This document provides training information on safe food handling practices for Texas Tech University's Hospitality Services department. It covers important topics like knife skills, preventing cross-contamination, foodborne illness, holding and cooking temperatures, cooling procedures, first in first out, work area sanitation, recipe adherence, and safe chemical usage. Trainees are instructed on proper hand washing, food separation, cooking temperatures, and time/temperature standards to avoid bacterial growth. Videos demonstrate knife grips, cross-contamination prevention, and proper food thermometer use.

1. Texas Tech University
Hospitality Services
Training Department
Wiggins Complex
Training Annex Rm. 143

3. • Knife skills
• Cross contamination
• Food Borne Illness
• Temperature
• Cooking/Reheating
• Holding – Danger Zone
• Cooling
• First In First Out(FiFo)
• Work area and equipment
• Recipes
• Chemical Usage

4.  The thumb grips the knife around the top of the blade, with the hand wrapped
around the bolster of the knife.
 You should be gripping the knife mainly with the thumb and forefinger. If you find
that you're tightly clutching the entire handle of the knife, just relax and loosen up.
 Your non-knife hand is called your "guiding hand," and its job is to hold the food
to keep it from sliding around on the cutting board. This puts it in a uniquely
dangerous position. With the knife blade flying up and down, you need to keep
those fingertips tucked safely away, while still being able to firmly hold the food.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE3VYDnfHYE

5. • This occurs when micro-organisms are transferred from one
food or surface to another.
• How to prevent cross contamination
• Wash hands between handling different foods
• Use gloves when handling all foods and make sure you change your gloves often
and wash and sanitize your hands after taking off your gloves and before you put
on a new pair.
• Clean & sanitize utensils, cutting boards, towels, & counter tops between uses
• Store raw foods below ready-to-eat foods
• Do not add raw ingredients to foods without further cooking
• Do not allow raw food to touch or drip fluids onto cooked or ready to eat food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBgf
RPkxSKI

6. Cooked and ready to eat
foods on the top shelves
above raw foods
Chicken is always placed
on bottom shelf
Other raw meats directly
above chicken
Place meats in a
container to catch
dripping liquids

7. •Foods must be cooked to proper internal
temperature
•Cold foods MUST BE HELD AT 41° or lower
•Hot foods MUST BE HELD AT 135° or higher
•Foods can only be held at proper holding
temperatures for 4 hours
Cool and Store food’s properly!!!
SEPARATE: use a clean and sanitary container
COVER: with a proper lid or plastic wrap
LABEL: items that are not in original container
DO NOT COOL BY SIMPLY SETTING OUT!
Handle food properly

8. • Each year, millions of people in the United States get sick from
contaminated food. Symptoms of food poisoning include upset
stomach, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, fever,
and dehydration. Symptoms may range from mild to severe.
 Pregnant women, the elderly, young children, and persons with chronic
illness are more prone to receive a food borne illness.
• The five major food borne illness that we need to be aware of are:
1. Shigella
2. Salmonella
3. Ecoli
4. Norovirus
5. Hepatitis A
• If you are infected with any of these you must have a release from your doctor
to return to work.
• Because these are highly contagious especially while working with food.

9. • The following foods must be handled with care since they are more
likely to contact a food borne illness.
• Cooked rice
• All poultry
• All meats
• Shellfish
• Eggs
• Cooked beans
• Tofu
• Milk and dairy products

11.  Within foodservice there are multiple areas that need
to have temperatures monitored closely. These areas
are food, storeroom, refrigerated vaults, and hot and
cold serving lines.
 The temperature danger zone is the ideal temperature
range for bacteria to grow ( 41°- 135°).
 Foods may be maintained in the safety zone for 4
hours. After that, it may be reheated or refrigerated for
later use. It must be thrown out and cannot be reheated
if it is in the danger zone longer than 4 hours.

12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k30l
Rum2BZI

13.  Step 1:
Clean and sanitize the metal stem of the thermometer before and after you
use it in a food.
 Step 2:
Stick the stem of the thermometer into the thickest part of the food, about
2 inches deep. Be careful not to touch fat, bone, or the cooking pan. Do
not leave the metal stem thermometer in the food during cooking.
 Step 3:
Wait for the dial or the digital indicator to stop (about 15 seconds) and
then read the temperature.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k30lRum2BZI

14.  Here are a few ways to cool food properly.
 Reduce the food mass- for example, cut roasts and turkeys into smaller chunks. Keep
quantities smaller. The smaller the mass of food, the quicker it will cool. Spread cut portions of
roasts and poultry out on sheet pans and let the air circulate around them in your refrigerator.
Separate large quantities of stews, gravies and soups into smaller containers while cooling.
 Use shallow pans- pans that stack are great for cooling large quantities of food because they
allow the food to spread out in the refrigerator so that more of its surface area is exposed to
refrigeration. Shallow stainless steel pans are proven to cool even faster! The pan should be no
more than four inches high and the food depth should be no deeper than two inches. Do not
stack pans on top of one another while cooling. Stacking not only increases mass but also keeps
the air from being able to circulate around the pans so that heat can be removed from the food
product. After the food is cooled you can then store it more compactly. Large plastic buckets
are NOT approved to cool food. They keep the food column too dense for proper cooling. The
inside of the food column of a plastic bucket will NEVER cool properly. If you are using
buckets to cool food - you are playing Russian roulette with cooling and with food borne
illness! During the cool down phase, keep food uncovered if safe, or loosely covered so that
heat can escape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Rbmo3ZNZM

15.  Make sure that
when you are using
a product to always
use the oldest(First
in) instead the
newest product.
 You must always
follow FiFo when
handling food to
eliminate the chance
for any food borne
illness or spoilage.

16.  Before you start to work for the day make sure
that your work area is free of clutter, clean,
sanitized and that you have all your equipment
ready to go.
 Equipment that you might need for the day are
towels, knives, cutting boards, gloves, sanitizer
solution, line diagram, and recipes.
 Before you leave for the day you must clean
your work from top to bottom and be checked
out by the manager on duty.

18.  Recipes are vital to making sure that the food
product is prepared safely and properly.
 If you do not follow the recipes correctly it can
lead to someone eating a food item that they
might be allergic and have could fatally harm
them.
 If you have any questions about a recipe ask
the manger on duty. It is better to ask questions
instead of putting out an inferior product.

19.  When using chemicals make sure to follow all
safety concerns.
 Only mix chemicals with water, never mix with
another chemical.
 If you have any questions look in the MSDS
book located in the managers office, or talk to a
manager.

20. All purpose cleaner used for
hand washing equipment.
Oven and Stove grease cleaner
is used to clean grease deposits.
Can be used to clean the floors next to
the fryers.
Delimer is used to remove hard water
deposits from hot wells, also used to
de-lime dish machine. Must use gloves
and a mask when handling.
Bleach is used as a whitener and sanitizer.
¼ cup per gallon of water. Too much can
cause illness and can harm lungs after prolonged
inadequate usage.
Sanitizer is a substance
for minimizing germs,
designed for use
especially on prep areas
and equipment.