Preparing, heating and cooling food correctly

Outcome. FI: Henkilö osaa valmistaa, kuumentaa ja jäähdyttää elintarvikkeet oikein. EN: The person can prepare, heat and cool food correctly.

Why it matters

The heat, hold and cool cycle is where most kitchen outbreaks begin. One step done wrong, especially slow cooling, is enough.

Heating

Heating food throughout to over +70 °C destroys most food poisoning bacteria. Poultry is heated to over +75 °C, and reheated food to over +70 °C throughout.- Ground beef patties are fully cooked at +75 °C in the core at the thickest point, or +70 °C held for two minutes. The safest way to make medium patties is to sear the outside of a whole piece of meat, trim off the surface, grind the rest at once and not store that mince.
Check the temperature by measuring newly cooked food; colour is not enough.
Heating to over +70 °C does not necessarily destroy spores. Trichinella is destroyed at +70 °C. Heat-resistant toxins may remain in food that was mishandled earlier, for example S. aureus toxin.

Holding hot

Hot perishable food that is sold or served hot must be at least +60 °C and may be on offer only once. There is no four-hour limit for hot food kept at +60 °C; sensory quality decides.
Hot food transported to a consumer must be at least +60 °C.
Food to be held hot stays at least +60 °C throughout, or is chilled within four hours to below +6 °C. Cooked food to prevent S. aureus poisoning is eaten soon, held at +60 °C or above, or chilled within four hours to +6 °C or below.

Cooling

Cooling starts immediately after preparation. Food is chilled to its storage temperature within a maximum of four hours, and cooling after heating is done as quickly as possible. Food cooked today for tomorrow is at +6 °C or below within four hours.
A refrigerator is not meant for cooling large amounts, because its cooling capacity is usually too low. Small amounts can be cooled in cold-storage equipment if capacity is enough and other foods do not warm up, or in cold water.
Food cools faster in small portions without lid or plastic film. Film does not protect warm food and may slow cooling. Cooling on a worktable by an open window is not controlled.
Sushi rice and pea soup are chilled very quickly, because spore-forming bacteria may grow in slowly cooled food.
Success of cooling and temperatures of chilled food are monitored in the own-check.

Serving and display

Cold perishable food may be on offer at up to +12 °C for a maximum of four hours, and only once. The limits refer to the temperature of the food, not the room. Food on offer more than four hours is protected and kept at storage temperatures.
Salad bar foods follow the storage limits, or +12 °C for at most four hours. Raw unfrozen meat and fish cannot be sold self-service.
Leftover salad or macaroni casserole from a buffet may not be sold the next day.
After service, food kept at max +6 °C (cold) or at least +60 °C (hot) may be sold takeaway or given to staff or food aid. Cold food that was at +6…+12 °C may be sold or given only within four hours of the start of service.
Hot-held food kept at +60 °C or more can be chilled by the four-hour rule and sold next day chilled or reheated, if staff-served (not self-service). Rice pies, meat pies and similar heat-made bakery products delivered at room temperature stay at room temperature on the day of receipt and are not sold afterwards; a shelf-life study proving two days of safe storage permits sale on the third day.
Cold salads and grated salads (raasteet) may be transported at 6–12 °C if eaten within four hours of preparation.

Measuring and correcting

Measuring devices must be reliable, and infrared thermometers are not reliable unless calibrated for the surface. Corrective actions for wrong temperatures are moving food to cold or reheating it, adjusting the cabinet or reducing the load. A deviation of more than 3 °C, or one that is not short-term, always needs corrective action.

Scenario

Kalle cooks 20 litres of pea soup at lunchtime for next day. He puts two deep pans covered in film in the fridge, and after four hours the middle is still +22 °C. He should have split it into shallow trays, chilled it fast and confirmed with a probe that it was below +6 °C within four hours.

Numbers to remember

Step	Number
Heat throughout	over +70 °C; poultry over +75 °C
Ground beef patty	core +75 °C, or +70 °C for 2 minutes
Hot holding	at least +60 °C, offered once
Cooling	storage temperature within 4 hours; +6 °C or below
Cold display	up to +12 °C for max 4 hours, offered once
Fish heat treatment, cold salad transport	+60 °C core 1 minute (see lesson 4); 6–12 °C if eaten within 4 hours

Myth vs reality

Myth: Cover warm food with film and leave it on the bench. Reality: Hold at +60 °C or chill fast.
Myth: Buffet leftovers can be sold tomorrow. Reality: Cold perishable food may be on offer only once.
Myth: A refrigerator will cool a large pot. Reality: Its capacity is not enough.

In the test

Four hours and +60 °C are the anchor numbers. Overnight cooling and film are almost always wrong.