YOUR GUARDS TO SAFE FOOD
EFST Advisory Guide
ESSENTIAL FOOD SAFETY:
A GUIDE FOR FOOD HANDLERS
ESSENTIAL FOOD SAFETY TRAINING Program
جـهـاز أبــوظـبـي للرقابة الغذائية
ABU DHABI FOOD CONTROL AUTHORITY
EFST Advisory Guide
ESSENTIAL FOOD SAFETY:
A GUIDE FOR FOOD HANDLERS
ESSENTIAL FOOD SAFETY TRAINING Program
ADFCA-013-06-2011-02
Contents
• EFST Course Overview 5
• The Importance of Food Safety 6
• Food Safety Hazards 7
• Sources of Bacteria 8
• Hand washing 9
• Personal Hygiene 10
• Protective Clothing 11
• Pest Control 12
• Cross Contamination 13
• Using Cloths 14
• Cleaning and Disinfection 15
• Other Disinfection Methods 17
• Low and High Risk Cleaning 18
Essential Food Safety Training:
• The ‘Danger Zone’ 19
Pre-Training Awareness Guide
• Cooking Liquid Dishes 20
• Cooking Poultry 21
• Cooking Red Meat 22
• Cooking Mixed Items 23
© 2010 Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority
• Hot-holding and Re-heating 24
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
• Cold and Frozen Storage 25
• Chilling Hot Foods 26
Essential Food Safety Training Program Essential Food Safety Training Program
The Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority
Essential Food Safety Training Program
Essential Food Safety Training (EFST) is a program developed by the Abu Dhabi
Food Control Authority.
It requires all food handlers operating within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to
gain a knowledge and understanding that will help to ensure food is handled
safely throughout food chain.
The EFST course includes the four essential pillars for safe food handling: how
to avoid cross contamination, and how to cook, clean and chill safely.
Essential Food Safety Training Program
Cross
Cooking Cleaning Chilling
contion
tamina
This book has been designed to provide a basic introduction to the program, which wi
This book has been designed to provide a basic introduction to the most important food safety messages that will b
Essential Food Safety Training Program Essential Food Safety Training Program 5
The Importance of Food Safety Food Safety Hazards
Food borne disease is a serious problem that affects every country in the world.
It can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, and in some cases it can be deadly. There are three main types of food safety hazards:
[Link] (e.g. bacteria)
[Link] (e.g. cleaning chemicals, pesticides, etc.)
[Link] (e.g. broken glass, hair, etc.)
Food borne disease can affect anyone, but some people are more at risk.
For example, young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people who In most food businesses (e.g. catering and food service) microbiological hazards
are unwell. are the most important, so these will be the focus of this book.
It is essential for all food handlers toBacteria
take care
aretovery
make foodorganisms
small safely, tothat
protect the be
cannot public
seenfrom foodaborne
without [Link] types of bacteria are harmful to pe
microscope.
6 Essential Food Safety Training Program Essential Food Safety Training Program 7
Sources of
Hand
Wash in
Waste warm water. BACTERIA
Water
Dirt Rub with soap
BACTERIA for 20 seconds. BACTERIA
Rinse
thoroughly. BACTERIA
Food Pests
Dry with a
clean
disposable
towel.
People
Bacteria can get into a food handling area in several ways.
These include people, food, pests, dirt and dust, waste and water.
8 Essential Food Safety Training Program Essential
Essential Food
Food Safety
Safety Training Program
Training 9
Sources of
Hand
st be thoroughly washed and dried inbetween tasks, especially before touching ready-to-eat food and after touching raw food.
Personal Protective
Hat (or hairnet)
Jewellery and watches should not be worn. BACTERIA
Long sleeved jacket,
Cuts should be completely covered (with
light coloured and
a clean waterproof plaster).
washable
BACTERIA
Clean apron
t work in food preparation areas if they have been suffering from the following symptoms within the last 48 hours:
- fever
Any symptoms should be reported
to the manager, in food business Clean shoes
BACTERIA
s, and spread from hands to food. If employees are suffering from illness or have uncovered cuts they can
Thealso
human
spread
body
contamination.
contains many bacteria.
Clean protective clothing protects food handling areas from bacteria on the skin and hair, and cl
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Program EssenEssentialtialFFoodoodSSafafetetyyTTrrainingainingPPrrogogrramam
11
Pest Cross
Bacteria can easily spread from raw
food (e.g. raw meat) onto hands, knives,
chopping boards and other equipment
(e.g. fridges).
Hands, utensils and
equipment must be BACTERIA
thoroughly cleaned
Signs of pests: droppings, holes in walls, Signs of pests: insect egg cases, insect skins, inbetween tasks.
gnaw marks. webs.
BACTERIA
Raw meat must be kept separate from
‘ready to eat’ food (e.g. salad) at all times
during storage and preparation.
‘Ready-
If possible, store raw meat in a separate
to-eat’
fridge from ready-to-eat foods.
