Preparing, Cooking & Serving Food (AQA GCSE Food Preparation & Nutrition)

Food safety: preparing, cooking & serving food

• There are several practical guidelines that should be followed during food preparation and serving to ensure that food is safe to eat

Personal hygiene

• It is important to prevent the transfer of microorganisms from the person preparing the food onto the food itself

• Measures that can be taken to reduce contamination include:

  • washing hands properly with soap and hot water before starting food prep

  • washing hands after touching the face or bin, after eating and after using the toilet

  • not coughing or sneezing near food

  • wearing clean/protective clothes and covering hair

  • covering cuts with blue plasters

    • Blue can be easily seen if a plaster accidentally falls into the food

  • not preparing food while unwell

Anna Shvets, via Pexels

Clean surfaces

• Cleaning surfaces prevents the transfer of microorganisms from surfaces to the food

• Surfaces can be cleaned before and after food preparation as follows:

  • surfaces should be wiped with hot, soapy water to remove dirt and grease

  • antibacterial sprays can be used to kill any bacteria

Raw and cooked foods

• Cooking destroys many of the microorganisms that might be present in raw food, so it is important that the microorganisms in raw food are not transferred from raw food back to cooked food

• Cross-contamination between raw and cooked food can be prevented by:

  • separating raw and cooked food during storage and preparation

  • using separate utensils should be for raw and cooked food, e.g. for transferring raw food to a BBQ vs removing cooked food from the BBQ

Correct cooking

• Food must be heated for the right period of time to ensure that it reaches the right temperature

  • Heating food to a high enough temperature throughout will kill microorganisms

• Correct cooking may be ensured by:

  • following specific cooking times for portions of a particular size, e.g. a heavier piece of meat will take longer to roast than a lighter one

  • using a temperature probe to assess the internal temperature of food:

    • Probes must be sterilised before and after use

    • The thickest part of the food should be tested

    • Food should reach a temperature of 75 °C

US Department of Agriculture, via Flickr

• Note that different food types may have different heating requirements, e.g.

  • fish does not need to be as hot as meat

  • some cuts of meat can be safely left rare in the middle

Defrosting

• Food must be defrosted all the way through before cooking to ensure that it cooks evenly

  • Any parts of the food that are still frozen at the start of cooking may not get hot enough to kill bacteria

• Safe defrosting requires that:

  • food must be given long enough to defrost

  • foods should be defrosted in the fridge

  • defrosting food should be on the bottom shelf so that it doesn't drip

Reheating

• During cooling and storage bacteria may have had the opportunity to grow and reproduce, so it is important that the reheating process kills these bacteria

• Safe reheating requires that:

  • foods must be reheated to 75 °C

  • reheating must be even throughout the food

  • food should not be reheated more than once

High risk foods

• High risk foods provide good growing conditions for microorganisms, so are more likely to cause food poisoning if not stored and prepared correctly

• It is important to prevent the transfer of microorganisms from high risk foods to other foods

• Cross-contamination between high risk foods and other foods can be prevented by:

  • storing and preparing different foods separately, e.g. using different coloured chopping boards

  • washing fresh fruit and vegetables carefully