The Flow Of Food: Preperation
General Prep Practices-
- Clean & Sanitized work areas, cutting boards, & utensils
- Only remove as much food from the cooler as you need to prevent time temp abuse
- Return food to cooler or cook it ASAP
Thawing Foods-
When food is thawed in the danger zone, pathogens grow. To reduce the growth thaw food in-
- Refrigerator; 41 degrees or below
- Under running water; food must be submerged under running, drinkable water at 70 degrees
- In the Microwave; ONLY thaw in the microwave if it will be cooked immediately
- Part of the Cooking Process
Prepping Foods-
- Prevent Cross-Contamination, fruits & veggies must never touch a surface that has been touched with raw meat, seafood, or poultry.
- Wash all foods thoroughly
- Do NOT mix different items/multiple batches of the same item when soaking.
Variance-
You need a variance when prepping food in certain ways. Its issued by your authority that allows a regulatory requirement to be waived or changed.
- packaging fresh juice on site for sale
- smoking food for a way of preserving it
- Using food additives or adding components.
- Curing food
- Custom processing animals for personal use
- Packaging food using a reduced oxygen packaging method
- sprouting seeds or beans
- offering live shellfish from display tank
Cooking Food-
When cooking you want to reduce pathogens in the food, to do so you cook food it its minimum internal temp. The temperature is different for each food, once reached you must hold the temp for a specific amount of time. To check the temps use the correct thermometer
Cooking Temps-
- 165 degrees; for 15 seconds- poultry, anythings stuffed with meat, seafood, poultry, pasta) & reheating foods
- 155 degrees; for 15 seconds- ground meant, injected meat, mechanically tenderized meat, ratites, ground seafood, shell eggs(hold held)
- 145 degrees; for 15 seconds- seafood, steaks, raised game, shell eggs(served immediately)
- 145 degrees; for 4 minutes- roasts
Cooling Foods-
- Ice water bath
- Blast chiller
- Ice paddle
- Ice as in ingredient
Reheating food-
- You can reheat food to any temp as long as it will be served immediately.
- If the food will be hot held the food must reach a internal temp of 165 degrees within 2 hours.