SAFE METHOD:
READY-TO-EAT FOOD
It is important to handle ready-to-eat food safely to protect it from
harmful bacteria and allergens.
Ready-to-eat food is food that will not be cooked or reheated before serving. This includes salads,
cooked meats, smoked fish, desserts, sandwiches, cheese and food that you have cooked in advance
to serve cold.
SAFETY POINT WHY? HOW DO YOU DO THIS?
When preparing and handling food, This protects food from harmful List the types of ready-to-eat food you use
you should: bacteria and allergens. This is and how you handle them:
• keep ready-to-eat food completely especially important for ready-to-eat
separate from raw meat, poultry, food because it will not be cooked or
fish, eggs and unwashed reheated before serving.
vegetables
• make sure work surfaces, chopping It also helps keep allergens
boards, knives etc. are clean (and from spreading.
disinfected if you have prepared
raw food)
• Ideally, use separate chopping
boards and utensils for ready-to-eat
food
• keep ready-to-eat food covered
at all times during preparation
and storage.
Follow the manufacturer’s The manufacturer’s instructions are Are you confident that you do this for
instructions on how to store and designed to keep the food safe. all ready-to-eat food where instructions
prepare the food, if these are are available?
available. Yes
When preparing fruit, vegetables and The dirt on vegetables and salad Do you do this? Yes
salad ingredients: ingredients can contain harmful
• peel, trim, or remove the outer bacteria. Peeling and washing helps If not, what do you do?
parts, as appropriate to remove the dirt and bacteria.
• wash them thoroughly by rubbing
vigorously in a bowl of clean water
• wash the cleanest ones first
Wash your hands before and after
handling fruit and vegetables.
If you have prepared vegetables that
have dirt or soil on the outside, clean
and then disinfect chopping boards
and work surfaces before preparing
other food.
Food Standards Agency l food.gov.uk/sfbb
SAFETY POINT WHY? HOW DO YOU DO THIS?
Make sure you keep ready-to-eat food If these types of food are not kept Do you do this? Yes
cold enough. See ‘Chilled storage and cold enough, harmful bacteria
displaying chilled food’ in the Chilling could grow. If not, what do you do?
section.
Do not use ready-to-eat food after the You should never use food that has
‘use by’ date, if there is one. passed its ‘use by’ date because it
might not be safe to eat.
For food you have prepared, or
removed from its original packaging,
you should have a method of keeping
track of when food should be used or
thrown away.
If you slice cooked meat: Are staff trained how to clean the meat slicer
• make sure you follow the Meat slicers need careful cleaning and properly, or supervised?
manufacturer’s instructions disinfecting to prevent dirt building up Yes No
when you clean the slicer and to stop harmful bacteria growing,
in particular on the slicing blade.
• avoid handling the meat as much
as possible – it is a good idea to use Hands can easily spread harmful
clean tongs or slice meat straight bacteria onto food.
onto a plate
WHAT TO DO IF THINGS GO WRONG HOW TO STOP THIS HAPPENING AGAIN
• If you think that a food delivery has not been handled • If you do not think a supplier handles food safely, consider
safely, reject the delivery. changing to a new supplier.
• If ready-to-eat vegetables, fruit or salad ingredients • Review the way you receive deliveries.
have not been washed properly, wash them following • Review the way you store and prepare
the advice on the first side of this Safe method and ready-to-eat food.
clean any work surfaces etc. they have touched.
• Train staff again on this safe method.
• If ready-to-eat food has been prepared on a work
surface or with a knife that has been used for raw meat, • Improve staff supervision.
poultry, fish, eggs or unwashed fruit and vegetables,
throw the food away.
• If ready-to-eat food has not been chilled safely, throw
the food away.
THINK TWICE!
You should not use the same equipment, such as vacuum packing machines, slicers and mincers, for both raw and
ready-to eat food. These are complex pieces of machinery with lots of moving parts and it is very difficult to clean them
sufficiently, so bacteria from raw food could easily be transferred to ready-to-eat food.
If you are preparing both raw and ready-to-eat food, you should make sure where possible this is done in separate clean
and disinfected areas. If this is not possible, surface and utensils used must be thoroughly cleaned and then disinfected
between tasks.
Make sure staff wash their hands thoroughly between tasks, especially when working with raw and ready-to-eat food.
This stops bacteria and allergens being spread onto foods, surfaces and equipment.
Write down what went wrong and what you did about it in your diary.
Food Standards Agency l food.gov.uk/sfbb
