Food hygiene for businesses
Cooking food safely
Thorough cooking kills harmful bacteria. Undercooked food can cause food poisoning.
Follow recipe or packet instructions and check for visual cues, such as making sure the food is steaming hot.
Standard advice is to cook food until it has reached a core temperature of 70°C for 2 minutes.
Other safe time and temperature combinations are:
- 60°C for 45 minutes
- 65°C for 10 minutes
- 75°C for 30 seconds
- 80°C for 6 seconds
You can check you have thoroughly cooked food by inserting a thermometer with a clean probe into the centre.
Some frozen vegetables, such as sweetcorn, peas, and carrots, can contain bacteria. Thoroughly cook them by following packet instructions.
The ‘Safer food, better business (SFBB)’ packs include guidance on food that needs extra care.
Meat
Some types of meat must always be thoroughly cooked all the way through. Before serving, check the food is steaming hot all the way through. Cut into the thickest part of the meat to check that the juices run clear and there’s no pink meat. Do this for:
- poultry, such as chicken or turkey
- duck and other game birds
- pork
- rolled joints
- products made from minced meat, such as burgers, sausages and kebabs
- offal, such as kidneys and liver
You only need to cook (seal) the surface of whole cuts of beef and lamb, such as steaks, cutlets and roasting joints. Rolled joints must be cooked all the way through.
Keeping food hot
Hot food must be kept at or above 63°C if you’re not serving it straight away.
You can keep it below 63°C for up to 2 hours. After that, cool it as quickly as possible to 8°C or below, or throw it away.
Reheating
Reheating means cooking food again, not just warming it up. Reheat food until it is steaming hot all the way through. You can only reheat food once.