Food Tech

5 Recommended Safety Guidelines to Know About Serving Food

Food serving is an important step same as cooking and eating. After sophisticated preparation and production of food, the serving of food involves etiquette and cultural forms. Your customers will really feel uncomfortable if the food is served in an unfamiliar way or unfamiliar food is served to them. Food serving also needs to follow social and cultural patterns. Professional waiters take complicated orders and return to customers with ordered food smoothly without making mistakes. 

While serving food you also need to follow the recommended safety guidelines. These guidelines are revised after the COVID-19 pandemic which highlighted the need for safety measures. Although, everything is coming back to its normal, and this new normal taught us a lot. With generosity and courtesy, you need to bring safety elements too while serving food. 

Moreover, serving every food at the right and recommended temperature is also important. The use of serve over counter UK is also a nice way to display food that is directly served to customers. Serve over the counter not only keep the food fresh but can also attract potential customers. 

Here we have recommended safety guidelines that you should know if you are involved in food services. 

Keep and Serve Hot Food Hot 

It is important to maintain a temperature between 140°F and 165°F to keep the food hot until serving time. If you will keep the hot food below 140°F, bacteria will grow rapidly, spoiling your food. Usually, when food is cooked between 165°F to 212°F, high temperature kills most of food poisoning bacteria. The higher the temperature, the easier it will be to kill the bacteria in a short time. 

Keep Food Out of Danger Zone 

If you are serving food to your customers right after removing it from heat, it is safe to serve. If you are not serving immediately after cooking, keep the cooked food out of the danger zone that is 40°F -140°F. Because this is the most favorable temperature for bacterial growth. Restaurants can use chafing dishes, slow cookers, or warming trays to keep the food out of the danger zone. But if food is not going to serve in a few hours, it is better to refrigerate or freeze it. 

Serve the Cold Food Cold

Cold food needs to be served cold, that’s why it is important to keep it cold before serving too. Otherwise, harmful bacteria will make the food harmful due to the rapid growth of bacteria. A temperature lower than 40°F should be maintained to prevent the multiplication of harmful bacteria. 

Moreover, you should ensure that any food either it is cold or hot food, it should never be left at room temperature for more than 2 hours. It is preferable to serve fresh food to customers. If you have left any perishable food at room temperature for more than 2 hours, it is better to discard it. 

Keep Everything Clean 

Everything from the preparation counter to serving utensils should be cleaned thoroughly before or after serving food. More precautionary measures should be taken while considering the current situation due to COVID-19 in mind. Staff should use disinfectant and should wash their hands after every contact with customers while serving food. 

Some restaurants are also ensuring a safe distance as recommended in safe food serving guidelines. It is necessary for the health of both staff and customers. 

Follow the Correct Way to Serve 

Customers are usually unfamiliar with the right way of serving, but it is vital for you. You need to follow specific guidelines while placing and taking away the dishes or serving food. It will enhance the dining experience of customers. If you give customers empty plates first and then fill them, give plates to customers from the left side. 

If you serve pre-plated food, it is recommended to serve from the right side and remove plates from the same side.