As a caterer, you need to know about the Food Safety Act and Regulations as well as what types of food poisoning exist and how to avoid them. This chapter covers these topics, safety tips, how to transport food and also the role of the environmental health officer.

It is a legal requirement that anyone involved in food preparation in the UK holds a basic food hygiene preparation certificate. Contact your local environmental health officer for details and types of courses.

FRIDGE STORAGE AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL

Temperature control is essential in food storage. It is vital that raw meat is, for example, stored at the base of the fridge at a temperature of 1–4°C to stop bacteria from multiplying. Keep a thermometer in the fridge and record a diary of temperatures for health and safety inspection. Keep it on the door to remind staff to check the temperature levels.

Other foods that need chilling are:

• Milk, yoghurt, cream, butter, foods with cream filling, dairy-based deserts and certain cheeses.
• Many cooked products until ready to eat cold or heated. Most foods containing eggs, meat, fish, dairy products, cereals, rice, pulses or vegetables, and sandwich fillings containing these ingredients.
• Most smoked or cured products like hams unless the curing method means the product is not perishable at room temperature.
• Prepared ready-to-eat meals including prepared vegetables, salad leaves, coleslaw and products containing mayonnaise.
• Pizzas with meat, fish or vegetables.
• Foods with ‘use by’ and ‘keep refrigerated’ labels.

Foods that don’t need chilling:

• Some cured/smoked products.
• Bakery goods.
• Canned and dried foods like pickles, jams, sauces. (However, these do need chilling once opened.)

FOOD POISONING

As a caterer you and your staff need to understand what causes food poisoning and how it can be avoided. It is vital that your premises are clean throughout. The kitchen, naturally, is the hot spot where cleanliness is of paramount importance. The food you serve must be absolutely safe; you can do this by strict following of hygiene and cross contamination rules.

Below are the most common causes of food poisoning. It makes for alarming reading! But remember that they are preventable.

• Campylobactor: the most common food poisoning bug in the UK. Found in raw and undercooked poultry, red meat, unpasteurised milk, untreated water. Just a piece of undercooked chicken can cause severe illness.
• Symptoms: gastroenteritis with fever, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea that is often bloody. Can be fatal.
• Salmonella: the second most common food poisoning bug. Found in eggs, raw meat, poultry, unpasteurised milk, yeast and even pasta, coconut and chocolate. Grows very well in the food itself unless the food is chilled. It is also passed easily from person to person by poor hygiene such as not washing hands.
• Symptoms: usually mild, with abdominal pain, diarrhoea and nausea but rarely vomiting.
• Clostridium perfringens: the third most common bug and the least reported as symptoms are vague. Found in soil, sewage, animal manure and in the gut of animals and humans. It breeds in food cooked slowly in large quantities then left to stand for a long time.
  Symptoms: when taken in large numbers, the bacteria produce toxins which attack the gut lining causing diarrhoea and acute abdominal pain.
• Listeria: a food poisoning bug of particular danger to pregnant women, babies and the elderly. Found in soft, mould-ripened cheeses, pates, unpasteurised milk and shellfish. Resists heat, salt and nitrate and acidity better than many micro-organisms.
  Symptoms: fever, headache, nausea and vomiting. Can be fatal to the elderly, immune impaired infants and developing foetuses.
• Scrombotoxin: although not strictly speaking a bug, this poison is produced by certain bacteria in oily fish which has been allowed to spoil through inadequate refrigeration. It causes a dramatic histamine reaction. Found in fresh and tinned mackerel, tuna and – very rarely – Swiss cheese.
  Symptoms: tingling or burning in the mouth, a rash on the face or upper body, itching, sweating and headache with a drop in blood pressure, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting.
• E.coli 0157: most strains of E.coli are harmless but those producing the poison verocytoxin can cause severe illness, E.coli 0157 being one. Found in farm animals and land contaminated with their faeces. Transmitted through undercooked minced beef (such as burgers) and unpasturised, inadequately heated or contaminated milk.
  Symptoms: abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhoea. In serious cases, kidney failure, severe anaemia, neurological problems and death.

