Food Handling Controls (Show all)

Is potentially hazardous food cooled/reheated correctly?

Guidance		Cooling Food When cooling cooked potentially hazardous food, a food business must cool the food: from 60°C to 21°C within two hours; and from 21°C to 5°C within a further four hours. A food business can use an alternative cooling process only if it can demonstrate that it will not adversely affect the microbiological safety of the food (see Standard 3.2.2 cl 7(3) of the Code). Some pathogens can survive the cooking process; therefore to minimise pathogen growth it is important that cooked potentially hazardous food is cooled as quickly as possible to 5°C. The initial drop in temperature (from 60°C to 21°C in two hours) must be faster than the second drop in temperature (from 21°C to 5°C in four hours). This is because foodborne pathogens multiply fastest at about 40°C. A probe thermometer should be used to check how quickly food is cooling. Temperature should be measured at the part of the food that will take the longest to cool. This is usually the centre of the food. If the business uses the same cooling process for each batch of food, and the process complies with the cooling requirements, it is not necessary to measure the temperature of each batch. The same cooling process means that a food is cooled under identical conditions, for example, custard is always cooled in the same container to the same depth. However, the business should continue to conduct regular temperature checks to ensure that any changes in environmental conditions, such as refrigerator temperature or air flow, have not affected the cooling process. Reheating Food When reheating potentially hazardous food, a food business must rapidly heat the food to 60°C or above to minimise pathogen growth (see Standard 3.2.2 cl 7(4) of the Code). A food business can use an alternative reheating process only if it can demonstrate that the process will not adversely affect the microbiological safety of the food. This requirement only applies to potentially hazardous food that is to be held hot (e.g. in a bain-marie). It does not apply to food that is being reheated for immediate consumption. Potentially hazardous food that has already been reheated should not be cooled and re‑heated a second time.
Non-compliance	Minor	N/A
	Major	Reheated food is placed in a Bain Marie (for hot holding) that has been reheated without reaching the required minimum temperature (60°C). E.g. butter chicken is reheated to 50°C and placed in the Bain Marie. Large/deep containers of hot food are found in the cool room. E.g. large containers of recently cooked food have been placed in the cool room that is above 60OC and will not reach temperature control within the required timeframe.
	Critical	Food in a cool room which was cooked 6 hours previously is found to have an internal temperature of 6oC or above. The food business uses a standard cooling method that does not reduce the internal temperature of cooked food to 21°C within 2 hours and 5°C within a further 4 hours. The food business uses an alternative cooling process, and cannot demonstrate this process will not adversely affect the microbial safety of the food. The food business takes longer than 2 hours to reheat previously cooked food to 60°C or above for hot holding in a bain-marie.