Catering Team Guide to Food Safety

• Document No.

• Audit Title

• Client / Site

• Conducted on

  Date

• Prepared by

HACCP All sites must operate a HACCP plan. All CCPs must be monitored, controlled & recorded.

• The site HACCP plan ensures the site knows where there is a food safety risk and how it must be controlled.
  
  HACCP – Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points.
  CCP - Critical Control Points.
  

• Do staff know what HACCP is?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Do staff know where and what the CCPs are?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Paperwork should be in the location where the check is carried out. Is it completed correctly?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Handwashing All staff handling food must wash their hands.

• Washing & drying hands thoroughly is the best way to prevent bacterial contamination of food.

• Are all staff & visitors washing and drying their hands properly?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are people washing their hands after touching rubbish or picking things off the floor?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Personal Protective Clothing & Jewellery Rules PPC must be worn correctly. PPC worn in raw meat/fish areas must not be worn in cooked food areas.

• PPC is worn to protect the food from contamination, not to protect the person from getting their cloths dirty.
  PPC worn in butchery or raw meat/fish prep areas can be contaminated with harmful bacteria.
  

• Are staff conforming by not wearing jewellery or watches?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are coats closed and clean?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are hairnets/beard snoods covering all hair?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Is PPC segregated by raw and cooked areas?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Food Storage - Segregation Store raw and ready to eat food separately.

• This helps to prevent harmful bacteria spreading from raw food to ready-to-eat food.

• Is raw and ready-to-eat food is stored in separate chillers?<br>If they are in the same chiller are they storing raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs either in separate racking or below ready-to-eat food?<br>

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are unwashed fruit and vegetables kept separate from ready-to-eat food?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are cooked foods and other raw and ready-to-eat food kept covered?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Food Storage – Chilled & Frozen Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods such as salads, cooked meats, sandwiches and desserts must be kept cold. Frozen food must be hard frozen with no sign of thawing

• If these foods are warm, harmful bacteria can grow and make people sick.

• Are chillers operating at a maximum of 8°C/46°F or less?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• If RTE food is greater than 8°C/46°F for more than 4 hours IT MUST BE DISCARDED - are there any indications that food is above?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Check the fridge temperature records. Are they checking x3/day?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are the temps in spec?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Look inside the freezers – walk to the back. Is it free from ice build-up? It might mean the door is regularly left open if there is ice

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Pest Control Caterers must check regularly for pests such as flies, cockroaches, mice and rats. If they find evidence of pests, they must take action.

• Pests carry disease which can contaminate food and make people ill.

• Is the site free from any small footprints in dust, droppings, holes in walls and doors, nests, gnawed packaging, greasy marks along walls or a strong smell of urine. Bodies of insects, live insects, webbing, nests, maggots?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Is the equipment wash areas free from any evidence of cockroaches?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Does the pest control file show lots of evidence of pests found, but no action taken?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Shelf Life Control Do not use food after it’s ‘use by’ date.

• Food with ‘use by’ dates, cooked dishes and other ready-to-eat food have a limited shelf life. If you keep them too long they might not be safe to eat.

• Does the site use day code stickers, or another method of labelling?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Look in the prep fridges – is there anything out of date?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Is there ay evidence that they are changing the UB dates on prepped food?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Cooking & Blast Chilling Food must be cooked thoroughly to a minimum of 70°C/158°F for at least 2 minutes or equivalent. Cooking & Cooling are always CCPs.

• Examples of safe time/temperature combinations include:
  • 80°C/176°F for at least 6 seconds.
  • 75°C/167°F for at least 30 seconds.
  • 70°C/158°F for at least 2 minutes.
  

• Ask the site to physically check in front of you the food in the prep chiller (i.e. food released from the blast chiller). Is it ≤8°C/46°F?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Does the site check the temperature of food using a clean probe? Did they insert the probe so that the tip is in the centre of the food (or the thickest part)?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Hygiene Kitchens should look clean and tidy at all times, even when busy.

• Poor kitchen hygiene leads to bacterial cross contamination of cooked foods which could cause food poisoning.

• Focus on the hot kitchen, blast chill, prep holding chill and cold plating areas - are these areas clean and tidy?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Check underneath tables and any shelves above tables in the cold kitchen area.

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are the ceiling areas above open food clean?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Is food on the top rack of trollies covered?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Look at the chiller units – are they clean and free from dust?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Allergens The site must have a good understanding of the presence and control of allergenic foods. Chef’s Chats must be accurate and up to date.

• Cross contamination, incorrectly declared allergens or the accidental incorrect inclusion may result in an allergic reaction onboard.

• Does the site understand the EU allergen list?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Does it control the storage and segregation of allergens? Can you see signage and segregation in place?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Check at least two chef’s chats to see if they are correct against the spec and also against what is actually being plated?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Specifications The site should be plating & tray setting according to the BA agreed requirements.

• If incorrect items are placed onto a plate or tray, the information (allergens) on the chef’s chat may be wrong. This could result in a pax allergic reaction onboard.
  Adherence to spec is a key driver of quality & consistency.
  

• Are specs held at the plating stations?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Is the spec up to date & does the plate reflect the spec?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Are there any food items laying around the area that are not related to food being plated/tray set?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• In particular check SPML plating & tray sets, are any items on the area that are not required for the SPMLs, i.e. bread for GFMLs?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

Smart Labels Smart labels should be placed into trollies containing ready to eat foods to demonstrate that the chill chain is maintained.

• If a chiller is not switched on, or it fails, then food will not be adequately chilled and harmful bacteria may grow.
  
  If the smart label is incorrectly activated, it won’t work.
  

• Do senior management seem interested in your visit?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Do SM join you in the unit tour?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Do SM lead by example (e.g. coats closed, no watches, jewellery etc.).

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• If you find problems, how do they deal with it? Do they fix it immediately?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• How engaged are the workforce? Are they scared to talk to you, or are they confident?

  Yes

  No

  N/A

• Do people give the impression that they know what they are doing?

  Yes

  No

  N/A