Adande Can Help to Prolong Shelf Life and 
Improve Food Safety

Bacterial growth in food will be reduced because Adande provides more consistent temperature control than conventional refrigeration.

Virtually no moisture is introduced when an Adande drawer is opened, unlike in a conventional counter or upright fridge or freezer when much of the cold air is replaced by warmer, moist air from the ambient air surrounding the fridge when the door or conventional drawer is opened.

For freezer users, particularly in the fast food sector where doors may need to be opened 30 times per hour at peak business, the Adande drawer does not suffer from the ‘snowstorm’ effect often seen in conventional upright freezers. Adande minimises condensation, which stops frozen foods ‘frosting’, providing longer shelf life and more consistent cooking times.

Three independent reports by leading environmental health specialists (see tabs above) highlight the food safety and shelf-life benefits of the Adande drawer system compared with conventional refrigeration.

"Cold air tends to sink and warm air rises; therefore when (conventional) fridge doors are opened cold air will literally fall out of the fridge compartments and consequently be replaced by the ambient air in the kitchen, which is generally hot and humid.

This will lead to an unacceptable change of air temperature in the fridge,” says environmental health specialist Nick Tilley, Director with international environmental health specialist, Common Sense Compliance.

“If high risk food (that is food which will happily allow bacteria to grow on them) is kept in the correct temperature parameters, then bacteria growth can be managed or even killed off altogether. To ensure food is safe for consumption the temperature profile of the product is critical and must form a basis of the HACCP management system."

Tilley is supported by two other leading food technologists.

"Adande Refrigeration has addressed key safety issues with a unique insulated drawer system that retains the cold air on opening. That means the cold air stays with the food and temperature is held at the desired levels. Because there is no moisture attack from the ambient air, condensations levels are minimised, prolonging the life and safety of your food," says Marcus Kilvington from food safety training experts, The Safer Food Group.

David Vagg, Director of food assurance specialists Assured Quality Solutions, says: "Any environment that can give enhanced temperature stability will improve quality and safety, reduce wastage and improve your bottom line."

You can read the complete articles by all three experts here:

Temperature Stability of Catering Refrigeration is Critical

The Impact of Stable Refrigeration in Busy Kitchens

The Importance of Safe Functional Refrigeration

Temperature Stability of Catering Refrigeration is Critical in "Battle Between Working Kitchen Environment and the Equipment Used to Protect Food"

Article by Nick Tilley BSC (Hons) MSc MCIEH CMIOSH MSoFHT

Environmental Health Specialist and Director of Common Sense Compliance Ltd

One of the biggest issues I come across in the kitchen environment as an Environmental Health Practitioner is how to ensure that correct temperatures are being maintained for high risk foods.

This article endeavours to explain firstly what is meant by food hygiene, how to control levels of bacterial food contamination and finally why the correct temperature of food is critical for food safety?

Some common problems seen in kitchens

As somebody who spends a lot of time in kitchens observing and discussing issues with Chefs, it is clear that there are a number of common problems that are seen.

As we all know kitchens can be hot and humid places, which can allow ideal conditions for bacteria to grow. There always appears to be a battle between the working kitchen environment, and the equipment that is used to protect food and maintain good temperatures.

A good example of this is when fridge doors are opened. As we know cold air tends to sink and warm air rises; therefore when fridge doors are opened cold air will literally fall out of the fridge compartments and consequently be replaced by the ambient air in the kitchen, which is generally hot and humid.

This will lead to an unacceptable change of air temperature in the fridge. During busy service periods, when fridge/freezer doors are open and shut on a regular basis, air temperatures do not get the opportunity to recover and therefore the food temperatures will rise to dangerous and illegal levels.

In addition to food temperatures, contamination control is vital. All too often poor standards of cleaning can allow food contamination to occur; especially on food contact surfaces and storage areas.

