incorporate an effective record keeping system into the
plan;
7. Develop procedures to verify that the system is working.
What about periodic reviews?
“Food
Safety Risk Assessment is your responsibility”
2.
What Are The Risks?
The
main safety risks are food poisoning, foreign bodies in food and food
allergies. Food poisoning is a much higher risk in premises offering prepared
food.
You can minimize the
risk by implementing good hygiene practices; by properly maintaining the
premises and having a food safety management system.
Food
allergies are a complex issue with the potential to be life threatening. You
should be aware of potential
problems.
Kitchens
and food handling areas must comply with the requirements of Section 4 of the Saudi
Aramco Sanitary Code. This means that the premises must:
ü
be in a sound
condition
ü
be easy to clean
ü
be kept clean
ü
have adequate provision
(including drainage) for washing food, equipment
and hands
ü
have adequate storage
and preparation facilities
ü
be well lit and
ventilated
ü
be proofed against
pests
.What Can I Do?
The main things to
remember for good food hygiene are the four ‘Cs’
Good
food hygiene is all about controlling harmful bacteria, which can cause serious
illness. The four main things to remember for good hygiene are:
ü Cross-contamination
ü Cleaning
ü Chilling
ü Cooking
These
are known as the 4 Cs. They will help you prevent the most common food safety
problems.
Cross-contamination
food, surfaces or
equipment. It is most likely to happen when
raw food touches (or drips onto) ready-to-eat food,
equipment
or surfaces.
Cross-contamination is
one of the most common causes
of food poisoning.
Do
the following things to avoid it:
ü Clean work surfaces, chopping boards and equipment thoroughly
before you start preparing food and after you have used them to prepare raw
food.
ü Ideally, use different chopping boards and knives for raw and
ready-to-eat food.
ü Wash your hands before preparing food.
ü Wash your hands thoroughly after touching raw food.
ü Keep raw and ready-to-eat foods apart at all times.
ü Store raw food below ready-to-eat food in the fridge.
ü If possible, use separate fridges for raw and ready-to-eat
food.
ü Make sure that your staff know how to avoid
cross-contamination.
Cleaning
You
should do the following things:
ü Make sure that all your staff wash and dry their hands thoroughly
before handling food.
ü Clean food areas and equipment between different tasks, especially
after handling raw food.
ü Clear and clean as you go. Clear away used equipment,
spilled food etc. as you work and clean work surfaces thoroughly.
What about sanitizing food contact
surfaces –cleaning alone is not sufficient?
Chilling
Chilling food properly
helps to stop harmful bacteria from
growing.
Some
foods need to be kept chilled to keep them
safe,
for example food with a ‘use
by’ date, cooked dishes and other ready-to-eat food such as prepared
salads and desserts.
Use by Date is irrelevant as far as
chilling is concerned. Canned and some
dry foods have use by dates
It
is very important not to leave these types of food standing around at room
temperature. So, make sure you do the following things:
ü Check chilled food on delivery to make sure it is cold
enough.
ü Put food that needs to be kept chilled in the fridge straight
away.
ü Cool cooked food as quickly as possible and then put it in
the fridge.
ü Keep chilled food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible
during preparation.
ü Check regularly that your fridge and display units are cold
enough.
Cooking
Thorough cooking kills
harmful bacteria in food. So it is
extremely
important to make sure that food is cooked
that
it is piping hot (steaming) all the way through.
It
is especially important to make sure that you thoroughly
cook
rolled meat, poultry and products made from
minced
meat, such as burgers. This is because
there
could be bacteria in the middle of these types of
products.
They should not be served pink or rare and should be piping hot (steaming) all
the way through with an internal temperature of 73oC. Whole thin
cuts of beef and lamb, such as steaks and cutlets and whole joints, can be served
pink/rare as long as they are fully seared on the outside and the juices
run clear.
4.
Next Steps
It
is very important for you and your staff to understand
what
good food hygiene is and to follow this advice.
Good
food hygiene helps you to:
ü
Comply With The Saudi Aramco
Sanitary Code.
ü
Reduce the risk of food
poisoning among those who eat or drink at your premises.
ü Protect your business’s reputation.
Complete
the checklist on the following pages to see how good your standards are and where
improvements can be made.
Food Safety Checklist
Question
|
Yes
|
No
|
Not
Applicable
|
Is a written system in place to ensure
food safety is well managed and risks are controlled?
|
|||
Are food handling staff appropriately
trained?
|
|||
Does food bought in come from reputable approved suppliers?
|
|||
Is there adequate storage facilities for chilled
and frozen food?
|
|||
Is
chilled food stored at 8°C
or below (ideally 1- 5°C)? All requirements
now state below 5°C
|
|||
Is frozen food stored at a temperature below
-18°C?
|
|||
Are separate utensils used for raw foods and
ready to eat foods or are they thoroughly cleaned between uses?
|
|||
Is food thoroughly cooked and checked? Temp????
|
|||
Are appropriate cleaning and sanitizing products in use and are they being used properly?
|
|||
Is the kitchen and are all utensils
thoroughly cleaned and sanitized?
|
|||
Are surfaces and equipment regularly checked
for cleanliness?
|
|||
Are there suitable sinks and hand
washbasins available for use during food preparation? This implies that hand washbasins are
used for food preparation. They are
used for hand washing. These issues
should be dealt with separately to avoid confusion
|
|||
Is prepared and opened food kept in containers
and are date labels applied to allow for good stock rotation?
|
|||
Are the risks from food allergies
controlled?
|
|||
Is the kitchen regularly inspected for
pests?
|
|||
Is waste removed regularly and properly disposed
of?
|
Update:20-Jan-2016
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