Food Storage

What are some guidelines for dry storage areas?

What should be done in storage areas to deny pests food?

How can using the FIFO system to rotate products in storage help control pests?

Where should food and supplies be stored to deny pests food and shelter?

How should food and supplies be stored to deny pests food and shelter?

What is an example of a threat to the physical security of your operation that could be a risk to food safety?

How should garbage containers be cleaned?

Unauthorized people inside your operation are a risk to food safety. When is this especially true?

What type of food must be stored separately from raw meat, poultry, and seafood?

What is bulk food?

We usually control temperatures to limit the growth of pathogens when holding or storing TCS food. But how can time be controlled to limit their growth?

Why do sliced melons, cut tomatoes, and cut leafy greens need to be held or stored at 41°F or lower?

How does the storage container affect how quickly food will cool?

What containers should never be used to scoop, store, or carry ice?

What should be used to transfer ice from an ice machine to other containers?

Before using previously cooked TCS food (leftovers) as an ingredient in salads, what should its use-by date be checked for?

When pooling eggs, what should be done soon after mixing them?

What must be done with produce (melons, tomatoes, leafy greens) once it has been cut or sliced?

When is it acceptable to mix different kinds of produce or different batches of the same produce?

What should be avoided when prepping or storing produce?

What temperature must a cooler be kept at when it is used to thaw frozen food?

Why is it important to limit the food taken from the cooler at once?

How much food should be taken from the cooler for preparation at one time?

Why should large amounts of hot food never be cooled in a cooler?

Hot TCS food that will be put in cold storage must be cooled to 41°F or lower within six hours. How does the two-stage cooling method achieve this?

What type of container should be used to cool food quickly?

What type of container allows food to cool faster?

How can a large pot of soup or stew be cooled quickly before storage?

What are some factors that affect the amount of time that it takes to cool food?

What factors affect how quickly food cools?

How can you reduce the size of a large amount of food so that it will cool faster?

How can the density of food affect how long it takes to cool?

The acronym FIFO means First In, First Out. What is the purpose of the FIFO method?

Why do many operations use the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) method of stock rotation?

Inspecting and receiving a delivery begins with checking the truck for visual signs of contamination. What else should be done?

When there is a food recall, and you must store unsafe food until it can be returned to the vendor, what should you do to prevent it from contaminating the other food in your operation?

What should be done with expired, damaged, spoiled, or incorrectly stored food that has become unsafe?

To avoid contamination, what should NOT be stored in these areas?
• Bathrooms
• Locker rooms
• Garbage rooms
• Dressing rooms
• Under stairwells
• Mechanical rooms
• Under leaking water lines
• Under unprotected sewer lines

What kind of location should food be stored in?

Never store chemicals in empty food containers or food in empty chemical containers. What kind of container should be used to store food?

What method of storage rotation is described in these steps?
• Identify the use-by or expiration date on the label
• Shelf food with earlier dates in front of food with later dates
• Use the food stored in front before the food behind it
• Throw out food past its use-by or expiration date

Why does food need to be rotated when it’s in storage?

You can verify that the cooler is working by randomly checking the temperature of the food stored inside. What should you do with the food if it’s not at the correct temperature?

Why should you use open shelving and never line shelves with aluminum foil, sheet pans, or paper?

Why should you avoid frequently opening the door of a cooler?

Why should you avoid overloading coolers or freezers?

Each storage unit must have at least one device that measures air temperature, such as a hanging thermometer in a cooler. Where should the device be located in the storage unit?

What air temperature does frozen food need to be stored at?

What air temperature does TCS food need to be stored at?

Why does food need to be stored at the correct temperature?

Ready-to-eat TCS food held at 41°F or lower must be thrown out after seven days. How do you determine which day this count begins?

How many days can ready-to-eat TCS food be held at 41°F or lower before it must be thrown out?

Why does ready-to-eat TCS food need to be date-marked when it will be held for more than 24 hours?

When is it NOT necessary to label stored food that will be used on-site?

What kind of container should shellfish be stored in?

How can staff make stock rotation easier during storage when receiving and inspecting a delivery?

How can you ensure that recalled food items are not used or returned to inventory by mistake?

Once the recalled food items have been identified, remove them from inventory and keep them in a secure and appropriate place like a cooler or dry storage area. What does the recalled food item need to be stored separately from?

If you receive a food recall notice, identify the food items in your inventory by matching them with the information provided. What kind of information will you be looking at?

During a key drop delivery, the items are brought inside the operation and placed in a cooler, freezer, or dry-storage area. What must be considered when choosing these storage locations?

What kind of delivery needs to be inspected by the first available staff arriving at the operation to ensure it meets these conditions?
• It is presented honestly
• It is from an approved source
• It was protected and has not been contaminated
• It was stored in the right place to maintain the correct temperature

When receiving and inspecting a delivery, what should be done with food products immediately after being examined?

When a food delivery arrives, it should be inspected immediately. Then everything must be put in the correct storage areas as soon as possible. How can you make sure this happens?

To ensure that deliveries can be received correctly, when should you schedule them to arrive?

When food items with different use-by dates have been combined into a new dish, how is the discard date of the new dish determined?

Ready-to-eat TCS food, such as leftovers, can be stored for seven days at 41°F or lower. When do the seven days begin?

What will prevent good airflow in cold storage units and should be avoided?

What is the correct air temperature for cold storage units?

Safe food is at risk of contamination if products recalled by the manufacturer are stored near it. How should recalled food items be kept until the instructions for their handling can be followed?

A product has been matched to the information provided in a food recall notice and removed from inventory by placing it in a secure location. How should the recalled product be labeled?

Suppliers can attach tags to packages that monitor time and temperature during shipment and storage. An irreversible color change appears on the tags to alert when the product has been time-temperature abused. What are these tags called?

How can kitchenware and equipment made from these materials can leach toxic metals into food and cause chemical contamination?
• Zinc
• Pewter
• Copper
• Painted pottery

When responding to a foodborne illness outbreak, what is the proper procedure for segregating the product (if any remains)?

In what situation does a food item need to be labeled with “Do not use/Do not discard” and then stored separately from other food?

Why is stock rotation important?

How can cross-contamination be avoided during cold storage?

Which guideline can prevent cross-contamination during storage?