Avoiding contamination

In order to combat food poisoning, obtain good clear advice from your local authority health inspector. All of the above are perfectly preventable if you are aware of them and how they can be avoided. Poisonings by salmonella and campylobacter are, however, on the increase due to a lack of understanding by those handling food.

Lack of common sense, too, features. Leaving raw chicken out in a hot kitchen for four hours without covering it is asking for trouble. It should be covered and refrigerated, of course. Don’t, for example, prepare a sandwich on a board which has just been used for cutting up raw duck breasts or other poultry or raw meat.

It’s a good idea to use heavy-duty plastic or polypropylene colour-coded boards. Thoroughly scrub in hot, soapy water and rinse after use to avoid cross-contamination and food poisoning. Or use an antibacterial spray with a paper kitchen towel.

Eggs have been under scrutiny for many years. Health and safety guidelines suggest that raw or semi-cooked eggs may pose a salmonella food poisoning problem. All recipes printed in newspapers, magazines and books carry a warning not to serve undercooked eggs to the elderly or women who are pregnant.

You may decide that is not worth the worry – out of the window may go some of the most wonderful egg dishes such as Eggs Benedict, poached or lightly scrambled eggs and Hollandaise sauce. It is up to you to make this decision to serve eggs that aren’t thoroughly cooked. If your client requests egg dishes, be sure that they understand the issues.

HYGIENE STANDARDS

Hygiene in all parts of your catering operation must be of the highest order. You need to think about it when working in your kitchen and storage area, and other environments such as someone else’s home, a marquee, at a farmers’ market or any other outside catering premises.

When working in someone’s home, for example, and preparing a dinner, buffet or canapés, I arrange beforehand with the client that surfaces should be cleared. Then always clean the surfaces, sink and surrounding area before you start any kind of work. Even if it looks pristine, a spray of disinfectant and a clean cloth gives you peace of mind. I always work on the premise that maybe a cat has roamed on the kitchen tops and while this seems normal to the household, to a caterer it’s a no-no.

Top tips for food hygiene

• Cover food left to cool to avoid contamination and attracting flies.
• Make sure all containers are cleaned properly before storage and re-checked before use.
• Don’t take chances with food that has been unrefrigerated for a long time after a function. Throw it out, especially if in a warm environment.
• Don’t put food still warm from cooking in the fridge but wait until cooled otherwise the fridge’s temperature will rise and bacteria will grow.
• Cover food in the fridge with a lid, foil or cling film to avoid drying out and cross-contamination. Always store cooked and raw meat and fish on separate shelves.
• Don’t wrap cheese or meats in cling film but in greaseproof paper. That way they won’t sweat and will keep fresh longer.
• When storing salad leaves and herbs, add a layer of kitchen paper to the lidded container to soak up any excess moisture.
• Always tidy up your kitchen space, wash your surfaces thoroughly and do the washing up before starting on another dish. This way, you will minimise any risk of cross contamination and help the smooth running of your kitchen.
• After each function, mini spring-clean your fridge and throw out any unlabelled items that you are not sure of or any foodstuffs that have lost their allure. Be thrifty: make soup with those leftover vegetables.
• Make a point of labelling anything that goes into your fridge with contents, date and use by instructions. Never take chances with your livelihood or your clients’ health.
• Check those dried herbs and spices. Sell-by date well and truly passed? Toss and replace. Buy in small quantities and store in a cool, dark, dry place.
• Keep your records and cookbooks out of the kitchen if at all possible. They pick up moisture and grease and can become damaged and unusable.

Staff hygiene

It is vital that any staff you employ, permanent or temporary (waiting staff at a function, for example), are aware of hygiene.

Staff must always wash their hands after using the toilet, using soap and clean towels. It’s a good idea to have a reminder notice in the toilets. Hand washing also must take place to avoid cross contamination after handling raw poultry, for example. If kitchen staff nip out to check on storage or to have a cigarette or coffee break they must wash their hands before resuming work.

