These guidelines have been produced jointly by the Department of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Before Cooking
1. Clean and disinfect the raw meat preparation area before you start. This area should be separate from any area in which cooked or ready to eat meat is handled. it is important to use the correct disinfectant for surfaces and equipment to ensure bacteria are killed. The disinfectant chosen should not adversely affect the food, and must be used at the appropriate concentration.
2. Wash your hands before and after handling raw meat.
After Cooking
3. Clean and disinfect the cooked product handling area, which should be separate from any area in which raw products are handled.
4. Always wash your hands before handling cooked products. Avoid direct handling wherever possible, for example by using tongs. All equipment must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before and after use on cooked foods.
5. Never allow raw foods or any other product, used utensil or tool, or surface likely to cause contamination, to come into contact with cooked or ready to eat foods.
Remember: Food poisoning from cooked foods often occurs as a result of cross contamination from raw foods.
6. Do not handle food if you are unwell with:
- Diarrhoea and/or vomiting.
- Infected sores or cuts unless well covered to prevent contamination.
Always report any illness to your supervisor or manager.
Cooking
7. To cook meat safely so that food poisoning organisms such as E coli 0157, Salmonella and Listeria are killed, the centre of the meat must reach a core temperature of at least 70 degrees C for 2 minutes or an equivalent time/temperature combination.
Make sure your cooking equipment can achieve this consistently.
Equivalent core cooking time/temperature combinations:
- 60 degrees C for 45 Minutes.
- 65 degrees C for 10 Minutes.
- 70 degrees C for 2 Minutes.
- 75 degrees C for 30 Seconds.
- 80 degrees C for 6 Seconds.
8. The cooking process must be monitored. You should record the core temperature of at least one item, ideally the largest, from every batch, using a probe thermometer before and after each use.
Remember to check the accuracy of the thermometer regularly.
Cooling
9. The cooked product should be cooled as quickly as possible in order to prevent the growth of food poisoning organisms, and then kept under refrigeration at 8 degrees C or below.
Remember: the smaller the joint, the quicker it cools. If you have any doubt, you should seek professional advice.
