On our current Level 4 Managing Food Safety course, theinevitable discussion has arisen about what constitutes “safe” when cooking meat in a commercial setting and achieving the balance between flavour/texture and safety. Rare pork, anyone….?
The Politician’s Answer; it’s a legal requirement for thefood business operator to prove that their food is safe. So, if you want to cook a pink duck breast or rare burger, that’s fine……so long as you have the proof that it’s safe (the legal term for this is “validation”). How do you do that? Continue reading….
Well, you could read the Food Standards Agency’s “basic”webpage on cooking safely here; (https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/cooking-your-food).A bit basic, perhaps.
If you want to delve into sous vide/water baths (a cookingmethod killing the pathogenic bacteria whilst maintaining meat texture), then you may well need to get your head into technical reports form the FSA’s Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, such as the Raw, Rare and Low Temperature (RRLT) CookedFood found here.The Committee also have some useful reports on topics such as rare burgers. I’m not sure I find that concept appetising, but hey!
(https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20200817104202mp_/https://acmsf.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/mnt/drupal_data/sources/files/multimedia/pdfs/committee/acmsf/acmsfrrltreport.pdf)
The standard “Safer Food Better Business” management packdoes not cover such foods, so if you go down this route, you’ll need to complete your own documentation to supplement SFBB. Need I say, but an incomplete SFBB pack really kills your hygiene rating!