Meeting Commercial Refrigeration Standards For Food Hygiene
Posted on: 10 April 2015
In order to provide good quality and safe-to-consume food products to your customers, you need to keep them at temperatures that are either too hot or too cold to allow harmful bacteria to thrive. Commercial refrigeration is crucial to any business dealing with food and beverages, as cold storage is one of the best and most preferred ways of keeping food fresh. The following are some of the things you can do to help you meet the best food hygiene standards in refrigeration for your business.
Proactive maintenance
Equipment failure during commercial refrigeration can lead to a lot of damage, especially of the food items in storage. Therefore, business owners are encouraged to be proactive in maintenance and repairs of the machines. Most manufacturing and installation companies offer after-sales maintenance services. You can schedule regular checkups and tune-ups just to make sure everything is in good working order. The customer should never be the one to notice that something is wrong.
Maintaining the right temperatures
It is important to note that regulation standards usually refer to the temperature of the food and not inside the fridge. You need to keep all foods that require chilled storage below eight degrees Celsius. Therefore, the air temperature inside the fridge should be around zero to five degrees. The danger zone between eight degrees to sixty-three degrees Celsius is the range of temperature in which most harmful bacteria can thrive. You should only have the food items in this temperature range during food preparation or servings.
Checking temperatures
You need to check the temperatures inside the fridge in order to maintain the right temperatures for the food. Checking the temperature will also tell you if the fridge is working properly. There are various ways to check the ride temperature. You can use the thermometers usually fitted in most catering equipment. You can also buy a small fridge thermometer and put it inside the fridge to monitor the temperature. Take the air readings from the warmest part of the fridge and food temperatures from the food surfaces. If you need to probe the food to determine its temperature, you should disinfect the probe before and after use to prevent contamination of the food.
Handling food
You need to ensure that any food delivered to your restaurant or business is cold enough. You should put chilled food in the fridge immediately. However, you should allow cooked food to cool first before refrigeration.
For more information, contact a business such as PAC Refrigeration Services.
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