Food Hygiene - A guide for Businesses

1. What must happen before the food business opens?
There are certain food management procedures that must happen before a food business can open. HACCP is a way of managing food safety. It is based on putting in place procedures to control hazards. It involves;

Looking closely at what you do in your business and what can go wrong
Identifying the critical control points, and see how you can prevent hazards or reduce them at an acceptable level.
Putting in place procedures to make sure hazards are controlled at your critical control points. Deciding what action you need to take if something goes wrong and keeping appropriate records of your procedures.

You must register your business with your local authority and keep them updated on any changes. Your premises must allow adequate maintenance and avoid or minimise air borne contamination. There must be washrooms and ventilation. Staff must also be trained and informed about personal hygiene and the strict regulations that they must work under.

2. What advice is given about the premises?
The layout, design, construction, site and size of your premises must;

You must clean you premises and main good repair and condition.
The layout must allow adequate maintenance, cleaning or disinfection.
There must be enough space to allow all tasks to be carried out hygienically. The premises must protect against the build up of dirt and contact with toxic materials.
There must be an adequate number of lavatories and an effective drainage system.
Toilets must not open directly into a food room.
There must be washbasins, specifically for washing hands; this must include hot and cold water, and material for cleaning and drying hands.
There must be a separate sink for washing food. There must be enough ventilation to allow access to clean air, and replace filters often.
There must also be adequate lighting, natural or artificial.
Drainage facilities must be adequate for what they are used for.
You must have adequate facilities to allow staff to change.
You must store cleaning chemicals or disinfectants away from food.

3. What are the critical temperatures?

You must not store foods at temperatures that might cause a risk to health. The cold chain must not be interrupted for foods that rely on temperature control for safety. However you are allowed to take food out of these temperatures to prepare, transport, store, display and serve food. Cold foods must be kept at 8 degrees or below. If they have been kept above 8 degrees for more than four hours it must not be kept or be chilled below 8 degrees until served. Hot foods must be kept at 63 degrees or above. They cannot be kept below this for more than two hours, if this happens food must be thrown away or heated to 63 degrees or above or cool it as quickly as possible to 8 degrees as possible.

4. Explain the 4C’s of food hygiene?
There are four main things to remember for good food hygiene; cross contamination, cleaning, chilling and cooking. Cross contamination is when bacteria is spread between food, surfaces and equipment. It usually happens when raw foods touch ready to eat food, equipment or surfaces. It is one of the most common causes of food poisoning. To prevent it you must clean surfaces chopping boards and equipment thoroughly before and after you have used them for raw foods. Use different coloured chopping boards. Wash hands before and after preparing food. Store raw and cooked foods separately. Store raw foods below cooked foods in the fridge or use separate fridges.
The second C is cleaning. Effective cleaning