I am a Food safety officer working in a hospital.We cook and serve daily 3 time meals for both patients and staffs including visitors. Our catering manager have recently introduced a new kind of containers for serving lunch meals to the staffs in the cafeteria.It's 'Greaseproof sealable paper container with plastic lid'.The specifications of the container shows that it is having improved heat retention efficiency,withstanding temperature of -400C to +2200C,Microwave and freezer safe etc. We prepare food at 10.30 am and packing time from 10.30 to 11.15 am and keeps hot hold in the bain marie as stalks [3 layers - 1 stalk ]and serving time from 11.30 am till 3.30 pm. The hot holding temperature 650C is maintained only for the last layer boxes.
If the boxes are kept in one layer also, due to the plastic lid, condensation occurs that may lead to contamination.
Could anybody suggest your ideas? Hot packing and holding hot in the BainMarie is advisable? Are the paper containers safe for food to keep even hot hold for more than 2 hours?
Thanx in advance.