Maintain food safety in a kitchen environment

URN: PPL2GEN4
Business Sectors (Suites): Food Production and Cooking,Hospitality - Generics,Hospitality - Professional Cookery
Developed by: People 1st
Approved on: 2022

Overview

This standard covers the main skills and knowledge needed for preparing, cooking, and holding food safely, and focuses on the four main areas of control - cooking, cleaning, chilling and preventing cross- contamination, in addition to supplies being satisfactory. It provides staff with a broad understanding of reviewing hazards and hazard procedures as part of their day to day role in maintaining food safety. This standard is appropriate to staff that work in a professional kitchen and directly prepare, cook and hold food.
When you have completed this standard you will have demonstrated your understanding of and your ability to:

  • Maintain food safety in a kitchen environment

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

  1. Ensure surfaces and equipment are clean and in good condition
  2. Use clean and suitable cloths and equipment for wiping and cleaning between tasks
  3. Remove from use any surfaces and equipment that are damaged or have loose parts, and report them to the person responsible for food safety
  4. Dispose of waste promptly, hygienically and appropriately
  5. Identify, take appropriate action on and report to the appropriate person, any damage to walls, floors, ceilings, furniture and fittings
  6. Identify, take appropriate action on and report to the appropriate person, any signs of pests
  7. Comply with relevant legal and organisational requirements for personal hygiene and behaviour
  8. Check that food is undamaged, is at the appropriate temperature and within date on delivery
  9. Identify and retain any important labelling information
  10. Prepare food for storage and put it in the correct storage area as quickly as necessary to maintain its safety
  11. Ensure storage areas are clean, suitable and maintained at the correct temperature for the type of food
  12. Store food so that cross contamination is prevented
  13. Follow stock rotation procedures
  14. Dispose of food that is past its date in line with organisation and food safety regulations
  15. Check food before and during operations for any hazards, and follow the correct procedures for dealing with these
  16. Follow your organisation's procedures for items that may cause allergic reactions
  17. Prevent cross-contamination, such as between raw foods, foods already cooking/reheating and ready-to-eat foods
  18. Use methods, times, temperatures and checks to make sure food is safe following operations
  19. Keep necessary records up-to-date (e.g. for storage, preparation, cooking and holding)

