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12
HEALTH AND SAFETY GUIDELINES
GB
Because of consumer demand,
preservatives have been removed from
many pre-prepared foods. This together with
the changes in shopping habits to a once-a-
week shop, mean that safe handling and
storage of food is even more important than
ever.
The following tips should help you to ensure
that the food in your home is in as perfect
condition as possible.
■
Keep the time between buying chilled food
and placing it in your fridge as short as
possible. Tests showed that the temperature
of 1 1itre of orange juice rose to 22°C in an
hour between the supermarket and home. It
then took 11 hours to get down to 7°C in the
refrigerator.
■
Keep the refrigerator door closed as much as
possible. Remember that warm air is flowing
in as you are deciding what to have for tea!
■
Do not push food together too much, try to
allow air circulate around each item.
■
Cool cooked food as quickly as possible but
do NOT place in the refrigerator or freezer
until cool. (Leave food in a place as cool as
possible in order that it can then be placed in
the refrigerator or freezer as soon as
possible).
■
Do NOT mix raw and cooked meat, they
must be in separate containers. Take care
not to let the meat juices drip onto other
food. If the meat does drip, remove
everything and clean thoroughly.
■
Do not store food uncovered.
■
The best way to defrost food is to put it in the
refrigerator to thaw slowly.
■
Remove suspect food from your refrigerator
and clean the interior with a solution of
bicarbonate of soda in warm water (5ml to
0.5 Iitre of water).
■
Never allow spillages to dry and harden.
■
Ensure that food placed in the freezer is
dated and labelled and used in date order to
ensure that food is consumed at its best.
■
It is important that food is used before its
“best before” date.
■
Store eggs in the egg rack provided in the
refrigerator door. Discard any broken or
chipped eggs.
■
Regularly check the refrigerator door seal to
ensure that it is clean and free from bits and
pieces.
■
Always wash your hands with soapy water
and dry them with a clean towel before
handling food.
■
Keep work surfaces clean and avoid cross
contamination by not using the same work
surface or knife, without washing them
thoroughly in between.
■
Use kitchen roll wherever possible for
cleaning up food. If you use a dishcloth, be
sure to boil it frequently.
■
The fresh foods to be frozen must be fresh
and of the best quality.
■
The size of each pack should be small
enough to ensure that it is used in one go .
Small packs freeze more quickly and
uniformly and give better results.
■
Frozen food, once thawed, must not be
refrozen. Lean food keeps better and longer
than fatty food, salt reduces the storage time.
■
Wrap the food in polythene or aluminium
freezing bags or foil so that they adhere to
the food and provide an airlight seal .
■
Packaging which is swollen or has traces of
refrozen water droplets on the pack could
indicate that the product has not been kept at
a suitable temperature and that it may have
lost its original quality. Partially thawed food
must not be refrozen, it must be consumed
within 24 hour. Never exceed the storage
times indicated.
■
Never place hot food, bottles or cans of fizzy
drink in the freezer as they may explode.
Containers with a lid must not be filled to the
brim.
■
Do not open the door or place extra fresh
food in the freezer next to food which is
already frozen as this could cause the
temperature of the frozen food to rise and its
quality and storage life to reduce .