5 Considerations for Safely Storing Food

The levels of food and drink production, as well as food and drink retail stores and restaurants in the UK, is at an all-time high. With this increased demand comes responsibility – responsibility for proper food storage.

Proper food storage is important to ensure your customers receive high-quality products, reduce foodborne illnesses and to prevent bacteria growth. Not only this, but improperly stored food can result in wastage and therefore increase business costs.

Making sure your food is kept at safe temperatures and stored correctly is paramount within any food and drink industry, and investing in cold room fridges and freezers is a good step to help ensure food is stored safely.

Read on to discover our top tips from our cold room experts to make sure you are keeping your food stored safely!

Top Tips for Safe Food Storage

There are several aspects of your business that you can control to safely store your food products. Five of these considerations are outlined below:

1) Eliminate Cross-Contamination

Cross-contamination is where a bacterium (or other microorganism) is transferred from one object to another, commonly found between raw and cooked foods. This can result in foodborne illnesses, such as food poisoning, which you give to your customers.

The Food Standards Agency suggest easy ways to avoid cross-contamination when preparing food, including:

• Washing hands thoroughly with hot soapy water before and after handling food or anything with harmful bacteria on (e.g., if cleaning toilets, or handling animals etc.)
• Ensuring any surfaces used for food preparation are clean and sterilised
• Using different utensils and boards for raw foods
• Washing utensils and board in-between uses
• Not washing raw meat – as it is – one of the easiest ways to increase the likelihood of food poisoning

Another beneficial way of preventing cross-contamination includes storing food effectively within your walk-in fridges and walk-in freezers. This includes:

• Covering raw foods, and keeping them separate from ready-to-eat foods, by placing them on the bottom shelf of your fridge
• Storing fruits and vegetables in drawers
• Placing dairy products on the middle shelves
• Storing foods that don’t need to be cooked on the upper shelves

Essentially, a well-thought-out walk-in fridge system, utilising cold room shelving, is an easy way to ensure you are correctly storing your food products and reducing the chances of cross-contamination.

2) Refrigerate Effectively

Making sure your refrigeration systems are the correct temperature for your products is essential – because certain food products require storing at very particular temperatures to remain safe for human consumption.

In general, your walk-in fridges (or standard fridges) should be between +0 and +8 degrees Celsius.

Raw foods, such as meat and poultry, should be stored at around +0 to +5 degrees Celsius, dairy items at +2 to +4 degrees, and fruit and veg at between +3 to +6 degrees Celsius to keep them safe.

Another aspect you should consider is the length of time your cold room doors are open for. As a general rule, your cold room door should be closed as soon as possible, every time. Every second your cold room doors are open results in a loss of refrigerated air, which then increases the internal cold room temperature.

You can even invest in a cold room entrapment alarm or audible alarm system to alert you when your cold room door is left open, or if personnel are stuck inside.

3) Keep Frozen Food in Good Condition

When storing and preserving foods in your walk-in freezers, you should make sure they are stored correctly.

Your walk-in freezers should be maintaining negative temperatures between -1 and -40 degrees Celsius. However, this will vary depending on the products you store and the industry you are in – certain industries may need to adhere to more specific requirements.

Generally, provided your products are stored continuously below -18 degrees Celsius, you can keep your products stored for extended periods of time. However, it’s good practice to rotate your stock and store your products effectively to prevent freezer burn.

Freezer burn occurs when frozen foods are exposed to cold, dry air – causing them to dehydrate the product as the outer layers lose moisture. A tell-tale sign that freezer burn has occurred is when ice crystals have formed.

Usually caused by improper packaging, incorrect storage, or temperature change, freezer burn can occur in any walk-in freezer and in any industry. Ensuring your products are tightly wrapped, stored with sufficient space (leaving at least 3 inches of space between items so air can circulate), and at a consistent temperature will reduce the likelihood of this.

4) Plan for the Loss of Power

Investing in, or preparing for, the loss of power in your cold rooms is essential. You should have back-up refrigeration systems in place for an emergency – especially if your products rely on consistent temperatures to remain top quality.

Your industry will depend on the type of back-up you require, whether you need back-up refrigeration or emergency power sources.

If you’re unsure of the type of back-up refrigeration system you require, contact our team today and we can conduct a site survey to assess your requirements.

5) Keep Your Cold Rooms Maintained

Finally, and most importantly, making sure your cold rooms are well maintained and kept clean is an easy way to keep your food products safe.

Staying on top of your cold room maintenance, by performing weekly, monthly, and annual maintenance and repairs can keep your cold room fridges and cold room freezers running for years to come!

When it comes to your cold room doors and door furniture, you want to keep a close eye on these cold room compartments.

If your cold room doors and door furniture are damaged this can impact the internal temperature of your cold rooms because it allows ambient air to enter – altering your cold room temperature and forcing your refrigeration systems to work harder (something that can be avoided with regular cold room maintenance).

Reducing Spoilt Food Products

A combination of well-maintained cold room fridges and freezers with a clear, easy-to-follow food safety protocol drastically reduces your chances of wasting food and causing illness in your customers and guests.

Which means you comply with food safety laws and stop wastage – a win-win for everyone.

For help with supply only cold rooms for food and drink or for cold room parts, reach out to the team at UK Cold Room Spares. You can call us on 01886 833 381, email us at spares@mtcss.co.uk, or fill in the enquiry form below and we’ll be in touch to see how we can help your business.