This can include mould build up on fridge door gaskets, dirt build up in difficult to access corners and areas which cannot be reached. It is very important that equipment is able to be cleaned properly; for example ensuring that there are no difficult corners which can harbour dirt, corners are coved and equipment is able to be dismantled easily to improve access for cleaning.

What is food hygiene?

The basic principle of food hygiene is simple: “removing or controlling the level of contamination on food to ensure it is safe to consume; from the “farm to fork”.

What could be easier than that!

Food can have a long journey from the farm to the plate. Therefore a number of key controls need to be carried out to ensure that food remains uncontaminated and is safe to eat.

The type of contaminants that can affect food can be split up into a number of areas; from objects that are not expected to be on the food such as hair, dirt and mould, chemicals which can find their way into the food such as cleaning chemicals; to bacteria which can cause serious cases of food poisoning; for example Salmonella.

The most common threat of all is bacteria. If allowed to flourish, some bacteria can cause serious cases of food poisoning, which can in turn lead to chronic conditions and in some cases death. This article focuses on how the food industry can remove or control bacterial contamination on food to assure its safety.

So how does food become contaminated with bacteria?

Bacteria is found everywhere in the environment, including the soil, the air, on animals and on people. This means that through the food journey there could be many opportunities for food to be contaminated with bacteria, from dirty equipment and poor food storage disciplines. Fortunately not all bacteria cause problems, however there are a significant number which will lead to sickness.

These sickness causing bacteria are known as “pathogens” and will contaminate food by gaining contact directly on the food or being on or in the food through the “farming” stage.

How can contamination be reduced?

It is very difficult to remove all bacteria from food, as food is constantly exposed to the contamination within the environment. Therefore is it very important to ensure that the environment that the food is in allows for minimal exposure to bacteria and also does not allow the bacteria to reproduce to more hazardous levels.

How can the environment enable minimal exposure of bacteria?

Unfortunately, unless the environment is totally sealed; ie sterile then food will be exposed to some level of contamination. If these bacteria are then left in an environment which allows them to be comfortable, they will reproduce to a level which can become dangerous.

So, the simple answer is to keep every surface that comes into contact with the food clean. These surfaces will include areas inside fridges which are poorly cleaned, compressor areas, tin openers, slicing blades, utensils and hands.

In addition hygienic handling and storage disciplines must be observed to ensure that bacteria is not allowed to transfer onto food. For example, common problems seen include allowing blood from a raw meat product to drip onto a “ready to eat” product or allowing hands to touch food directly after handling dirty fridge handles.

As a general rule, there needs to be approximately one million bacteria present for food poisoning bacteria to cause problems. However there are some pathogens where the numbers of bacteria only need to be around 40 or even less. For example the E Coli 0157 bacteria only requires 40 and has been the cause of many serious food poisoning outbreaks over the years E. Coli can lead to permanent disablement and death; especially in the young.

So once contaminated how do the bacteria grow on the food?

When bacteria reproduce they physically spilt into two and this can happen between every 10 and 20 minutes; but the conditions have to be right. These conditions include having high risk foods; for example meat products, eggs and rice, with good levels of moisture available within the food and having time to reproduce at comfortable temperatures.

So, one tiny bacteria can become over a million within two hours; that is fast.

How can food managers ensure the bacteria do not reproduce at that rate?

Whilst there are a number of different controls that are available to stop or reduce bacteria from multiplying, the most critical control that must be considered is the temperature profile of product.

If high risk food (that is food which will happily allow bacteria to grow on them) is kept in the correct temperature parameters, then bacteria growth can be managed or even killed off altogether.

What are the correct temperature parameters?

Using the Celsius scale (°C) to measure temperature, bacteria are happy between +5°C and +63°C; and therefore simply by keeping the food outside this dangerous range the level of bacteria can be controlled.

When food is stored below 0°C then the bacterial growth will slow down to zero growth. This means that food can be kept for a longer period of time compared to chilled food, although there can be issues with food quality.

