Introduction
If you are a foodservice manager, when the local Health Inspector shows up on your doorstep and flashes his or her badge, it can be a time of considerable stress.

If you are well prepared, this stress can be minimized. If you are not prepared, you may end up paying stiff fines, having frequent future inspections, or in a worst case scenario, being closed down.

The visit may either be part of an annual inspection program, or may also be in response to a complaint that your food made somebody sick.

If the Health Inspector closes your restaurant while testing is being done, the loss to your business can easily be tens of thousands of dollars.

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) estimates that between fines, lost business, quadrupling of insurance costs, and lawsuits from customers, one instance of foodborne illness caused by a restaurant will cost that business $75,000.

Being prepared is well worth the extra effort, especially if the alternative is closing your doors.

As a result of public health concerns, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established a federal food code governing food plants and a model food code for states to adopt in regulating restaurants and other food service providers.

This model code includes a program called Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). HACCP helps establish a documentation trail to prevent the practices that can cause the spread of disease.

Modern handling of beef and poultry has contributed to greater risks in food handling.

It is estimated that three out of every 1,000 cows carry E. coli, while automated poultry slaughtering and carcass washing has been linked to the spread of salmonella.

Even in the shell, it is estimated that one of every 10,000 eggs carries salmonella.

The most graphic example of danger occurred in 1993 to the “Jack in the Box” restaurant chain.

Undercooked hamburgers contaminated with E. coli left three children dead, made 750 sick, and caused brain damage in six people.

The risks in a restaurant are not limited to the food itself.

Employees who are sick can contaminate food, making other people sick. One sneeze by an employee can travel up to 12 feet at a speed of 200 mph, potentially infecting everything in its path.

The most common mistakes employees make include: improper cooling of food, inadequate food holding temperatures, improper reheating, poor hygiene, holding food for too long, poor cleaning of equipment, failure to properly sanitize equipment, and bad wiping cloth procedures.

Bad food handling procedures and poor training are the most common culprits in foodborne illness.

To deal with this, state food codes have been written to address these three main areas:

1. Cooking and holding of food for the proper amount of time and at the proper temperatures.

2. Personal hygiene of employees including staff habits, health and clothing concerns.

3. Proper sanitation of premises, equipment and utensils.

There are more than one million retail food establishments in the U.S. They are operated by more than 12 million employees and regulated by more than 3,000 local health departments and state agencies.

This article is designed to aid the food service manager who needs a reference guide, but already has a basic knowledge.

It is not a substitute for a formal training course and does not cover all aspects of the code. Your local health inspector can provide you with a complete copy of the code requirements for your area.

What follows are sections (alphabetical by subject) that provide a brief description of the requirements of the model federal food code.

States may choose to adopt the FDA Model Food Code, to adopt it with modifications, or to write their own codes.

The trend has been towards states adopting the Model Food Code with some modifications, as more than 30 states have done.

Because of this, state codes will often vary from the Model Food Code. The local health department can provide you with a current copy of your state’s food code. The following guideline is based on the 2001 FDA Model Food Code.

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Bathrooms

Bathrooms should be kept clean and disinfected.

Hand soap, towels and toilet paper should be readily available. Both hot and cold water must be available.

Doors to the bathroom are to be self-closing and toilet seats should be the open front type.

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Cleaning and Cleaning Frequency

When designing a sanitation program for a restaurant, objects to be cleaned should have the cleaning frequency designated.

Flatware, dishes, pots, pans, kitchenware and food prep surfaces should be washed and sanitized after each use.

Equipment and utensils should be cleaned and sanitized at least every four hours throughout the day, not just at closing if they come in contact with potentially hazardous foods.

Grills, microwaves, stoves and other equipment should be cleaned at least once a day.

Nonfood surfaces such as walls, should be cleaned as often as necessary. This means any time soil is present and regularly as part of the facility cleaning schedule.

When preparing to clean, there are several important considerations, including the selection of a wiping cloth

Sponges can no longer be used in commercial kitchens because they harbor bacteria.

Dedicated wiping cloths should be used so there is no cross-contamination from surface to surface. For example, a wiping cloth used to wash dishes should not be used to wipe table tops.

When not in use, the wiping cloths should be stored in a container of sanitizing solution to control bacteria growth. If wiping cloths are left lying on a counter top, bacteria can begin to grow. By leaving wiping cloths in a sanitizer solution when not in use, the wiping cloths stay sanitary.

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Cooking Temperatures for Food

The factors governing the growth of microorganisms are frequently discussed by use of the acronym FATTOM.

For germs to grow, there must be Food. The food must be at the proper Acidity. Germs must be allowed to grow over a long period of Time and at the proper Temperature.

Most germs need Oxygen and plenty of Moisture.

