What are the precautions to follow for under bench fridge food safety?
As per recently concluded studies, most Australians don't understand that you should store cold delicacies at or below five °C as per recently completed studies. Keeping the food ingredients at the said temperature can significantly decrease the probability of your kitchen staff or your customers getting sick due to soiled components. The reason why you should store perishable products and ingredients for your cuisine in the under bench fridge or freezer is primarily to reduce the speed of spoilage, enhance the cuisine quality and prevent food poisoning. Many bacteria and contaminants that cause the food ingredients to spoil or make you sick don't develop, or you can slow down their growth rate at five °C or colder and freezing temperatures. Remember that the ingredients will eventually perish as you cannot store and refrigerate offerings beyond a specific duration. The quality deteriorates, and the raw materials may get attacked by harmful bacteria, such as Listeria monocytogenes, that can develop rapidly and cause infection. You can keep the frozen cuisines safely for longer, although you'll find an inevitable dip in quality. We will talk about some precautions to be taken to safeguard your cuisines.
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Choose the Delicacies to Store in the Fridge
It would be best to store all perishable and cooked cuisines in the refrigerator. This practice will not only control the development of food poisoning bacteria, but it will reduce spoilage. Check the bottled and packaged item labels as they will provide storage instructions, such as "Refrigerate under four or under five °C". In addition, look for guidelines with the message, such as "open to refrigerate". These guidelines are maintained for items that previously did not need to be stored in a deep freezer but are tweaked and should be kept in fridges to avoid spoilage. If there is a large get together in your restaurant or a busy day for which the refrigerator is loaded, you can make more room by removing the beverages, jams and pickles. The products mentioned above can survive for a while without being kept in a cold condition. The offerings in the refrigerator will remain cool only through proper air circulation between items.
Pick the Places to Store Items
Another precaution to safeguard your items is to keep the raw materials below the shelf, storing ready to eat delicacies. The latter is eaten raw and does not need to be cooked further, such as salad or dessert. Ensure storing seafood, poultry items and meats in the coldest area of the appliance. The said area is the bottom rack in most fridges. In addition, ensure that juices and liquids do not drip into other items. Primarily, keep these materials separate from the area where you keep raw meats, poultry, and seafood. These juices might have bacteria to poison your delicacy once it mixes with your cuisine. If you decide to keep the poultry and raw meat on the higher racks, ensure to use covered, leak-proof or sealed containers. Keep the essential ingredients away from prepared cuisines and provide dedicating separate shelves. Reduce the risk of cross-contamination by covering any cooked or ready-to-eat items stored in the under bench freezers. If your appliance has a large volume of offerings, segregate it into different containers for fast cooling. Chill delicacies on the bench only until vapour stops coming out. Once the process is completed, place the hot cuisines directly into the containers, cover them, and put them in the fridge.
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Safely Freeze & Defrost Ingredients
Avoid storing large quantities at a time in the equipment when freezing an item, as it will take longer to freeze, and bacteria could multiply. Instead, try to segregate the content into various small containers in reduced quantity. This process also guarantees that you can defrost only the amount you require. If you've just bought an item and want to freeze it, ensure maintaining quality by placing it in freezer bags. You don’t have to uncover pre-packaged raw meat on trays; put it in a freezer bag. This process will help minimise cross-contamination in your pantry. Squeeze out as much air as required, but the label and date and tie the bag afterwards. If you keep the cooked food or leftovers in the fridge, quickly cooling them is the most critical factor. Chill food on the bench only until the vapours stop coming out. Once done, put the warm cuisine directly into the container, cover it with a lid and put it in the freezer.
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When thawing frozen food, make sure you warm rolled or seasoned (stuffed) meat joints, poultry and boned meat joints right through to the middle before preparation as they could remain uncooked in the centre. Heat cooked or ready-to-eat products in the fridge or microwave – not on the bench-top. Follow thawing and cooking instructions on packaged frozen items as some food doesn’t require thawing before cooking. For more information, visit Simco – the leading under bench fridges supplier in Melbourne & Sydney.
The temperature of a freezer determined the storage life of that equipment. When talking about safety, you can keep frozen vegetables, meat and combinations of these for a long duration without any food poisoning issues. However, you will discover that the nutrition value and quality have deteriorated with time. If you have a combination of freezer/fridge, you can store frozen products for six weeks without any noticeable quality effects. With a chest freezer operating at minus 18°C, the time is longer – three months or more depending on the fat present in the items. The more the fat content, the smaller the shelf life. Your freezer manufacturer usually lists recommended storage times for different types of cuisines on the door or lid of your freezer.
What to Do When Power is Cut Off?
You have to take additional measures to reduce the risk of food-related illness when there is a power failure. It is essential to record the time the power went off. Delicacy safety becomes a crucial issue when the power is cut for a long time, i.e. for more than 4 hours, with no immediate return information.
Suppose the cold storage unit is unavailable within 2 hours of an electricity failure. In that case, all the food items stored in refrigerators and chillers that can get potentially damaged, such as meat, poultry, seafood and ready-to-eat perishable items, have to be placed in another optional cold storage. Examples of such storage are coolers containing ice or ice bricks or nearby restaurants' fridges. If there is no such option, ensure that the cuisine is consumed. If you have a fridge thermometer and have recorded the time the power went off, eat immediately or throw away if the temperature rises to above 5 degrees for over 2 hours. You can check out some economical options for the products mentioned here at Simco – the leading under bench fridges supplier in Perth & Brisbane.
Apart from the refrigeration items, Simco has various other Commercial Kitchen Equipment that proves helpful in an industrial kitchen. Visit the official website to know more.
