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Definition:

Food Safety basics are important for fighting foodborne illnesses. These guidelines should be closely followed to reduce the chance of illness from food.

Potential Exposures:

• Shopping
• Storage
• Food Preparation
• Thawing
• Cooking
• Serving
• Leftovers
• Refreezing

Prevention:

• Every member of the food and beverage department must be certified for, and adhere to, safe food handling and service.
• Always wash hands with water and soap before and after handling each food item.
• When purchasing food or receiving food orders, ensure that no packaging is torn or leaking.  Return any items that are past the “Sell-By” or “Use-By” dates.
• Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours if temperatures are moderate.  Refrigerate within 1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F (32.2 ºC).
• Ensure the temperature of your refrigerator at or below 40 °F (4.4 ºC) and freezer should be at or below 0 °F (-17.7 ºC).
• Cook or freeze fresh poultry, fish, ground meats, and variety meats within 2 days and whole beef, veal, lamb, or pork, within 3 to 5 days.
• Perishable food should be wrapped securely in order to keep it fresh and prevent cross-contamination.
• Do not expose canned goods to freezing temperatures, or temperatures above 90 °F. Discard cans that are dented, rusted, or swollen.
• Keep raw meat, poultry, fish, and their juices away from other food. After cutting raw meats, wash cutting board, utensils, and countertops with hot, soapy water or in a sanitizer.
• Always cover and refrigerate marinating items.
• Allow frozen items to thaw slowly in the refrigerator, ensuring that juices from thawing items do not drip. These items may be refrozen, if not used. 
• If a faster thaw is necessary, place the item in a sealed bag and submerge in cold tap water, changing the water every 30 minutes or defrost in the microwave.  These faster-thawed items must be cooked immediately after thawing and cannot be re-frozen.
• Cook all raw, whole meat items to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (62.8 ºC).  Cook all ground meat items to a minimum internal temperature of 160 °F (71.1 ºC).  Cook all poultry to a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F (73.9 °C).
• Hot food should be held at 140 °F (60 °C) or warmer and cold food should be held at 40 °F (4.4 ºC) or colder.
• Perishable food should not be left out more than two hours at room temperature or one hour when the temperature is above 90 °F (32.2 ºC). Discard any food left out longer than safe times.
• Use cooked leftovers within 4 days.
• Reheat leftovers to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (73.9 °C).

In the event of a food related injury or illness:

• Follow the guidelines for the incident found in the Emergency Binder.
• If you feel you may have incurred an injury of any kind, report it immediately to your supervisor.
• Maintain staff presence at any hazard until it can be cleared.
• In the event of 2 or more reports of food poisoning, secure all ingredients and inform the CDC.  Follow procedures outlined in your facility’s Emergency Binder.
• Be very clear on whether you require immediate medical attention, imminent medical attention or request additional accommodations to prevent injury in the future.   
• Report the incident to the Risk Management Team. 
• Inform the staff of the incident and make corrections to procedures or errors to ensure that this incident does recur.

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