Questions & Answers For Food Service Professionals Regarding
Rules, Regulations And JCAHO

Lately we’ve gotten various questions from our customers regarding the rules and regulations of the FDA Food Code, HACCP, and JCAHO. Most of the questions have been related to either food temperatures or ice machines.

We thought we’d address some of these questions and at the same time open up communications with anyone wanting to add additional information or comments through the Destination 10 Network.

• “What are the recommended food temperatures for patient tray line and cafeteria serving lines?” (traditional cook/serve lines)

According to both the FDA Food Code 1999 and HACCP Guidelines, the food temperature danger zone is between: < 41° - > 140°, although some states still use 45°.

We suggest erring on the safe side and using < 40° - > 140° as minimum standards.

This range is also referred to as the “critical limit”. It is defined in the Food Code to mean the maximum and minimum values to which a physical, biological or chemical parameter must be controlled at a critical control point to minimize the risk that the identified food safety hazard may occur.

If you are cold plating and either centrally retherming or remote retherming, the hot temperature standard gets adjusted to > 165°.

Critical control point means a point at which loss of control may result in an unacceptable health risk, as defined by the FDA Food Code.

• “How often should food temperatures be monitored/taken on the serving lines?”

There are no stated directives as to specific times for monitoring food temperatures. However, “continuous monitoring is always preferred when feasible,” per the Food Code. Ideally, for meal service lasting 1 - 2 hours, we suggest that temperatures be taken at the beginning, middle and end of the meal service time. Most patient tray line parameters fall within this window. For extended meal service periods of 3 - 8 hours or more, it would be best to set up regular intervals for which your food service personnel are directly responsible for temperature documentation, lets say every 2 hours, for example. Supervisory staff should be monitoring this to ensure that it’s done.

Tips to enhance holding temperatures include:

1. Make sure that your hot wells are filled with enough hot water to reach the bottom of the hotel pan.

2. Continuously stir foods and serve from the bottom of the pan.

3. Be sure to have overhead heat lamps on the service line for optimum temperature retention (on both patient and cafeteria lines).

Remember: the whole point of HACCP is to observe procedures and to take action and then to modify procedures if the criteria are not met.

• “Do bulk ice machines pose an issue during JCAHO inspections?”

Our research did not produce any results prohibiting bulk ice usage in kitchens as long as an approved NSF ice scoop is used to gather it. The scoop must be stored in an approved container with a lid and one that allows the handle or service end to be upright.

One of our clients told us that on a recent JCAHO inspection of her Houston facility, the inspector wanted to see the Policy and Procedure regarding the cleaning procedure for both the ice scoop and its container, but had no issue with the use of bulk ice.

The Food Code does state that ice used to store or display fish cannot be used as a food ingredient due to contamination - no surprise there!

Soon we’ll be following up with a more in-depth description of the recent hospital survey mentioned above. Items like what the surveyor looked for, their particular style, their “hot buttons”, etc. will be covered. As mentioned above, we welcome comments, questions or information that you’d like to share. In the meantime, stay tuned and have a great day!

Don Miller, R.D., C.E.C.
Nancy Yezzi, R.D., L.D.
Bill Klein, C.I.C.
Success Coaches

Don Miller and Associates
346 Crestview Drive
Bonita, CA 91902
(619) 656-2100 PST
(619) 656-1321 fax
chefdon@cox.net
http://www.chefdon.com