As a way to help make sure none of the key areas of food hygiene are missed or forgotten, the Food Standards Agency came up with the “4 Cs” of food safety. This handy list can be used as a quick internal checklist for everyone who works with food.
As a leading supplier of training in food hygiene in the food and hospitality industry, at CPL we know how important it is to make food safety less complicated and (pardon the pun), easier to digest by breaking things down into their component parts. That’s why we thought we’d take a look at what the 4 C’s of food safety actually are, why they’re important, and how they can be carried out effectively to keep your customers safe.
What Are The 4cs Of Food Hygiene?
The Food Standards Agency lists the 4 Cs of food safety as:
Correct use of each one of these procedures alone can help prevent foodborne illness in the home, but the combination of all of them in a food establishment is paramount to safety. Anyone working in a food business such as hotels, restaurants, cafes and catering companies, should make sure they're consistently following the 4C's.
By doing so you'll have the correct procedures in place for chilling, cooking, cleaning and cross contamination. As well as effectively helping to prevent food poisoning you’ll reduce wastage and protect your reputation.
So, now that we know what they are, let’s take a look at each of the 4 C’s of food safety in a bit more detail:
Cleaning
Something as simple as cleaning can quickly become overwhelming, so having a solid HACCP/Food Safety management system in place can really help. If you don't clean properly then you increase the risk of bacteria building up and leading to cross contamination.
You should implement a robust, easy to follow cleaning schedule that shows what needs to be cleaned, what needs to be disinfected, and how often it needs doing. It's also a good idea to have clear instructions on how the cleaning should be carried out. Demonstrating cleaning procedures with what cleaning products should be used. How cleaning products should be used, how long they should be in contact with surfaces and what other products they shouldn't be mixed with. This should follow manufacturer guidelines and be combined with a COSHH assessment.
All products used should of course be food safe. Implementing thorough cleaning standards will keep a food safe environment and it's considered best practice to have a two phase cleaning system. Clean followed by disinfect. The reason for this is that cleaning using detergent removes dirt and grime, which is where bacteria love to hide.Cleaning prepares the surfaces for disinfecting.
Disinfecting involves using a disinfectant/chemical to kill germs Disinfection products should meet the BS EN standards. Check product labels for either of these codes: BS EN 1276 or BS EN 13697.
As well as keeping your surfaces, equipment and facilities clean and germ free, it’s also important to carefully wash food, remove soil on veggies, inspect for debris, pests and check any foods that may be coming to the end of their shelf life. This reduces the risk of spreading any food safety hazards. You should never wash raw meat as although some people wash meat before they cook it, doing so increases your risk of food poisoning, because the water droplets splash onto surfaces and can contaminate them with bacteria.
Personal hygiene is also important, regular hand washing especially before and after handling foods as well as the correct method of hand washing should be communicated to all food handling employees.
After the Covid pandemic we've all become more savvy on handwashing technique and how it must be done correctly to be effective. Washing hands with soapy, hot water for at least 20 seconds will ensure the elimination of foodborne bacteria.
Washing basins for handwashing should be separate from areas used for food washing. Food should never be washed in the same sink used for handwashing, and vice versa. Personal hygiene may also include wearing the correct PPE such as aprons, hair nets etc.
Cooking
As the old saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. In cooking it’s all about temperature.
Controlling the cooking times and temperatures of food ensures safety in preparation. Cooking foods at the correct temperature for the right amount of time makes sure that harmful bacteria is killed.
A core temperature of 70°C maintained for two minutes is recommended and having a quality thermometer probe and safe cooking temperature chart is a basic requirement.
Use the thermometer to test various parts of the food, making sure there are no cold spots and it’s cooked evenly throughout.
As well as using a thermometer, other good rules of thumb are that the food is steaming hot all the way through, any juices are running clear and there’s no pink or rare meat inside (when cooking steaks this is slightly different). With steaks it is usually only the surface which can be contaminated with food poisoning bacteria which is why it's important the surface is properly cooked and sealed to kill any bacteria, even if the middle of the meat is still pink.
Chilling
After all that cleaning and cooking you’ll just want to relax. Unfortunately this isn’t that kind of chilling. In a kitchen it is important to properly refrigerate and freeze foods. Containers need to be carefully labelled and rotated and equipment temperatures need to be carefully monitored.
Keeping fridges at 5°C should enable you to keep food below 8°C as legally required.When you are defrosting frozen food you should ideally do so in the fridge as putting food in the fridge will keep it at a safe temperature while defrosting.Food should be thoroughly defrosted before cooking unless the manufacturer’s instructions tell you to cook from frozen.
When you are serving or displaying cold foods, they can be kept outside the fridge for up to four hours. If any food is left after this time, you should either throw it away or put it back into the fridge. Leaving food at room temperature for too long can result in unsafe levels of bacteria growth. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) sets the temperature "danger zone" as between 8 °C and 60 °C. Bacteria grow most rapidly between these temperatures, effectively doubling every 20 minutes. The optimum temperature for bacteria growth is 37°C, which is the same temperature as the human body.
Food is safest when it is either frozen or chilled below 8°C or heated beyond 60°C.
Cross-Contamination
Cross contamination happens when bacteria is transferred from one surface to another, usually when handling raw meats then moving on to vegetables with improper hand washing. It is also easily caused by poor food handling practices and placing different food types on surfaces or using the same utensils to handle the food.
The three main types of cross-contamination are food to food, equipment to food and people to food.
Some of the most common methods of cross contamination that are easy to avoid are:
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Handling raw foods like meat and vegetables without washing hands in between.
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Not having separate utensils for cooked and uncooked meats, veg etc. You should have colour coded chopping boards and utensils in the kitchen with staff being regularly trained on their usage and importance.
The colours usually associated with specific foods are:
Yellow – cooked meat
Red – raw meat
Blue – fish
Brown – vegetables
Green – fruit, herbs and salads
White – bread and dairy products
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Don't allow sick staff members to work in food handling areas.Viruses from ill kitchen staff can contaminate food,
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Poor cleaning practices can lead to bacteria building up on surfaces that come into contact with food during preparation.
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Incorrect hand washing techniques, including using the wrong sink or hand towels.
All of the above are easy to avoid, and yet very easy to accidentally fall foul of.
Are The 4Cs All I Need?
In this article we’ve discussed each of the 4 Cs and taken a look at why they’re important, and how they should be carried out effectively to maintain basic levels of food safety.
These are the fundamentals, however they don’t cover everything you need to know when working with food. Hospitality business owners must give their employees adequate training before they can safely handle food, and at CPL Learning we have 3 decades of experience in delivering training in food hygiene within the food and hospitality industry.
We offer courses designed to help food handlers – from chefs to waiting staff – learn and understand food safety legislation. Our Food Safety Awareness course is designed to make sure that anyone who handles food can do so safely. For supervisors and middle managers, Food Safety Level 3 offers the learning they need to supervise food handling teams. Online courses can be completed remotely, at a pace to suit individual team members.
If you would like more information on any of our courses, or if you’d like to discuss one of our learning packages, get in touch today.