Most get-togethers involve food, fun and party games, put together your playlist, stock up on many styles of LED necklaces and get your party started. Buffets are a very common way of providing food for visitors. However, this can lead to foodborne illnesses when presented in this manner. If you want to protect your guests, follow the simple tips.
- Clean your utensils, dishes, kitchen, and always keep your hands clean
- Consistently wash your hands during the cleanup, serving and preparation of the food.
- Keep your dishes, kitchen, and utensils clean.
- Serve on dishes that are always clean.
- Avoid using plates that had poultry or raw meat on them when serving food.
- Always make sure the food is cooked thoroughly
- When you are cooking lamb, veal, pork, roast beef, or similar types of meat, hundred and 45°F is what you want for medium-rare and well done is 160°F; let it stand for about three minutes before it is served.
- 165° or higher is needed to cook poultry.
- If you have hamburger or ground meat, this should be cooked at 160°F.
- Any recipe with meat or hamburger must be cooked at about 160°F.
- Serving tips
- you are going to serve the food, it needs to be on a platter with small dishes instead of on huge platters.
- If you’re going to keep some of the food, place it in the refrigerator, or put it in the oven at about 250°F. By doing so, you can maintain safe temperatures for an extended period of time.
- You should replace used dishes with clean once when you are serving fresh food. Remember: There could be people that are accessing the food without washing their hands plus it has been at room temperature.
- Two hour rule
- You should never have food set for longer than two hours at room temperature. If it has, through it out.
- Make sure that your hot food is at a hot temperature whereas cold food should be called
- 140°F or warmer is perfect for hot foods
- chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays are a great way to serve at a buffet table.
- Hot food dishes should have the covers on them.
- If it is cold food, 40°F or colder is recommended
- Keep bowls of ice near food to keep them cold.
- Using small platters is a good idea, plus you should replace them as soon as possible.
- Always clean up after your party immediately.
- Countertops, the refrigerator door handle, and your tables can be very dirty (perhaps the dirtiest in the house).
- You need to sanitize by using 1 quart of water and 1 teaspoon of bleach after washing and rinsing. This includes using a spray solution and air drying what you are done cleaning.
Leftover food safety
- It is important to freeze any leftovers that you have within two hours.
- If it has been longer than two hours, throw it out.
- Eat your leftovers by the end of the fourth day.
- If you freeze your foods they will last longer in storage.
- If you do reheat your food, get it up to 165°F.
- You can also use a microwave for:
- Use a food thermometer just to ensure that it is at a temperature that can kill bacteria.
- After you have heated the food up, let it sit for about two minutes prior to eating it so that the heat can distribute properly. Microwave ovens, as you probably know, heat very unevenly.
