Module 1 of 2 · 45 minutes
Temperatures, allergens and keeping it apart
By the end of this module you will be able to
- Apply the critical temperatures and explain each one
- Prevent cross contamination in a real kitchen layout
- Identify the fourteen allergens and apply Natasha's Law
- Explain HACCP and the 48 hour exclusion rule
Work through it
2 interactives for this module, built on the WAJD Teach engine. Nothing moves until you ask it to, and every one has a written version if you would rather read it.
Amara Do I legally need a food hygiene certificate?
Nadia Not a specific certificate, no, and that surprises almost everybody. The law requires that food handlers are supervised and instructed or trained to a level appropriate to their work, and that the business can demonstrate it.
Amara So the certificate is how you demonstrate it.
Nadia It is the easiest way, which is why everybody asks for one. But the legal duty is adequate training, not a particular piece of paper.
Amara Give me the temperatures, because I can never keep them straight.
Nadia Learn one number and derive the rest. Five to sixty three degrees is the danger zone, where bacteria multiply. Every other rule exists to keep food out of it or move it through fast.
Amara So fridge?
Nadia Five or below. The legal maximum is eight, so five gives you a working margin for the door being opened all day. Freezer minus eighteen. Cook and reheat to seventy five in the centre. Hot hold sixty three or above.
Amara And the four hour rule? I have heard it and never understood it.
Nadia This is the one that catches people, so listen carefully. Food can be out of temperature control for up to four hours. But that clock is cumulative.
Amara Meaning?
Nadia Meaning it adds up over the whole life of that food. Twenty minutes on the counter this morning while you prepared it. Half an hour in transit. Two hours on a buffet this afternoon. That is two hours fifty, not three separate short periods.
Amara Everybody treats it as per occasion.
Nadia Everybody does, and that is exactly how food gets served at the far end of a very long clock nobody was counting.
Amara Cross contamination. Boards and colours?
Nadia Boards help. But the number one route in a small kitchen is not boards, it is hands.
Amara Hands.
Nadia You handle raw chicken, then you pick up the salad bowl. Every separation you built with the boards has just been undone by the thing carrying it. Wash between tasks, not only at the start of the shift.
Amara And in the fridge?
Nadia Raw below ready to eat, always, without exception. Gravity does not negotiate. Anything that drips must drip onto something that is going to be cooked.
Amara Allergens. There are fourteen.
Nadia Fourteen, and in a care setting the risk is different from a restaurant, because the person may not be able to tell you about their allergy. So the record has to.
Amara What changed with Natasha's Law?
Nadia Since October 2021, food prepacked for direct sale, so made and packed on the same premises before somebody orders it, must carry a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised.
Amara And that came from a death.
Nadia Natasha Ednan Laperouse, from a baguette with no allergen labelling. It is worth knowing the name, because it changes how the rule feels.
Amara What if somebody asks me and I am not sure?
Nadia Then say you are not sure and go and find out. That is a completely acceptable, safe answer.
Amara It feels unhelpful.
Nadia It is the most helpful thing you will ever say. The dangerous sentence is it should be fine, and people have died because somebody wanted to be reassuring.
Amara Last thing. Sickness.
Nadia Vomiting or diarrhoea, no food handling, and forty eight hours away from the last episode.
Amara Forty eight hours from when it starts?
Nadia From when it stops. And people get that wrong constantly, because they feel better on day two and come back. Feeling better is not the test. You are still shedding.
The written material
The law, briefly
Food businesses in the UK operate under retained Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and the Food Safety Act 1990. Two duties matter most to a food handler.
First, food handlers must be supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene to a level appropriate to their work. There is no legal requirement for a specific certificate, which surprises people, but there is a requirement that the training is adequate and that the business can demonstrate it.
Second, every food business must have a food safety management system based on HACCP principles, documented and followed. In a small kitchen this is usually the Safer Food Better Business pack, and the diary in the back of it is the evidence.
The numbers, and what each prevents
Between 5 and 63 degrees Celsius, bacteria multiply. That range is the danger zone and every temperature rule exists to keep food out of it or move it through quickly.
Fridge at 5 degrees or below, and legally food must be kept at 8 degrees or below, so 5 gives you a working margin. Freezer at minus 18 or below. Cook to 75 degrees in the centre, or an equivalent combination such as 70 degrees for two minutes. Reheat to 75 in the centre, and reheat once only. Hot hold at 63 or above.
Cool cooked food quickly, ideally to chilled within 90 minutes, because slow cooling holds food in the danger zone for hours while everybody believes it is safely on its way to the fridge.
- Danger zone: 5 to 63 degrees
- Fridge 5 or below, freezer minus 18 or below
- Cook and reheat to 75 in the centre, reheat once only
- Hot hold at 63 or above
- Cool cooked food to chilled within about 90 minutes
Cross contamination
The commonest route to food poisoning in a small kitchen is not temperature, it is raw meat touching something that will not be cooked again.
Separate physically: raw below ready to eat in the fridge, always, so nothing can drip downwards onto something that will be eaten as it is. Separate by equipment: different boards and knives, colour coded where the kitchen uses a system. Separate by time and cleaning where space does not allow separate areas.
And separate by hands, which is the route people forget. Handling raw chicken then a salad bowl transfers everything the boards were protecting you from. Wash hands with soap and warm water between tasks, not just at the start of the shift.
Allergens, and Natasha's Law
Fourteen allergens must be declared: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin, and molluscs.
Since October 2021, food prepacked for direct sale, meaning made and packed on the same premises before being ordered, must carry a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised. That is Natasha's Law, introduced after the death of Natasha Ednan Laperouse from a baguette with no allergen labelling.
For food that is not prepacked, allergen information must be available and it must be accurate. Saying you do not know is acceptable and safe. Guessing is not, and 'it should be fine' has killed people.
In a care setting the risk is different and often larger: the person may not be able to tell you about their allergy, so the record has to.
Fitness to work
A food handler with vomiting or diarrhoea must not handle food, and must stay away for 48 hours after symptoms have stopped. Forty eight hours after they stop, not after they start. People routinely return too early because they feel better, and feeling better is not the test.
Also report: infected wounds, skin infections, and certain diagnosed infections which may require exclusion by the health protection team. Cover cuts with a brightly coloured waterproof dressing, blue so it is visible if it comes off in food.
Knowledge check
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