When food is stored below +5°C then the bacterial growth is slowed to a rate which will ensure the food is safe for a longer period of time. This time period is normally a number of days and will be shown by the manufacturers “use-by” date, or for food produced on site, then a 72 hour rule should be considered; e.g. the food must be used within 72 hours.

If food is to be cooked, reheated or held hot then it is important to ensure the food is above +63°C. The level of temperature required for cooking will depend on the time the food is held at that temperature.

For example:

• 60°C for a minimum of 45 minutes;
• 65°C for a minimum of 10 minutes;
• 70°C for a minimum of 2 minutes.

What are the legal requirements?

In simple terms;

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the chill temperature of high risk food must be at or below +8°C and hot food to be displayed at or above +63°C. It can be seen that there is a difference between the legal chilled requirement and the temperature that good practice recommends (Below +5°C). It is unclear why this difference exists but chill temperatures below +5°C should still be the target.

In Scotland high risk food must be kept in a refrigerator or chilled area or at a temperature above +63°C. When reheating, food must have reached +82°C.

However there is also the need for a food operation to have carried out their Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan, which will clearly have an impact on the temperature standards imposed.

So what should you be doing?

Control of contamination is vital, but it cannot be assumed that food is free from contamination; for example pathogenic bacteria; and therefore to ensure the food is safe for consumption the temperature profile of the product is critical and must form a basis of the HACCP management system.

This means that high risk food which is delivered to any site must be in the appropriate temperature range: frozen food at a recommended temperature of -18°C and chilled food below +5°C. Food that is stored on site must be in the appropriate temperature range: frozen food at a recommended temperature of -18°C and chilled food below +5°C.

Food cooked to the appropriate time/temperature: 60°C for a minimum of 45 minutes or 65°C for a minimum of 10 minutes or 70°C for a minimum of 2 minutes. It is vital to understand that the cooking process cannot be relied on to "clean up the food", as there other issues which can affect the foods safety.

If cooled, then high risk foods must be cooled as quickly as possible to a temperature which will allow the product to be placed into a fridge safely (at least at ambient temperature but to +8°C or lower is ideal); and within 90mins. The use of a blast chiller is the most efficient way of achieving this. If food is to be reheated then it is recommend that the high risk food is reheated to above +75°C and only reheated once. When food is served then food should be above +63°C or below +8°C.

Finally

It is hoped that after reading this article, the management teams working within the food industry are reminded of the importance of temperature and contamination control and may feel the need to review their current arrangement. This may include looking at present practices, reviewing the menu to match up with the equipment available, review the current equipment provision or reviewing the current training programmes within the business.

Nick Tilley BSC (Hons) MSc MCIEH CMIOSH MSoFHT

Director

Common Sense Compliance Ltd
www.cs-compliance.co.uk
Tel: 01761 235604

Nick Tilley has over twenty years working in the Hospitality and Leisure industry, offering food safety, health and safety and fire safety management solutions.

Common Sense Compliance Ltd is an international provider of food hygiene, health & safety, fire management and leisure advice, with a growing client base servicing clients throughout the UK and internationally.

The Impact of Stable Refrigeration in Busy Kitchens

Article by David Vagg B.Sc.(Hons.)

Director of Assured Quality Solutions Limited

We all know kitchens are hot, humid and busy places to work, and throw up many challenges for chefs, managers and staff alike.

Safety and quality however are right up there at the top of the list for focus on a daily basis. Maintaining raw and cooked ingredients in the right condition can often prove difficult. With frequent door openings, standard refrigeration kits often struggle to maintain a constant temperature.

Indeed the innate design of a door fronted refrigerator or freezer means when a door is opened the cold air falls out the bottom of the unit. On top of this, warm moist air is drawn into the unit effecting the temperature stability and humidity within the fridge or freezer.

But what does this mean in terms of food safety and quality?

Firstly, there is the legal standpoint. As a caterer, there are legal obligations on us to maintain our ingredients and finished preparations in a safe state – this means above 63°C for cooked hot food, and below 8°C for fresh chilled food. Frozen food must be stored below -18°C. Maintaining this air and product temperature can be difficult during busy periods when doors are being opened and closed.

