Below is an article I wrote for a corporate flight attendant website, but it is an article that can benefit everyone, so I thought I’d share it. Although it is written for flight attendants it is important to use the basics at home, especially if you live with small children or elderly folks. They are the most susceptible to getting foodborne illnesses and the most at risk of dying from them.
~
One of the most important things to understand about food safety is that YOU are part of the chain that will lead to either the health or the harm of your passengers, crewmembers and yourself. You never want to be in a situation where your passenger is taken from his/her business or vacation because of food that you served while they were on the airplane. Not only that, but foodborne illness is a serious issue; not only will it make your passengers, crew members and yourself very sick, but it can be fatal.
Since you are directly involved in the safety of your passengers’ food there are several things you can do to help protect your passengers, your crew members and yourself from foodborne illnesses.
#1. Always wear gloves, even if your company or passengers don’t require it.
#2. Never use food that smells or looks funny, even if it’s from a reputable caterer.
#3. Always make sure food is heated to its proper temperature. (The temperature is determined by how much heat is required to kill the pathogens that grow on that specific food.) Most airline caterers cook food to 70% and then send the food to us to complete the cooking process on the airplane so that the food is not over cooked. That is why this rule is crucial to the safety of those on board your aircraft. Since caterers don’t cook the food to the required temperature it is imperative that you do.
- Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures.
- Cook all raw ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160 °F as measured with a food thermometer.
- Cook all poultry to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer.
It’s important to remember that when you are heating/cooking food that has different types of meat in it you must heat all the meat to the highest temperature required. Also, if you are heating vegetables or sauces that have come into contact with uncooked meat (or meat that has not cooked to the proper temperature) you must heat the vegetable or sauce to the temp required for the meat it touched.
It’s recommended that you use a good quality digital thermometer for your food. This is because the cheap thermometers with a dial have to be recalibrated often and for this reason they often misread temperatures. This article explains which thermometers to purchase and how to use them. It also has an in-depth chart of all the meats and seafood and their necessary internal temps.
#4. When storing uncooked food always store the food by putting the highest required temperature foods at the bottom. For example, if I have raw vegetables, chicken and steak I would put the vegetables highest, then the beef, and then the chicken so that if one of the dishes drips onto another dish that dish will reach the required minimum temperature to kill any pathogens. If I were to stack the chicken on top of the beef and chicken juice got into the beef dish, I would be serving unsafe food if I only heated the beef to the required one hundred forty-five degrees because the chicken juice needs to be heated to one hundred sixty-five degrees.
#5. All food has what is called a “safe zone”. Once heated to its proper temperature to kill any pathogens hot food must remain above one hundred forty degrees. In the same way, any food served cold must remain below forty degrees. However, the foods are only safe at this temperature for up to four hours. After four hours anything not refrigerated must be thrown out. This is why on an aircraft the food is generally only safe for a little while unless you put it on ice or use dry ice to keep your refrigerator cold. I order three 3x5 pieces of dry ice with every catering order that I keep at the bottom of my refrigerator so that the air stays cool enough to keep the food safe. If your flight is longer than four hours I would recommend adopting this practice. Let’s say you have a 10 hour red-eye and you plan to serve breakfast when your passengers wake up; if you have stored yogurt, eggs, bacon, etc. in your refrigerator, which only blows cool air, your food will have been unsafe for 6 to 7 hours before you serve it, depending on when you loaded the airplane.
#6. Know where your food is coming from. If you are in a foreign country, make sure that you use safety precautions when ordering your food. A good rule of thumb is if you are nervous about the water then you should also be nervous about the food. If you can’t drink the water don’t order any fresh water fish. Also, don’t eat any skin off fruits and vegetables and don’t eat peeled fruits and vegetables unless they have thick skins that don’t absorb water. If you are unsure about the safety of the food, one option is to have your caterer from home freeze food and store it with dry ice to use while you are in other countries. Just remember it will take time to thaw, so plan ahead for that. Brochettes freeze well, as do most Italian dishes. Talk to your caterer about foods they recommend for freezing and reheating. Another thing to do is ask the caterers in foreign countries where they get their foods. I was in a third world country one time and found out that the caterer imported his vegetables from reputable countries because he served so many aircraft from those countries. As long as he was being honest, my passengers were safe to eat a salad from him.
You can find more information for the countries you visit listed below.
http://safefoodinternational.org/regions.html
http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/global.pdf (This I just found, but I am printing it out so that I can refer to it from now on.)
#7. Make sure your food is properly refrigerated while it is being delivered. Find out each caterers method for keeping your food cool during the delivery process. If they don’t have a method, ask them to fill zip-top bags with ice and put it in the bottom of the delivery boxes. Also, make sure you instruct the caterer, hotel or restaurant to chill the food to below forty degrees before delivery.
I want to summarize by encouraging you to educate yourself in the area of food safety, but to not let yourself become scared to order and serve food. If you are ever in doubt of a country’s produce then just order all hot food and cook it to one hundred sixty-five degrees. If a food item scares you then throw it out and serve the boxed soup and the packaged rice that you carry on board for this very reason. You can also carry powdered milk as a stand-by for a really bad day. Your passenger will thank you for looking out for their safety and well-being.
Safe flying and safe food handling,
Well written! And it's cool you got to write for a magazine :)
ReplyDelete