Potentially hazardous foods are any foods that consist in whole or part of milk, milk products, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, edible crustacea or other ingredients in a form capable of supporting rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic microorganisms.

Potentially hazardous food does not include foods which have a pH level of 4.6 or lower or a water activity level of 0.85 or less. Foods with pH’s below 4.6 are too acidic to support microorganism growth.

Water content of a food is measured by a number called its water activity level.

No water is a zero while pure water is a 1.0. So if a food has a low water activity level, there is not enough water in the food for the food to grow bacteria.

Food safety is very temperature sensitive.

Bacteria grow the best in food with a temperature of 41 F to 140 F. This zone is called the danger zone.

Cold foods should be stored at temperatures below 41 F and hot foods should be stored at temperatures above 140 F.

Food in the danger zone between 41 F and 140 F must not remain there for more than one hour during the preparation for cooking and may not stay in the danger zone for more than four hours total.

Checking the internal temperature of the food is the only way to ensure that it has reached the correct temperature.

One of the biggest changes in the 1999 Model Food Code was the change in cooking temperature requirements. The standard requirement now is to cook potentially hazardous food to an internal temperature of 145 F and hold that temperature for 15 seconds.

This requirement has several exceptions. Eggs being prepared individually for a customer, such as “over easy” or “sunny side up” need not reach this temperature.

In any case where potentially hazardous foods are not being cooked in a manner to guarantee that germs are being killed, the food service provider must cook the food individually for each customer, or post signs indicating this.

This guarantees that customers don’t unknowingly put themselves at risk.

For meats such as hamburger, where the meat is processed and ground, the meat must be cooked to a temperature of 155 F and held for 15 seconds. Alternately, if the cooking temperature would be 155 F for 15 seconds, cooking to 145 F for three minutes, cooking to 150 F for one minute, and cooking to 158 F for one second, are all deemed to be equivalent acceptable methods of safely preparing the food.

For meats, such as poultry, stuffed poultry, stuffed pastas, wild game animals, stuffed fish, or any other stuffing food, the cooking temperature is 165 F with the temperature held for 15 seconds. Whole roasts, such as beef roasts, hams and pork roasts must be cooked in an oven of at least 250 F until the internal temperature is 142 F for eight minutes, 144 F for five minutes, or 145 F for three minutes.

Again, all of these time and temperature combinations are deemed acceptable.

For whole-muscle, intact beef steaks, if being prepared individually for a customer, the surface temperature of the steak need only be 145 F and all of the steak surface must achieve a cooked color change.

Because microwaving does not heat/cook food evenly, the cooking temperature for a microwave is 165 F. The food must be stirred and allowed to stand for two minutes before service to obtain a temperature equilibrium.

Fruits and vegetables that are cooked for hot holding need to be cooked to a temperature of 140 F.

There are two ways to accurately measure the internal temperature of food: thermometers and T-sticks.

Thermometers must be stainless steel with no glass or mercury in the stem. They must be accurate to ± 2 F and must be sanitized before and after each use. Usually they are stored in a sanitizing solution when not in use. T-sticks are plastic coated cardboard rectangles. One section of the T-stick has a temperature sensitive chemical that changes color when a specific temperature has been reached. 

When tasting of food is done during cooking, a utensil may only be used once. A cook should have a supply of spoons or other utensils to allow for frequent tasting if desired.

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Dishmachines

Many restaurants use a mechanical machine to wash the dishes, glasses and ware.

There are two basic types of dishmachines: high temperature and low temperature.

In a dishmachine, sanitizing is done either by spraying 180 F+ water on the dishes at the end of the cycle (for high temp dishmachines), or by spraying a sanitizing solution of 50+ ppm of chlorine on the dishes at the end of the cycle (for low temp dishmachines).

High temperature dishmachines have an external heater, called a booster heater, to raise the water temperature of the final rinse to 180 F+.

When using hot water to sanitize in a dishmachine, the sanitization is achieved if the ware achieves a surface temperature of 160 F. While the NSF testing requires 180 F – 195 F water at a rate of 15 – 25 psi, the desired effect is to achieve a surface temperature of 160 F.

Health inspectors have the option of checking dishmachines either by monitoring the water temperature in the final rinse, or by putting a piece of 160 F temperature sensitive tape on a dish and running it through the dishmachine.

The temperature sensitive tape will change color, usually from clear to black, if 160 F is achieved.

Even if the water in the final rinse is over 180 F and the final rinse pressure is correct, if the tape does not change color, an establishment may still be cited by the health inspector.

If the dishmachine is a low temperature machine, test strips must be used to monitor the chlorine concentration at the end of the cycle.

The dishmachine should be kept clean and free of lime with the spray and rinse arms and nozzles clear and not plugged.

