Food Safety Checklist for Hotels and Restaurants

The premises should provide adequate:

• Handwashing facilities and toilets for staff, separated from food preparation areas, with soap, hot and cold running water and hygienic drying

• Ventilation in kitchens and toilets: it should control condensation, temperature, odours, humidity or air-borne particles and prevent contamination in food preparation areas

• Lighting

• Drainage for kitchens and toilets and designed and constructed to prevent contamination

• Facilities for staff to change clothes, where needed

• Storage of cleaning chemicals, disinfectants and other chemicals to prevent contamination of food

Personal hygiene factors to prevent the contamination of food with bacteria, viruses or parasites passed on by staff include:

• Wear suitable hygienic clothing, including gloves, hair covering, footwear, where necessary

• Prevent contamination of ready-to-eat foods from cutting boards, utensils, clothing, raw meat or eggs

• Do not touch ready-to-eat foods with bare hands

• Cover hair

• Do not wear watches or jewellery

• Do not smoke, spit, sneeze, touch face or hair, or eat food, while handling food

• Wash hands, especially after handling raw meat, before and after wearing gloves, going to the toilet, handling waste, after cleaning, blowing your nose, and after touching phones, light switches, door handles or money

• Dry hands using a disposable towel

• Do not work in a food handling area if ill with diarrhoea, vomiting, infectious disease or have open wounds or skin infections

How to prevent the cross contamination of food:

• Wash hands thoroughly after touching raw meat, especially poultry, and unwashed raw vegetables

• Wash hands thoroughly after going to the toilet or touching pets

• Do not let raw meat and unwashed raw vegetables touch other foods

• Cover raw meat in a fridge so it cannot touch other foods and store below other foods to prevent blood drips from contaminating them

• Do not prepare ready-to-eat foods using a chopping board or utensils that have been used to prepare raw meat or raw vegetables, especially root vegetables and leeks that may contain soil

• Use disposable cloths for wiping and cleaning up spills. Change cotton cloths often and wash in a hot cycle to clean them thoroughly

• Do not prepare food if you are ill with vomiting or diarrhoea

• Clean utensils and work surfaces with detergent and hot water. Those that come into contact with raw meat, unwashed vegetables and soil from vegetables need thorough cleaning and sterilising. Use separate chopping boards and utensils for preparing raw meats and other foods

There must be adequate measures to prevent pests from contaminating food both in storage and preparation. This includes:

• Building design and maintenance to prevent means of access

• Adequate storage of ingredients and prepared food that prevents access to pests

• Hygiene measures to prevent access to food spills and waste that attracts pests and allows them to survive in the food environment