Hi Sawmya,
Your current cook-chill method sounds like a recipe for food-borne illness.
You should definitely cool your meat faster than your current method. Food Standards Australia New Zealand describes some easy-to-follow rules to help you understand how quickly food should be cooled to prevent dangerous bacteria from growing in the food:
Food Standards Australia New Zealand: "The temperature should fall from 60°C to 21°C in less than two hours and be reduced to 5°C or colder in the next four hours. It is difficult to cool food within these times unless you put food into shallow containers." [or a blast chiller]
Although these are Australian rules the guidance is useful for anyone. The aim of the cooling is for the food to be in the temperature 'danger zone' for a time period that is too short for bacteria to multiply to dangerous levels. Test the temperature of the meat while it is cooling by putting a clean, sanitisied probe thermometer into the thickest part of each piece of meat; hold it in place until the temperature read-out stabilises. Pieces with bone will cool down differently than non-bone pieces and red meat will cool differently to poultry.
You can find the complete temperature guidance here, it's worth a look: http://www.foodstand...trolma1477.aspx
Good luck!
Food Standards Australia New Zealand: "The temperature should fall from 60°C to 21°C in less than two hours and be reduced to 5°C or colder in the next four hours. It is difficult to cool food within these times unless you put food into shallow containers." (or a blast chiller)
Regards,
Karen Constable
Food Fraud Prevention (VACCP) Programs | Food Fraud Training |
Consulting | Advisory | Compliance
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