In a low temperature machine, the wash tank temperature should be 120 - 140 F.

In a high temperature dishmachine, the tank temperature should be 140 - 160 F. For any commercial dishmachine, there will be a plate mounted on the outside of the dishmachine that lists the acceptable operating temperatures for washing and rinsing.

When the dishmachine is first tested by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), these ranges are established. Health inspectors should be using the NSF plate for the specifications to check in determining if the dishmachine is operating properly.

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Employee Hygiene

Foodborne illness can be caused by poor personal hygiene of food handlers. Approximately 26 percent of foodborne illness is caused this way.

Frequent handwashing is the easiest way to prevent foodborne illness. Hands should be washed whenever a different food type is being handled or at least every two hours. This includes waiters and waitresses.

Eating, drinking, using the bathroom and smoking can all cause contamination. Employees should wash their hands after any of these activities.

Hair nets or other effective hair restraints are required to keep employees hair out of the food and to keep employees from touching their hair.

Jewelry should not be worn on the hands, except for a wedding band.

Employees should wear clean uniforms each day. They should not wear street clothes.

Employers are required to provide a locker room or similar changing area for employees.

Employees who are sick should not be allowed to handle food. Handkerchief use should not be allowed as it is not sanitary.

Disposable tissues should be used by employees. Employees should always wash their hands after using a tissue as this is the primary way viruses are spread.

Sweat and blood are contaminants. Employees should take precautions to prevent sweat or blood from contaminating food. If an employee has any open sores, they must wear protective coverings (plastic gloves for hands, large bandages for rest of body, etc.) to protect the food they handle.

Employees who handle food are no longer allowed to wear fingernail polish or artificial fingernails as they pose a contamination hazard for the food, unless they wear gloves to prevent the contamination hazard.

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Equipment and Utensils

To avoid chemical contamination, the food code requires that no cooking vessels may contain toxic metals.

This means that kettles, pots, serving ware and pans may not be made out of copper, brass, cadmium, zinc, lead, pewter (with over 0.05 percent lead), tin, or enamelware. Copper and cast iron are only acceptable for use as cooking surfaces.

With all of these metals, if an acidic material (tomato sauce for example) contacts these metals, the acid may dissolve the metal thus contaminating the food.

Equipment and utensils should have surfaces that don’t have cracks, chips, dents, separations, tight inside corners, deep knife cuts or crazing. These things can all harbor bacteria.

Equipment should be installed in a way that makes it easy to use and clean. Equipment should also be installed away from garbage containers, soiled fabrics, and high traffic areas.

If equipment is table mounted, the legs must be four inches unless the equipment is sealed to the table.

If equipment is floor mounted, the equipment must have six inch legs unless the equipment is sealed to the floor. This allows for proper cleaning under the equipment. For both table mounted equipment and floor mounted equipment, there are exceptions which lower the height requirements, provided that the space beneath the equipment is of a certain minimal size.

Utensils can cross-contaminate. Separate utensils must be used for different foods. Proper storage between foods is important.

While serving, utensils can be stored with the serving end in the food or in a container with running water that removes food particles and washes them away (ice cream scoops).

Utensils should never be laid on a counter top where the food left on the utensil can then creep into the danger zone, unless the utensils will be cleaned and sanitized at least every four hours.

Salad bars and buffets will often hold food from a period of several hours up to all day. However, at the end of the day all food should be transferred to other containers for storage. The original containers and any serving utensils should be washed and sanitized.

While it is a good practice to change serving utensils every four hours throughout the day, it isn’t required unless the potentially hazardous food is in the danger zone.

The general rule for food contact surfaces and utensils is that if they contact potentially hazardous food, they should be cleaned and sanitized every four hours, but there are exceptions.

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Foodborne Illness

When a person becomes ill after eating contaminated food, the illness falls into one of two classifications: foodborne infection or foodborne intoxication. The older term, food poisoning, is no longer used.

A bacteria, like the bacteria that causes botulism, secretes chemicals that are toxins (dangerous to humans).

Cooking does not destroy these toxins. If the toxins are what makes a person sick, this is called foodborne intoxication.

If food is infected with this type of bacteria, cooking the food may kill the bacteria but leave the toxins in the food.

This food would still be dangerous to people and capable of causing disease. If the bacteria producing the toxins are still alive when ingested, they can continue to produce toxins in the body. This is often called a toxin mediated infection, but is really just another form of intoxication.

If on the other hand, the bacteria themselves cause the disease in a person, then the illness is called foodborne infection.

Because toxin mediated infections may be listed as a separate classification, some materials may refer to three classes of foodborne illnesses.

Where do people get foodborne illness?

