Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering Special care must be taken to defrost or cook frozen poultry
t be taken to defrost or cook frozen poultry safely.
You must:
Module 5: Food Preparation • Never wash poultry or run it under water to defrost it.
• Ensure that it is thoroughly defrosted before cooking.
• Cook it within 24 hours of it being thawed. It is only safe to cook when the body
Learning outcomes and legs are pliable and completely free from ice crystals.
• Identify food safety hazards and recognise how to • Check its core temperature. Poultry is cooked thoroughly when the thickest part
prevent contamination of food. of the meat is at least 75 °C.
• Explain safe food preparation and storage procedures. • Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Thawing frozen food
Cooking and reheating
Where possible, you should thaw frozen food in a fridge before using it. This helps to
Although the surface colour and texture of food may suggest that it’s cooked,
keep it at a safe temperature while it defrosts.
this is not a reliable indicator.
There are rules you must follow to thaw frozen food safely:
To ensure food is thoroughly cooked, you must check its core temperature:
• Thaw raw meat and poultry in a separate area from other food to prevent
contamination.
• Food should be cooked and reheated to a core temperature of 70 °C for two
minutes or 75 °C for 30 seconds.
• Place food that is vacuum-packed or in a container under cold, running water if
you cannot defrost it in the fridge to allow for even thawing.
• In Scotland, food should be cooked to at least 75 °C and when reheating
food the temperature must reach 82 °C.
• Check for uneven heating when thawing food using a microwave, as this can lead
To ensure safe cooking and reheating:
to some parts of the food being defrosted while other parts remain frozen.
• Refrigerate or cook food immediately after it has been thawed to prevent the
• Keep pans covered wherever possible to avoid the risk of physical
contamination.
growth of bacteria.
• Thoroughly clean and disinfect the area you used for thawing food.
• Food must be eaten or chilled as soon as possible after it has been cooked.
• Acidic food must not be cooked or reheated in pans that are made of
copper or aluminium as this can cause chemical contamination.
• Never use the same spoon to repeatedly taste food.
• Never reheat food more than once. The more times you cool and reheat
food, the more opportunities there are for bacteria to grow.
Page 1
Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering Food service
When food is placed on display, such as for self-service, hazards can occur if the
Module 5: Food Preparation correct procedures are not followed.
When replenishing food on display, you must:
• Use fresh, clean containers to avoid cross-contamination.
Cooling food • Check the dates of any pre-packaged food on display.
Cooling food correctly helps to control microbial contamination by preventing harmful • Adhere to proper stock rotation methods.
bacteria from growing. Depending on the type of food, different cooling methods
• If you don’t have refrigerated display units, then the minimum amount of food
should be used.
should be displayed.
You must never place hot food straight in a refrigerator to cool. Instead, you could
You should ensure that you cover, wrap or protect food that’s on display with
use ice baths, fans or a blast chiller to speed up the cooling process.
equipment like covers or sneeze screens to minimise contamination.
Ideally, food should be cooled within 90 minutes, though larger items can take longer.
Remember that as soon as food is cooled, it should be stored below 5 °C; however,
the legal limit is 8 °C.
Food undergoing a cooling process must be covered and kept away from raw food to
prevent cross-contamination.
Hot and cold holding
Legally, food that is kept hot before serving, such as on a buffet counter, must be held
at 63 °C or above. You should record the temperature of the food when you first put it
into hot holding and check it again after two hours. If the temperature is below 63 °C,
then it must be disposed of.
When replenishing hot food counters, do not mix fresh food with food already on
display, as this can mean that the older food is left out for too long.
Food that needs to be kept cold before or during service, such as in a display unit on
a salad bar, must be held at 8 °C or below, though best practice is between 1 °C and
5 °C.
You should routinely check the temperature of the unit. If the temperature of the food
rises above 8 °C then you must dispose of it within four hours.
Page 2