If a ‘general purpose fridge’ is used, always
Raw store raw meat at the bottom and ‘ready-
meat to- eat’ food at the top.
prevented from getting into any food storage or handling area, for example by checking deliveries and removing waste regularly.
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13
Pest Cross
at food (e.g. salad) unless it is kept separate at all times. Bacteria can be spread by contact with hands, utensils or equipment.
Using Cleaning and
Wash
Single-use cloths (e.g. disposable
paper towels) are safest for wiping
surfaces and utensils.
Disinfect
They must be thrown Dry
away after each task.
pick up bacteria and spread them. Single-use cloths (e.g. paper towels) are saferCleaning
as they removes
are thrown
dirtaway
and grease
after each
fromtask.
equipment and surfaces, and reduces bacte
If cleaning includes a ‘disinfection’ step it can kill all bacteria.
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Cleaning and Other Disinfection
Wash with
warm water BACTERIA Wash
and detergent. BACTERIA
Use a
disinfectant, BACTERIA Disinfect
following the BACTERIA
instructions.
Dry with a clean
paper towel
Dry
(or air dry).
teria if it is used correctly. The cleaning process must includeHeat
washing
kills(to
bacteria,
removeso
grease),
if a cleaning
disinfection
method(touses
kill bacteria)
very hot water
and drying.
(e.g. a dishwashing machine) the bac
This is another method of ‘disinfection’.
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Low and High Risk The ‘Danger
Chopping
Knives boards °C 100
High Risk
90
Keep food hot (above 63°C)
Wash
80
Disinfect Dry
70
60
50
40
The ‘Danger Zone’
where bacteria
Fridges Work grow (5° - 63° C)
30
surfaces
20
Ceilings 10
Low Risk
0
Wash
-10
Walls
-20 Keep food cold (below 5°C)
Dry
Floors
come into direct contact with food or hands. They need to be disinfected to kill bacteria, whereas ‘low risk’ items and areas do not.
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Training Essential Food Safety Training Program
Low and High Risk The ‘Danger
Bacteria grow quickly in warm temperatures. (i.e. dangar zone).
y cold they stop growing, and when they get very hot they are killed, so keep food either hot or cold.
Cooking Liquid-based Cooking
BACTERIA
BACTERIA
BACTERIA
BACTERIA
perature during cooking the bacteria will be killed. If a liquid item is boiling throughout then it has reached a safe cooking temperature.
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Cooking Liquid-based Cooking
ow that safe temperatures have been reached. White meat (e.g. chicken) must have changed from pink to white all the way through.
Cooking Red Meat Cooking Mixed Food Items
BACTERIA BACTERIA
BACTERIA BACTERIA
hopped or minced (e.g. kebab meat, burgers) must have When
changed
cooking
from mixed
red to food
brownitems
all the
(e.g.
waybiryani),
[Link] must be steaming hot throughout to show that a safe tem
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Hot-holding and Re-heating
Cold and Frozen Storage
Hot-holding Many types of food need to be kept
at cold temperatures to reduce the
growth of bacteria.
When hot-holding, food must be kept hot to stop bacteria
from growing. Food that is stored or displayed hot must
be kept at 63°C or above for a maximum of 2 hours.
If there is no temperature measurement, the food must
be visually hot (e.g. steaming) to show that it is still safe. Storage and display
equipment should
Re-heating keep food below 5°C.
When re-heating, food must get hot enough to kill bacteria.
It must be bubbling / steaming throughout to show that a
safe temperature has been reached. Food also needs to
be labelled and used
Temperature Probes within its shelf life.
The use of temperature probes varies depending on the size and nature of
a business. In some businesses (e.g. manufacturing) temperatures are measured
continuously to check the safety of all food produced.
In other businesses (e.g. catering and food service) visual Food can be kept for longer periods of time if it
checks can be used each time food is cooked or re- is frozen. Freezing temperatures (i.e. -18°C) stop
heated. Temperature probes can be used to ‘prove’ that all bacteria growing.
cooking, re-heating hot food are safe. Food should be kept in air-tight packaging and
labelled with the date of freezing.
must be kept hot to stop bacteria from growing. When re-heating, food must get hot enough to kill bacteria.
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Most bacteria stop growing or grow very slowly in cold temperatures.
All bacteria stop growing in frozen temperatures.
Chilling Hot Foods
The best method of chilling hot food is with
specialist chilling equipment (e.g. a blast chiller).
Specialist equipment can chill food in 90
minutes. This minimises the time it spends in
danger zone temperatures, where bacteria can
grow.
Without specialist equipment, food must be chilled
as quickly as possible.
Methods include: ice, cold water
and placing food in cold areas.
It must not be left to cool at
room temperature.
Room temperature Cold temperature (below 5°C)
BACTERIA
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Contact Details
Coordinator - EFST team
Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority
Dalma Street - Abu Dhabi
Tel. :02 495 4000
WebSite: Email:
Essential Food Safety Training Program
