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If you run a food business, you must make and follow a system for managing food safety. Maintaining this system will help you to keep food safe and prove to inspectors that you are doing so.

To make sure your food is hygienic, you should follow best practice around the ‘4Cs’:

• cooking
• chilling and freezing food
• cleaning
• avoiding cross-contamination

You should also follow best practice around storing and transporting food.

Thorough cooking kills harmful bacteria. Undercooked food can cause food poisoning.

Follow recipe or packet instructions and check for visual cues, such as making sure the food is steaming hot.

Standard advice is to cook food until it has reached a core temperature of 70°C for 2 minutes.

Other safe time and temperature combinations are:

• 60°C for 45 minutes
• 65°C for 10 minutes
• 75°C for 30 seconds
• 80°C for 6 seconds

You can check you have thoroughly cooked food by inserting a thermometer with a clean probe into the centre.

The ‘Safer food, better business (SFBB)’ packs include guidance on food that needs extra care.

Meat

Some types of meat must always be thoroughly cooked all the way through. Before serving, check the food is steaming hot all the way through. Cut into the thickest part of the meat to check that the juices run clear and there’s no pink meat. Do this for:

• poultry, such as chicken or turkey
• duck and other game birds
• pork
• rolled joints
• products made from minced meat, such as burgers, sausages and kebabs
• offal, such as kidneys and liver

You only need to cook (seal) the surface of whole cuts of beef and lamb, such as steaks, cutlets and roasting joints. Rolled joints must be cooked all the way through.

Keeping food hot

Hot food must be kept at or above 63°C if you’re not serving it straight away.

You can keep it below 63°C for up to 2 hours. After that, cool it as quickly as possible to 8°C or below, or throw it away.

Reheating

Reheating means cooking food again, not just warming it up. Reheat food until it is steaming hot all the way through. You can only reheat food once.

Chilling food

Chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below. This is a legal requirement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It’s recommended in Scotland.

Set your fridge to 5°C or below to make sure food stays cold enough, even if the temperature changes.

You can keep chilled food out of the fridge for up to 4 hours, then you must throw it away. If it’s been out for less than 4 hours, it can be put back in the fridge.

Foods that need to be kept chilled to stop harmful bacteria from growing include:

• food with a use-by date
• cooked dishes
• ready-to-eat food such as prepared salads and desserts

Freezing food

When freezing food you need to:

• put frozen food in the freezer as soon as it is delivered
• freeze fresh food before its use-by date and note the date you froze it
• divide food into smaller portions before freezing
• cool cooked dishes before putting them in the freezer
• label everything you freeze

Defrosting food

Food must be fully defrosted before cooking unless the manufacturer’s instructions say to cook from frozen.

Put frozen food in the fridge to defrost it safely.

If you cannot defrost food in the fridge either:

• place it in a container under cold running water (the container should be sealed if you’re defrosting raw meat or poultry)
• use the defrost setting on a microwave.

Bacteria can grow if defrosting food is kept between 8°C and 63°C.

You must be able to prove that you’re cleaning effectively.

Set up a cleaning schedule and record. The ‘Safer food, better business (SFBB)’ packs include guidance on how to do this.

The cleaning schedule must cover what needs to be cleaned or disinfected, how often, and which products to use.

You must regularly clean:

• work surfaces and chopping boards
• utensils, dishes and cooking equipment
• dish cloths, sponges and tea towels
• touch points such as door handles, bins, light switches and electronic devices

All staff must regularly clean their hands and practice good personal hygiene.

Always clean and disinfect food areas and equipment after they’ve come into contact with raw food.

Make sure you check the labels of cleaning products. Not all kill bacteria and viruses. To make sure disinfectants meet the right standards, check the labels include either or codes.

Store cleaning products away from food.

Dispose of food waste as soon as possible.

Cross-contamination is when bacteria is spread between food, surfaces or equipment. It can cause food poisoning.

Raw meat, fish or poultry should be kept separate from:

• fruits and vegetables
• ready-to-eat foods like salads and cheese

Always wash your hands with soap and warm water between tasks. Especially before and after handling raw food.

For raw meat, fish or poultry use separate:

• chopping boards and utensils
• machinery and equipment (like vacuum packing machines, slicers and mincers) or thoroughly disinfect them between uses
• food preparation areas or thoroughly disinfect the area between use
• clothing and staff or encourage them to change and wash their hands between preparing different foods
• cleaning materials (like sponges, cloths and mops) in areas where these foods are handled

When you store and transport food make sure that:

• food is in packaging or containers that protect it from contamination and is marked as ‘for food contact’
• you use separate fridges for raw and ready-to-eat food if possible or store raw food below ready-to-eat food in the same fridge
• chilled and frozen food is kept at the right temperature during transport and storage
• label all ingredients to avoid cross-contamination especially food that contains allergens