Knowledge and Understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. The relevant legal and regulatory requirements for food safety, the importance of complying with them, the implications of non-compliance and the role of enforcement officers
  2. How to operate a food safety management system
  3. Why monitoring, record keeping and risk assessments are important, key stages in the procedure and the importance of knowing what to do when things go wrong
  4. Types of unsafe behaviour and personal hygiene that may impact on the safety of food and why it is important to avoid this type of behaviour when working with food 
  5. The concept of hazards to food safety in catering operations, and the necessity of controlling these hazards in order to remove or keep risks to a safe level, what might happen if these hazards are not controlled and the types of hazards that you are likely to come across in a catering operations
  6. How you must control these hazards by cooking, chilling, cleaning and the avoidance of contamination / cross-contamination and why some hazards are more important than others in terms of food safety
  7. How to recognise conditions leading to food safety hazards during preparation and cooking, your role in spotting and dealing with hazards, and in reducing the risk of contamination and what to do if you find any
  8. The importance of identifying food hazards promptly, the potential impact on health if hazards are not spotted and dealt with promptly and the actions that should be taken in response to spotting a potential hazard, including the correct person to whom issues should be reported
  9. The types of contamination and cross-contamination of food and surfaces and how they can occur, vehicles of contamination including surfaces and how cross-contamination can occur between raw food, food in storage and preparation and food that is ready to eat, and how to avoid this
  10. The types of food poisoning, how food poisoning organisms can contaminate food, the factors which enable the growth of food poisoning organisms and the common symptoms of food poisoning
  11. The temperature danger zone, why it is important to store food in the correct storage area at the correct temperature, temperatures that different foods should be stored at and how to achieve this 
  12. What procedures to follow when dealing with stock including deliveries, storage, date marking and stock rotation, why it is important to consistently follow them, why it is important to make sure food deliveries are undamaged, at the correct temperature and within date and how to do this
  13. Why it is important to prepare food for storage, including removing and disposing of outer packaging (while retaining any important labelling information)
  14. Why it is important that storage areas are clean and tidy, and what to do if they are not
  15. What types of food are raw and what types are ready-to-eat, why it is important to separate raw and ready-to-eat food and the methods for separation of raw foods, cooked foods and finished dishes
  16. Why stock rotation procedures are important, and why you must dispose of food past its date
  17. Why it is important to keep work areas and environment clean and tidy, and tools, utensils and equipment in good order, stored correctly and in a clean hygienic condition and how the methods and frequency of cleaning and maintenance of equipment, surfaces and environment affect food safety in the workplace
  18. Why surfaces and equipment must be clean, hygienic and suitable for the intended use before beginning a new task and how to ensure this
  19. Why it is important only to use clean and suitable clothes when cleaning between tasks, and how to ensure this is done
  20. The types of food and general waste which can occur in the workplace, why it’s important to clear and dispose of it promptly and how it should be safely handled in the workplace
  21. The main types of pests and infestation that may pose a risk to the safety of food, how they can occur, how to recognise them and the signs that they may be there and how to prevent them
  22. Why surfaces and equipment that are damaged or have loose parts can be hazardous to food safety, the types of damaged surfaces and equipment that can cause food safety hazards, and what to do about them and how damage to walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, food equipment and fittings can cause food safety hazards, and the type of damage you should look for
  23. Why and when it is necessary to defrost foods before cooking and how to do so safely and thoroughly
  24. Why you should use thorough cooking and reheating methods, the cooking / reheating methods, temperatures and times you must use for the food you work with and how to check that the food you work with is thoroughly cooked / safely reheated
  25. Why it is important to make sure food is at the correct temperature before and during holding, prior to serving it to the customer, and how to do so
  26. The types of cooked foods you may need to chill or freeze because they are not for immediate consumption and how to do so safely
  27. Why it is important to know that certain foods can cause allergic reactions and the procedures you should follow in your organisation to deal with these foods, including what you should do if a customer asks if a particular dish is free from a certain food allergen

Scope/range

1 Hazards / Sources of contamination
1.1 microbial
1.2 chemical
1.3 physical
1.4 allergenic
2 Vehicles of contamination2.1 hands2.2 cloths and equipment2.3 hand contact surfaces2.4 food contact surfaces2.5 contamination routes

3 Personal hygiene and behaviour3.1 wearing protective clothing and headgear3.2 keeping direct handling of food should be kept

to a minimum
> 3.3 following recommended procedures for washing>
hands, including when to wash your hands (after going to the toilet, when going into food preparation, cooking and service areas, after touching raw food and waste, and before serving food)
> 3.4 reporting cuts, boils, grazes and injuries3.5 treating and covering cuts, boils, skin infections>
and grazes
> 3.6 reporting illnesses and infections, particularly>
stomach illnesses, before entering the production area
> 3.7 having clean hair, skin, nails and clothing3.8 wearing jewellery only in line with organisational>
procedures
> 3.9 recording incidents3.10 avoid unsafe behaviours including: touching face,>
nose or mouth; chewing gum; eating; smoking – when you are working with food
> 4 Surfaces and equipment4.1 surfaces and utensils for preparing, cooking and>
holding food
> 4.2 surfaces and utensils used for displaying and>
serving food
> 4.3 appropriate cleaning equipment5 Storage areas5.1 ambient temperature5.2 refrigerator5.3 freezer6 Operations6.1 defrosting food6.2 preparing food, including washing and peeling6.3 cooking food6.4 reheating food6.5 holding food before serving> 6.6 cooling cooked food not for immediate>
consumption
> 6.7 freezing cooked food not for immediate>
consumption


Scope Performance


Scope Knowledge


Values


Behaviours


Skills


Glossary


Links To Other NOS


External Links


Version Number

3

Indicative Review Date

2027

Validity

Current

Status

Original

Originating Organisation

People 1st International Ltd

Original URN

PPL2GEN4

Relevant Occupations

Chef, Cook, Kitchen Assistant

SOC Code

9263

Keywords

food; safety; storing; preparing; cooking