Cooked meat

Ten point plan for safe cooked meat production

Production

1. Clean and disinfect the raw meat preparation area before you start. This area must be separate from any area in which cooked food is handled.

(A detergent solution should be used to clean surfaces before they are disinfected. It is important to use the correct disinfectant for surfaces and equipment which will not adversely affect the food, and to use it at the appropriate concentration. For guidance on the use of disinfectants see Guidance Note on Cleansing and Disinfection.)

Wash your hands before and after handling the raw meat.

Cooking

2. To cook meat safely so that Salmonella and Listeria are killed the centre of the meat must reach a core temperature of at least 70ºC for 2 minutes or the equivalent.

Equivalent Core Cooking Time/Temperature

Temperature	Time
65ºC	10 minutes
70ºC	2 minutes
75ºC	30 seconds
80ºC	6 seconds

3. Make sure your cooking equipment can achieve this consistently.

4. The cooking process must be monitored. You should record the core temperature of at least one item from every cooking session using a probe thermometer. Wash and disinfect the probe after each use. Remember to check the accuracy of the thermometer regularly.

Cooling

5. Cool the cooked product as quickly as possible. Bacteria multiply most rapidly between 10ºC - 55ºC and cooked products should be cooled as quickly as possible through this temperature zone. Remember the smaller the joint the quicker it cools. Foods should never be stored for longer than 11/2 hours at room temperature as this will allow growth of food poisoning bacteria.

6. Store cooked products at 5ºC or less in a refrigerator.

Handling after cooking

7. Clean and disinfect the cooked product handling area, which must be separate from any area in which raw product is handled.

8. Always wash your hands before handling cooked products.

All equipment must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before and after use on cooked foods.

9. Never allow raw foods or any other products, dirty equipment, or surface likely to cause contamination to come into contact with cooked foods.

Remember that food poisoning from cooked foods often occurs as a result of cross-contamination from raw foods.

Help available

10. Help and advice on checking that cooking equipment is working properly may be obtained from the Meat and Livestock Commission (telephone number 01908 677577).

We will be happy to help you if you need any advice about the safe handling of foods and use of disinfectants.