The avoidence of cross contamination during food preparation
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Raw food should, at all times, be kept apart from food to be served without further heat treatment.
Separate areas should be provided for the preparation of raw meats, cooked meats and raw vegetables, with preparation tables being used exclusively for that purpose. Each area should be labelled with its intended use. If, due to size, separate areas cannot be designated, thorough cleaning must be undertaken between tasks.
Separate utensils should be provided for the preparation of cooked meats and other high risk foods, raw meat, raw vegetables and fish. They should be suitably colour coded or marked and stored in suitable racks adjacent to the appropriate preparation area. Knives and other utensils should not be brought into the food preparation area unless they comply with the same colour coding.
General purpose food trolleys should be used for the transportation of raw or cooked foods, but never both.
Refrigerators should, where possible, be used for storing either cooked food or raw foods and should be labelled with their intended use. Small domestic refrigerators are too small to ensure separation of cooked and raw foods and therefore should not be used for mixed storage.
If a refrigerator has to be used for both types of foods, raw food should be separated from and kept below cooked foods.
Thawing or raw meat preparation areas should never be used for cooked meats or cooked food preparation. Thawing trays should never be used for any other purpose.
Wiping cloths should be colour coded and disposable.
Food handlers should wash their hands before and after handling raw meat or vegetables and before and after handling cooked foods. Where possible, suitable utensils (eg. tongs) should be used for handling prepared and cooked foods.
A full hard copy version of the To-Go haccap booklet are available by request
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