Fluctuations in temperature and humidity also lead to quality and safety issue, as well as costing you in wastage and shorter shelf lives.

Fluctuations in temperature and humidity can lead to ice crystal formation and icing of products, this presents quality issues but more importantly, can make it harder to cook the ingredients – potentially leading to food safety issues

When assigning secondary shelf lives in the kitchen to any ingredients or finished preparations, the ability of the equipment to maintain a constant environment must be taken into account. So what does this mean?

In short, you will always work to the lowest common denominator, and ensure that there is sufficient safety margin in the shelf life you assign. If the equipment is unable to maintain a constant temperature, then a shorter shelf life will be assigned. This means that product is harder to manage, and wastage greater, either way a cost to your business.

If you can extend the shelf life there are numerous advantages to quality, safety and productivity. Therefore any environment that can give enhanced temperature stability will improve quality and safety, reduce wastage and improve your bottom line.

David Vagg B.Sc.(Hons.) - Director

Assured Quality Solutions Limited

Tel: 07540 888 976

www.a-q-s.co.uk

 

David Vagg formerly lead the McDonald's UK Quality Assurance Team, before taking a European role within the McDonald's system.

Assured Quality Solutions Limited provides quality and safety training, consultancy and technical services to food manufacturing and the food service sector, specialising in training, development and full supply chain assessment from farm to fork.

The Importance of Safe Functional Refrigeration

Article by Marcus Kilvington

Director of The Safer Food Group

Refrigeration is about maintaining a safe supply of stored perishable food.

Low temperatures merely reduce the rate at which naturally occurring microbial, physiological, and chemical changes take place. The fundamental factors influencing the rate of food degradation and spoilage are:

• The correct storage temperature for each type of food and consistent storage temperatures (minimum fluctuations).
• Control of moisture to reduce microbial activity. Condensation encourages microbial activity which cause off-odours and flavours and can cause food poisoning.
• Segregation of different foods.
• Effective, fast chilling of cooked foods that are to be held for later use.
• Easy sanitation of refrigerated storage areas.

At the heart of every food business is a working, documented Food Safety Management System, incorporating HACCP principles. It’s vitally important that the correct fridge temperatures are maintained consistently and recorded as part of your total system.

On conventional refrigeration temperature and condensation levels are severely disrupted each time the door or drawer is opened and all the cold air falls out to be replaced with warm moist room air. Furthermore, true product separation can be challenging due to spills and deep cleaning can be difficult and time consuming.

We at The Safer Food Group cannot speak highly enough of the Adande equipment. This kit is the Best of the Best.

It will keep food at the right temperature, keeping you safe in the knowledge that your customers are not going to get food poisoning. A massive additional benefit is you’ll make more profit in your food business with less food being thrown away.

Adande Refrigeration has addressed these key safety issues with a unique insulated drawer system that retains the cold air on opening. That means the cold air stays with the food and temperature is held at the desired levels.

Because there is no moisture attack from the ambient air, condensations levels are minimised, prolonging the life and safety of your food. Additionally, each Adande Drawer can have the set point adjusted between chiller and freezer so you can change from fresh to frozen food or any temperature in between. (A blast chill option is also available.) Food is easily segregated and spills are contained within each drawer. Each insulated drawer is removable for easy cleaning without affecting food storage in other drawers.

From our perspective, Adande are a great partner to be working with. Great equipment that’s really going to help the caterer, and nice people to deal with.

Marcus Kilvington

Director

The Safer Food Group

www.TheSaferFoodGroup.com

www.TheSaferFoodSystem.com

Office number - 0115-9720748

Marcus Kilvington has 20 years Sales and Commercial experience within multinational food and beverage companies including Yum Brands Europe, Pizza Hut and Speedibake. He is now Director of his own company specialising in Interim sales roles and marketing the Safer Food System, the fastest and easiest way for a food business to set up a food safety management system including HACCP principles.