Food Safety Temperatures

Answer explanation:
Food must be cooled safely and quickly to prevent foodborne illness. Proper cooling methods include immersing food containers in an ice water bath, using an ice paddle to stir food, and moving food to a blast chiller.

Another method involves using ice as an ingredient at the end of the cooking process. Remember that refrigerators may not move food through the temperature danger zone quick enough, and hot food may raise the temperature of everything else in the refrigerator.

Answer explanation:
All TCS foods that will not be served or hot-held immediately must be cooled using the two-stage cooling process. Food must be cooled from 135 degrees F to 70 degrees F within two hours. This is the first stage of the two-stage process. Food then has to cool from 70 degrees F to 41 degrees F within four hours. Remember that the total cooling time for the combined stages may not exceed six hours.

Answer explanation:
Hot TCS food can be held without temperature control for up to four hours as long as the food is cooked to at least 135 degrees F before removing it from temperature control. Be sure to document the time it is removed from the heat in accordance with record-keeping procedures. Cold TCS food can be held without temperature control for up to six hours (or based on the jurisdiction) but must be monitored at least hourly to ensure it does not exceed 70 degrees F. Remember that cold TCS food must be discarded immediately if the temperature rises above 70 degrees F.

Answer explanation:
Factors that affect how quickly food will cool include the density and size of the food as well as the type of storage container. Thicker, more dense foods take longer to cool, as do larger pieces of meat like a roast. Cutting meat into smaller pieces can speed up the cooling process. Using smaller pans or shallow storage containers can also help disperse the food and make it cool more quickly.

Answer explanation:
Regularly checking the internal temperature during the cooling process allows you to take any corrective action before your soup remains in the danger zone for too long. A cooling log offers a place to record your readings and monitor progress through both stages of the two-stage cooling process. If you wait to check the temperature at the two-hour mark, it may be too late to get your soup down to 70 degrees F. If you wait until the six-hour mark, you won’t know if the soup made it to the required 70 degrees F within two hours.

Answer explanation:
Commercially prepared ready-to-eat foods that are cooked on-site for the first time must be reheated to an internal temperature of 135 degrees F or to the temperature indicated in the manufacturer’s instructions for hot holding. Be sure to take at least two internal temperatures from each batch of food that is reheated and record your readings.

Answer explanation:
The leftover beef is a TCS food that was previously cooked and cooled, so it must be reheated to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F for 15 seconds. This is true when reheating all leftover TCS foods to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and foodborne illnesses. Remember that TCS foods must only be reheated once.

Answer explanation:
Hot foods that are considered TCS foods need to be held at 135 degrees F or higher if they are not going to be served immediately. This helps to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and foodborne illnesses. Since this chicken casserole will not be served until later in the evening, you should check that the steam table maintains a holding temperature of 135 degrees F. Note that the holding temperature is different from the minimum cooking temperature for chicken. Although chicken needs to be cooked to a temperature of 165 degrees F, it can be hot-held at 135 degrees F until serving.

Answer explanation:
Since you were checking every hour, you noticed this temperature drop within the acceptable timeframe to reheat your ziti. Cooked food that drops below 135 degrees F during hot holding service must be reheated to 165 degrees F for 15 seconds within two hours. Remember that food should not be cooled in refrigerators because it may not move through the temperature danger zone quick enough and may raise the temperature of everything else in the cooler.