A food safety newsletter brought to you by
Union County Environmental Health

Keep Food Safe During High-Risk Activities

Food safety risk factors are specific activities with a high risk of causing food-borne illness. These risk factors include:

• Poor personal hygiene.
• Improper food holding/time and temperature.
• Contaminated equipment/protection from contamination.
• Inadequate cooking/reheating.

Every food service establishment should have a plan that addresses how to keep food safe during high-risk activities. This type of plan is called a food safety management system.

High-risk activities will be different in each establishment due to the menu and processes occurring in the facility. The first step in developing a food safety management system is identifying specific activities that could cause food to become unsafe. Some common high-risk activities are: Cooling Cooking Reheating Hand washing/glove use Time/temperature control Date marking/timely disposal of expired products Cross-contamination Cleaning/sanitizing

After identifying the high-risk activities in your establishment, you should document how to handle these activities in a written plan. The plan should include: 1) Specific procedures for each high-risk activity. 2) Employee training during high-risk activities. 3) Monitoring employees during high-risk activities.

Tips for Keeping Food Safe During High-Risk Activities 

Time/Temperature Control

• Food displayed or stored hot must be held at 135°F or above until served.
• Verify hot food is 135°F or above before placing it into hot holding units.
• Food requiring refrigeration must be held at 41°F or below.
• Monitor refrigeration units by checking internal food temperatures periodically, especially first thing in the morning.
• Cold food that has risen above 41°F during preparation (e.g., lettuce, sliced tomatoes) must be cooled to 41°F or below before placing into prep top coolers.
• Use approved time-holding procedure for foods with a history of not maintaining required hot/cold holding temperatures.

Wash Hands/Use Single-Use Gloves Properly Wash hands when they become soiled or contaminated. Wash hands before beginning a different task (e.g., between working at the cash register and resuming food preparation). Wash hands before putting on single-use gloves. Remove single-use gloves and wash hands before beginning a different task (e.g., between working with raw animal foods and working with vegetables).

Date Marking/Timely Disposal of Expired Products

• Properly date mark refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods held under refrigeration for more than 24 hours with the preparation/package opening date or with day seven discard date.
• The preparation/package opening date is counted as day one.
• Discard ready-to-eat foods within seven days of preparation/package opening date.

Cross-Contamination

• Clean and sanitize food preparation tables/sinks before and after preparing different types of raw animal foods.
• Use separate food preparation tables to prepare raw animal foods and ready-to-eat foods or prepare them at different times.
• Designate color-coded cutting boards and tongs for each type of raw animal food.

Cleaning/Sanitizing

• Clean and sanitize food contact surfaces and utensils every four hours by washing, rinsing and sanitizing at a three-compartment sink or running through a dish machine.
• Provide proper sanitizer strength in wiping cloth sanitizer buckets and in spray bottles.
• Every day, check the strength of the dish machine's chlorine sanitizer using a chlorine test strip to ensure it falls within the 50-200 ppm range before use.
• Ensure that the hot water sanitizing machine reaches a minimum of 160°F at the surface of the dishes by running a maximum registering thermometer inside.