There are eight necessary steps from kitchen to table – and beyond – to ensure safe food-handling practices during the food-flow process.

There are literally hundreds of different processes that occur in a restaurant on a daily basis, and all of them are areas where foodborne illness could occur.

A thorough examination of the food-flow process is the most effective way to pinpoint where contamination can occur and how best to prevent it from happening.

The food-flow process is what we call the timeline that starts when a food product arrives at or enters the restaurant to the point where it is served to a customer.

There are eight critical stages in the food-flow process during which the spread microorganisms can occur, in chronological order: receiving, storing, preparing, cooking, holding, serving, cooling and reheating.

In this column, I will examine each of these stages and how best to prevent foodborne illness from occurring, from receiving to cooking and reheating.

1. Receiving – Receiving is when the food enters the restaurant, usually from a food distributor. This is probably the most overlooked stage of the food-flow process in terms of potential foodborne contamination. Often during the delivery of the product, the boxes will be piled up on the floor and left until someone “has the time” to put them away.

Since microorganisms multiply most rapidly between 41 F and 35 F – what is called “the danger zone” – food can quickly become unsafe to consume if not refrigerated in a timely manner. Food deliveries should be stocked and stored at the proper temperature immediately upon delivery. Reject dented cans or torn packages.

2. Storing – A common misconception in the foodservice industry is that once food is being refrigerated, nothing can go wrong. This couldn't be further from the truth. First of all, the temperature on all refrigeration units in the restaurant should be checked daily to make sure it is below 41 F.

When storing ready-to-eat foods, make sure the food items are nowhere near raw meats or seafood, as these potentially hazardous foods are most likely to contain harmful bacteria.

Ready-to-eat foods are not cooked before being served and any transferred bacteria could not be killed before reaching the consumer. For example, storing a hotel pan full of raw chicken on a shelf above raw salad vegetables is asking for trouble because the juices from the chicken could easily drip down onto the vegetables.

3. Preparation – This is the stage where bacteria carriers are introduced to the food. Utensils, equipment and human hands are all places where microorganisms love to hide, so make sure anything that touches food is cleaned and sanitized properly before doing so.

In order to prevent cross-contamination, clean and sanitize equipment immediately after using, change utensils as you move to different food types and always wash your hands before and after they come into contact with food.

4. Cooking – After the food has been prepped, it is ready to be cooked. This step is fairly simple: Make sure food is cooked to a temperature where all bacteria is killed. The FDA recommends the following for foods often linked to foodborne illness:

• Heat pork and fish to 145 F for at least 10 seconds.
• Heat ground red meat to 155 F for at least 10 seconds.
• Heat poultry to 165 F for at least 10 seconds.

5. Holding – Improper holding temperatures have been the most common cause of foodborne illness mass outbreaks in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. This is especially true at buffet or salad bar-type restaurants.

Again, it is recommended that hot food be kept above 135 F and cold food below 41 F, but required holding temperatures may vary across different state and local health departments. Check with your certified manager or chef for the proper temperatures in your area.

6. Serving – Serving is where the service staff and their hygiene comes into play. Make sure your service people wash their hands properly and frequently throughout the course of their shift.
This is especially important after they have touched anything that could be contaminated, such as money, doorknobs, their face or hair, and other people.

Poor handwashing procedures are the No. 1 cause of foodborne illness outbreaks. You'll also want to keep a standard for hair length – the shorter the better – and jewelry quantity – the less, the better – and make sure those standards are being met at all times.

7. Cooling – Not surprisingly, bacteria multiply in this stage more than any other in restaurants across the United States. The reason for this is that many operations do not have a set of rules in place to ensure foods are being cooled in a timely manner.

Taking hot food and putting it in the refrigerator isn't always good enough. Many times, even though food is in the refrigerator, it can take a couple hours before it reaches the temperature of the refrigeration unit. That means a couple hours in the danger zone where, as we know, bacteria love to multiply.

Some operations invest in rapid-chill refrigeration units (a wise investment) or ice wands, but most do not have these devices at their disposal. If these are not practical for you to purchase, you'll want to cool your foods in an ice bath before refrigeration to ensure they spend as little time as possible in the danger zone.

Another good idea is to use shallow pans to cool food because in a deep pan, the hot food in the middle will take much longer to reach an ideal temperature.

8. Reheating –  Just as with cooking, you'll want to reheat all food to 135 F or higher to make sure all bacteria has been killed. The reheating stage is your last line of defense in making sure the food you serve is safe to consume, so make sure your employees are paying close attention when they are reheating food.

In case you didn't pick up on it, the most important thing in terms of time and temperature is keeping food out of the danger zone. Certain microorganisms need only 20 minutes in this range to multiply to the point where the food will be harmful to consume, so reducing the amount of time food spends there is essential to your guests' safety.

In every step of the food-flow process, a food item will spend at least some time in the danger zone, but it is you and your employees' responsibility to keep that time as minimal as possible.

Further Tips
To further prevent foodborne illness throughout the food flow process, make sure refrigerator and walk-in doors are kept closed as much as possible.

Many times, employees will open a walk-in door and leave it open for the entire duration they are in the walk-in. This will make the holding temperature go up, which can add up throughout the course of the evening. It's not uncommon for a walk-in to reach 45 F to 50 F if the door is left open for several minutes multiple times throughout the course of service.

If your restaurant has a bar, make sure cocktail fruit is discarded after each shift and new fruit is cut for the next shift. Lemons, limes, oranges – and anything else you use to garnish your drinks – will sit out at room temperature (in the danger zone) for many hours during a shift, so it should not be served later that night or the next day.

Lee Biars is the director of industry relations for Safe Food Solutions. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or www.safefoodsolutions.com.