Technical reference
Portioned food is exposed, handled and warming, so the time it spends out of the cold and prove the limit was met. Reheating, where it follows, kills vegetative bacteria but may not remove toxin that has already formed.
is commonly found on food handlers' skin, and contaminated food can support growth and enterotoxin production if is lost (). FDA lists growth from 7 °C to 50 °C (FDA Table A-1).
FDA's cumulative guidance, written for fish and fishery products, gives 1 day at 6 to 10 °C and 7 hours at 11 to 21 °C. It gives 6 hours at 16 to 21 °C (FDA Table A-2). A single run is rarely the problem. The risk builds as exposure adds up across steps and days.
's 15 °C room and 30-minute are two ways to manage the same risk. A cooler room slows warming, and a shorter run limits how far the food can warm. Neither takes the place of a food reading.
Parameters
| Codex time limit | 30 minutes at most for any chilled product, and as short as practicable |
|---|---|
| Codex large-scale route | Longer runs in a separate area at 15 °C ambient, with food by probe |
| Room handling chilled food | 15 °C or cooler (). If not achievable, as short as possible, ideally 30 minutes or less |
| After portioning | Serve at once, or return to cold storage at 4 °C () |
| Retained sample | Where appropriate: at least 150 g per item per lot, 4 °C or colder, until 3 days after the lot is eaten () |
| Other rules | vary. The requires time at growth temperatures to be minimised, and gives the . Contracts and schemes may be stricter |
Records that prove it
- Job: item, quantity, area, and who started and finished
- Time out and time back, marked if entered by hand
- Start and finish food temperatures
- Room temperature for the shift
- Quality checks, metal detector alarms and rejected meals
- Each breach: action, quantity and what happened to the food
- Retained sample log, where used
Maximum cumulative exposure
FDA guidance written for fish and fishery products, shown here as a worked example of how combine. * See the source's footnotes. Source: , Table A-2.
The 2-hour / 4-hour rule
Total time out of temperature control. Check whether your food law or plan uses this rule, and when its clock starts.
CCP or prerequisite?
That depends on the for your process. The number, if it has one, belongs to your plan.