Staff must be aware of other personal hygiene matters too, such as not touching the face, nose, ears, hair or other parts of the body while working as it can spread infection and micro-organisms. It’s a good idea for staff to wear a hat, as well as catering gloves, while preparing or plating up food.

Staff employed to work at functions must wash their hands before starting work and follow the personal hygiene rules above.

Cloths

Dishcloths and other cloths in the kitchen are one of the prime ways to spread germs. Use non-woven dishcloths rather than sponges as there are fewer traps for germs. Sponges also hold more water where bacteria can thrive.

Don’t even think of using a cloth which is used on a counter to mop up the floor, then use it again for surface tops. Disinfect cloths in bleach regularly and dry flat, not scrunched up. Be a devil and throw them away after quite extensive use!

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH REQUIREMENTS

The role of the environmental health officer

Catering kitchens take a physical hammering, and there is a huge amount of effort needed to promote the best standards of hygiene, cleanliness, stock care and food rotation. Take your eye off the ball – and your staff – and you could land up with a big problem, with food poisoning the outcome. Witness Gordon Ramsay’s television programme Kitchen Nightmares to see how poorly-run some restaurant kitchens can be. This also applies to catering premises.

The policing of standards is down to environmental health officers from local councils who enforce the law. Although some in the trade think the laws are draconian and requirements over the top, the system can’t be bucked. Some of the requests are legally binding, others aren’t. But their advice can be invaluable, particularly for those starting up in the business or those whose standards have slipped.

Some of the many items they will inspect are lids and labels on containers, the use of the right chopping boards, and fridge and freezer temperatures. They will take a keen interest in the suitability and cleanliness of tiles, floor, walls and ceilings, storage, hand basins for staff, how raw and cooked meat are stored in the fridge, air circulation and vermin problems.

There are EHO horror stories: finding stoves with no knobs on, staff turning the gas on with pliers, dirty stale oil left in fryers and filthy fridges with no labelling on containers. They have also discovered babies’ soiled nappies left in the kitchen, mould and mice droppings behind equipment, fire doors propped open with unsealed rubbish and cleaning fluids transferred to lemonade bottles.

What to do when your business is inspected

Some premises are inspected every six months, the majority much less often. An inspector will show identification before carrying out an inspection, and then give feedback, for example, about identified hazards and guidance on how they can be avoided.

If there is problem, you will be given the reasons in writing for any action you are asked to take. Where there is an apparent breach of law, it will be explained and you are given reasonable time to meet statutory requirements, except when there is an immediate risk to public health. You will also be informed of the procedures for appealing against local authority action as a matter of course.

You have nothing to be concerned about if you use your common sense when running your business.

Inspectors’ powers

They can take samples and photographs, and inspect records. They will write informally to ask you to put right any problems they find. They may serve you with an improvement order where breaches of the law are identified which must be put right. They can detain or seize goods and, in serious cases, they may recommend a prosecution. If there is an imminent health risk to consumers, inspectors can serve an emergency prohibition order which forbids the use of the premises or equipment which is backed up by the law court.

Measures that can be taken if you disagree with the outcome

In the unlikely event of being prosecuted, here are guidelines to take. (I can’t stress enough that if you follow sensible precautions, your business will not come under such stringent scrutiny.)

• Contact your local authority’s head of environmental health or trading standards services to see if the matter can be resolved informally. If disagreement remains, contact your local councillor.
• Contact your local authority or trade association if you think the law is being applied differently to other authorities. Ask about LACOTS (Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards.)
• You have the right of appeal to a magistrates’ court against an improvement notice or a refusal by a local authority to lift an emergency prohibition order made earlier by the court.
• A magistrates’ court must confirm the emergency closure of a business or the seizure of food. If magistrates decide premises have been shut down without proper reason or food has been wrongly seized or detained, you have a right to compensation.

Other things that are taken into consideration are:

• the seriousness of the offence;
• the inspectors’ confidence in the restaurant’s management;
• the consequences of non compliance;
• the attitude of the operator/proprietor.