Restaurant	51 percent
Home	14 percent
Deli/Caterers	12 percent
Cafeterias	8 percent
Nursing Homes	5 percent
Other	10 percent

Foodborne illness causes disease in an estimated 76,000,000 people every year of which 324,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 - 20,000 die.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the annual cost of foodborne illness is $10 to $83 billion per year.

The average person gets foodborne illness many times in their life. Most of the time, the illness is minor enough to not require hospitalization.

A person may feel “under the weather” or have “stomach flu” for a few days. Both of these symptoms may be caused by foodborne illness.

Coupled with long incubation times (it can take up to several weeks to get sick after exposure), most foodborne illness goes undiagnosed by doctors. This is a sobering reminder of the scope of the problem.

The number of bacteria present and the person’s overall health and resistance to disease determine the severity of the disease. Food is at the highest risk of being contaminated in a restaurant during preparation and service. Food spends most of its time in the danger zone during these times.

Biological	bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites
Chemical	food preservatives, additives, cleaning chemicals, toxic metals
Physical	paint chips, ventilation, dust, jewelry

 

Biological contamination causes more foodborne illness than anything else.

Bacteria grow where moisture, warm temperatures, and near neutral pH environments exist. Bacteria growth is controlled through observing proper food storage times and temperatures.

Chemical contamination can occur through the pesticides applied to crops. The CDC estimates 50 percent of all produce is contaminated with pesticides or soil borne contaminants.

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Food, Cooling

Over 60 percent of all foodborne illness can be traced to inadequate cooling, meaning not cooling hot foods quickly enough to the proper refrigerated temperatures.

It can take up to six days for a full five gallon pail to cool completely to less than 41 F.

Large quantities of food should be split up into in four-inch deep pans and refrigerated.

Rapid cooling equipment is also acceptable as is placing the food pan in an ice bath or adding ice as an ingredient to the food to cool it.

Cooling should occur as quickly as possible. Checking the internal temperature of the food is the only way to be sure that it is the correct temperature.

The requirements for refrigerated cooling are that the food should go from 140 F to 70 F in two hours and then from 70 F to 40 F in four hours.

The total refrigerated cooling time must not exceed six hours or the food must be discarded.

Any other time unrefrigerated food stays in the danger zone (41 - 140 F) for four hours, it must be discarded.

Raw food may be handled by cooks with bare hands.

However, any ready to eat food, except for washing uncut fruits and vegetables, should only be handled with gloves or utensils.

A frequent source of contamination is the food service employee who contaminates food by touching it with bare hands while plating or presenting the food.

In 1999 the FDA adopted a ban on bare hand contact with ready to eat food (with the exception above).

In 2001, the FDA softened its stance to allow a food establishment to demonstrate why they needed to touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands, but also required the establishment to demonstrate that their procedures were monitored and would not increase the risk of foodborne illness.

In general, food employees should use suitable utensils instead of their bare hands to handle ready-to-eat food.

Food Safety

Food processing plants in the United States are subject to federal rules and inspection.

Food imported from other countries is not necessarily inspected. Even for food produced in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all food be treated as if it may be contaminated, because they estimate up to 50 percent of it is contaminated.

If that is true of domestic food, there is a much greater risk involved in using food from foreign sources that don’t have to comply with our food rules.

Federal inspectors actually check about one percent of the food imported into the U.S. However, even if food is contaminated, it is important to note that low levels of bacterial contamination are common in food and are not considered a health hazard as long as the food is handled properly (proper cooking temperatures) once received by the restaurant. High levels of bacteria in food, on the other hand, always make food unsafe.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to determine the level of bacterial contamination. They are never visible to the naked eye. Sixty bacteria would easily fit on the cross-section of a human hair.

The most responsible thing to do is to use only established commercially available sources. Most states require that food served in restaurants be purchased only from commercial suppliers. Local purchasing from unregulated food suppliers is not allowed.

Washing of food not being cooked (fruits and vegetables especially) is important because it removes pesticides and lowers the number of bacteria present.

Incoming shipments of food should be checked for packaging condition. Food in damaged packages should not be accepted. Any dented, bulging, or leaking cans should be rejected. Eggs with cracked shells should always be rejected.

Food Service Manager Certification

As part of the HACCP guidelines, each restaurant is required to have a certified food service manager on staff. Some states additionally require that a food service manager be on site at all times.

To become certified, one to three day courses are available that cover the required material and then administer a standardized test. Among the more popular tests, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) test is recognized in 49 of the 50 states. The certification is good for five years and can be renewed.

Food Storage, Dry

Dry foods must be kept dry to keep bacteria present from growing while in storage. 50 F is the best storage temperature for dry foods, but there is no code requirement.

Dry goods in a storeroom must be stored at least six inches off the floor. Pallets are not acceptable because they are only four inches and do not allow cleaning underneath them.