Basic Guidance Principles for Restaurants and Food Handlers, including Personal Hygiene, Freezing, Contamination & Stock Control. An introduction to Food Hygiene Rules!

1. Basic Guidance Principles for Restaurants
Food Hygiene Rules

2. Segue slideRunning a restaurant

3. ➔ Register the premises with the local authority
➔ Ensure the premises are designed & operated appropriately
➔ Provide adequate washing & personal hygiene facilities for staff
➔ All staff should be trained to an appropriate level
➔ Appropriate action must be taken to prevent the risk from food hazards

4. Segue slidePersonal Hygiene

5. ➔ Correct handwashing is hugely important to prevent contamination
➔ 15-20 seconds should be spent rubbing soap into wet hands
➔ Use paper towels or an air dryer
➔ Don’t use tea towels or cloths to dry hands - they just collect bacteria!
➔ No watches, brooches, jewelled rings, earrings or strong perfumes
➔ Don’t handle food when suffering from any contagious illness

6. Segue slideFood Hazards

7. ➔ Keep raw and high risk food separate
➔ Keep foods out of the temperature danger zone
➔ The danger zone is below 5°C or above 63°C
➔ Make sure you use tongs - avoid touching food with your hands
➔ Keep raw foods separate
➔ Food must be cooked thoroughly (at least 70°C for 2 minutes) to kill bacteria
➔ When hot-holding food, it must be kept at 63°C or above

8. Segue slideChilling & Freezing

9. ➔ The freezer should be operating at a maximum temperature of -18°C
➔ Check the temperature of your fridge regularly and record it
➔ Ideally fridge temperatures should be 1°C – 4°C
➔ Don’t leave the freezer door open, or overload it above the load line
➔ Label all foods with the correct dates to ensure that stock is rotated correctly
➔ Ensure that you keep the raw foods on the lower shelves
➔ Do not put hot foods directly into the fridge

10. Segue slidePreventing Contamination

11. ➔ Immediately clean work surfaces where raw meat has been handled
➔ Keep equipment used in the preparation of raw meats & poultry separate
➔ Maintain a high standard of general cleanliness of worktops & equipment
➔ Keep separate cloths & chopping boards for use with different kinds of food
➔ Keep wiping cloths used in raw food areas out of other areas
➔ Work with clean cloths, disinfect them regularly
➔ Remember a cloth is only as clean as the last place it wiped!

12. Segue slideServing Food

13. ➔ Use tongs or spoons to pick up food - one for each kind of food
➔ Place paper, polythene or a container on scales before using them
➔ Never handle food & money at the same time
➔ Make sure animals are kept out of food premises (except guide dogs)
➔ Keep foods covered to prevent customers contaminating them
➔ Tie back hair & avoid long, painted or false nails

14. Segue slideStock Control

15. ➔ Foods should be bought from reputable suppliers
➔ Regularly ensure physical objects or chemicals are not contaminating foods
➔ Move old stock to the front of the fridge where it will be used first
➔ Place new stock underneath old stock in freezers
➔ Rotate fresh produce by date & condition
➔ Remember FIFO – First In First Out

16. Segue slideWaste

17. ➔ Food waste must be disposed of properly
➔ It can be a source of both bacterial & physical contamination
➔ There should be bins both inside & outside
➔ Indoor bins should have lids and ideally be foot operated
➔ Line all bins with a disposable polythene sack
➔ Rubbish should be removed throughout the day
➔ Outdoor bins should have a tight fitting lid or use a skip with a lid

18. Segue slideFind out more

19. ➔ Take our quick online food hygiene quiz to test your knowledge
➔ Read more food hygiene posts on our hub
➔ Follow us on twitter @hst