Food Control Plan Checklist - Tararua District Council

Serve SafeDefrosting frozen food1 Goal 2 Why?To ensure food is fully defrosted before cooking.To prevent juices from defrosting food dripping onto otherfoods or surfaces that come into contact with food.• Food that is still frozen, or partially frozen might not cookproperly and any harmful microbes present might not getkilled off.• Food in the temperature danger zone (4ºC to 60ºC) willencourage harmful microbes to grow rapidly and cause afoodborne illness.• The juices from defrosting food can contaminate otherfoods and surfaces with harmful microbes.3 How this is doneFood is thoroughly defrosted before cooking (unless themanufacturer’s instructions state otherwise).This is done by:• planning ahead and allowing enough time and space todefrost food in the fridge or chiller• defrosting food in a way that prevents dripping andcontamination of other foods or surfaces (eg, defrosting ina dish or container and never defrosting food above readyto-eatfood)• making sure food thawed at room temperature isrefrigerated or used as soon as it’s thawed.When it’s not possible to defrost food in the fridge orchiller, the following procedure(s) will be followed: [tick asappropriate]4 What if there is a problem?If food has not fully defrosted, continue to defrost the fooduntil no ice crystals are left. Check again before cooking orhot-holding.Speed up the defrosting process (eg, divide the product intosmaller portions).5Write it downWrite in the Diary what action you took iffood was not properly defrosted.food is thawed in the microwave (if using thismethod, then use the food as soon as it’sdefrosted)food is put into an air-tight container and thenplaced under cold running waterfood is defrosted on a bench for a period notexceeding four hours.Check defrosted food before cooking to make sure that thecentre has thawed.Do not re-freeze thawed ready-to-eat food.Food Control Plan Version 3.0 2011S5