Safe food for large groups
Click on each of the icons to learn a little more about some of the ways in which food is delivered safely to large numbers of people within care settings.
In-house cooked meals are cooked from fresh ingredients and served either plated in a central kitchen or delivered to wards in bulk and served on ward.
Cook-chill foods are stored below 3oC or cook-freeze below -18oC. Brought in from an outside supplier and regenerated in central kitchen or ward level. Food should be heated to 70oC for 2 minutes and served within 15 minutes of this time. Shelf life of cook-chill = 5 days between production and consumption, cook-freeze has shelf life of 8 weeks.
Specialised containers allow raw or pre-prepared food ingredients to be cooked using steam pressure within a microwave. These are being increasingly used within health care settings.