SAFETY IN THE KITCHEN

The following lists are basically common sense but, as a chef in charge of the kitchen or a proprietor, you are obliged to pass these basic safety precautions on to all staff taking part in food preparation and the servicing of food.

Hot food and liquids

• Don’t leave metal implements such as spoons in boiling liquids.
• Don’t overfill coffee pots, soup tureens etc, with hot liquids.
• Get help when carrying large or heavy containers of hot food.
• Don’t use a damp cloth to carry hot utensils.

Cookers and electrical equipment

• Don’t leave handles of cooking pans over gas flames or leave them over the front of cookers or on surfaces.
• Always remove the plug prior to cleaning electrical equipment.
• Turn off all gas and electrical appliances when not in use.
• Dangerous machinery such as meat slices need to be adequately guarded.
• Avoid reaching over naked flames or hot plates.
• Never pour water on a fat or oil fire but smother it with a fire blanket or a thick damp sack.

Knives

• When carrying knives hold the point downwards.
• Never attempt to catch a falling knife.
• Always use sharp knives. Blunt knives cause accidents because you have to apply too much pressure.
• Cut or chop on a board, never in the hand.

Spillages and other accidents

• Clean up any spillages immediately.
• Broken glass needs to be wrapped up well before going into the bin.
• Avoid putting debris from ashtrays into bins containing paper as some of the cigarette ash may still be alight.
• Have a first aid box handy and topped up with sufficient waterproof dressings and burns dressings. Be sure everyone knows where it is stored.

Other equipment and storage

• Avoid the use of trays for multi-stacking of clean equipment. Instead, use one tray for cutlery, one for glasses etc.
• Never put cleaning or any other fluids in bottles originally used for food or drink or use cups, glasses, soup bowls etc for storing cleaning agents.

TRANSPORTING FOOD

When you transport food from one premises to another – from cash and carry back to your premises, from your business to a catering venue for example – it is vital to keep it from becoming contaminated with dirt or bacteria.

Make sure that:

• food is transported in suitable packaging or containers to prevent contamination (not in used plastic bags or open containers, for example);
• chilled foods are kept at the right temperature either by using cool bags or boxes or by refrigerated vans;
• containers are not used for transporting anything other than foodstuffs as it may result in contamination;
• raw and cooked foods are kept separate at all times;
• vehicles used to transport food are kept clean and in good repair;
• food is labelled – when you get to your destination you will know what needs to be refrigerated and what needs to be kept cool, for example.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND USEFUL CONTACTS

You can get more information from the Food Standards Agency, a UK-wide independent government agency providing advice and information to the public and government on food safety, diet and nutrition (www.food.gov.uk).

They publish the following leaflets:

• ‘Food Safety Regulations’: a general guide to regulations on food hygiene and temperature control.
• ‘Food Law Inspections and Your Business’: explains the inspection process.
• ‘Food Handlers: Fitness to Work’: explains what to do when staff have certain types of illness.
• ‘Eggs: What Caterers Need to Know’: gives advice for caterers on using eggs safely.
• ‘Dine Out, Eat Well’: a guide to offering customers healthy choices.

All of these publications are free of charge. To order copies, contact Food Standards Agency Publications on 0845 606 0667 or email: foodstandards@eclogistics.co.uk.

Other publications available from the government:

• ‘Small Business Service’
• ‘Small Firms: Setting up in Business’
• ‘Small Firms: Employing Staff’
• ‘Small Firms: Health and Safety’.

To order, call 0870 150 2500 or email: publications@dti.gso.gov.uk. Or you can visit www.dti.gov.uk/publications.

Also of help from the Health and Safety Executive:

• ‘Health and Safety Executive: Working with Employers’
• ‘Managing Heath and Safety pay in the Catering Industry’
• ‘Planning for Health and Safety when selecting and using Catering Equipment and Workplaces’
• ‘The Main Health and Safety Law Applicable to Catering’.

Order from www.hsebooks.co.uk, call 01787 882265 or access publications online at www.hse.gov.uk.