Safe method: care: protecting food It is very important to protect food from harmful bacteria that could be spread by other activities in the care home. Safety point Handwashing Anyone who with food should wash their hands before handling it. In particular, people with care duties should also wash their hands after: helping residents e.g. use the toilet emptying bed pans or using medical equipment touching dirty linen and clothing handling pets or their feeding bowls For more advice see the 'Handwashing’ Safe method in the Cleaning section. Harmful bacteria can spread very easily from people’s hands to food, work surfaces and equipment. Handwashing is one of the best ways to prevent these bacteria spreading. How do you make sure staff wash their hands at these times? Food storage Do not use food past its ‘use by’ date Make sure fridges are operating below 5°C Follow the storage instructions on food labels These checks will help protect residents from bacteria that could cause illness in older people. For further information go to ment/enfe08055listeria.pdf Are staff trained to make these checks? Yes No This prevents harmful bacteria from spreading to food preparation areas. How do you do this? Meals If care staff help during meals, they should wash their hands thoroughly and put on a clean or disposable apron before serving food or feeding residents. Staff should make sure visitors wash their hands thoroughly before helping to feed residents. Visitors should not be allowed in the kitchen. This helps to prevent harmful bacteria spreading to food from hands or uniforms. Are care staff trained to wash their hands and wear aprons before serving food? Yes No What type of apron do care staff wear when helping with meals?
Safety point This helps to prevent harmful bacteria spreading from laundry to food. Do you have separate laundry facilities? Yes No If not, what do you do? Cloths and cleaning equipment Do not allow kitchen cloths and other kitchen cleaning equipment, such as mops to be used outside the kitchen. Ideally, use disposable cloths or paper towels wherever possible. This is to prevent harmful bacteria spreading to the kitchen. How do you keep kitchen cloths and cleaning equipment separate from those used outside the kitchen? Medicines Ideally, medicines that need to be refrigerated should be stored separately from food. This helps to avoid cross-contamination. How do you keep medicines separated from food? Pets If you have any pets in the care home, do not allow them (or their feeding bowls or other equipment) into the kitchen or other food preparation/storage areas. Pets and their bowls/equipment can spread harmful bacteria to food. Do you have any pets in the care home? Yes No If yes, what do you do to make sure pets and their feeding bowls are kept out of the kitchen and storage areas? What to do if things go How to stop this happening again If you think that staff have not washed their hands before preparing food, ask them to wash their hands immediately and throw away any food they have touched. If a member of staff is not wearing a clean or disposable apron when serving food, ask them to put one on immediately and replace any food they have served. If you think that a kitchen cloth has been used in another area of the care home, throw away the cloth. If dirty laundry or a laundry basket has been put onto a work surface, remove it and wash and disinfect the surface. Wash and disinfect any equipment, surface or utensil touched by pets.
Safe method Chilling Chilled storage and displaying chilled food Chilling down hot food Defrosting Freezing Cooking Cooking safely Foods that need extra care Reheating Checking your menu Hot holding Ready-to-eat foods Management Opening and closing checks Extra checks Prove it Training and supervision Customers Suppliers and contractors Stock control Gift food Date Signature Safe method not relevant to my business – tick if this is the case SFBB for residential care homes RC/MAN6/12-12