A butchery food safety checklist will help in the safe handling of raw meat and ready to eat products at butchery shops. The main objective of using this checklist is to avoid the cross-contamination of E Coli 0157. Also, such viruses can lead to serious illness and death. Hence, it is important for the food business owner to take all stringent measures during all the stages of food production to control the particular risk of contamination.
As butchery premises undertake a wide range of food production activities. For example, in cooking and cooling joints of meats or salad the risk of cross-contamination from raw meat handling activities is very significant. Therefore, all the preventive measures help food business owners to remain compliant with food hygiene law. And keep the raw material free from contamination which leads to safe food.
This food safety checklist for butchers is purely based on the HACCP which comprises of following 7 steps:
- Identification of hazards i.e. what could go wrong?
- Identification of critical control points (CCP) i.e. Important things where things can go wrong.
- Setting up of critical limits at each critical control points (CCP).
- Monitoring of CCPs to avoid the occurrence of problems.
- Corrective action against each wrong step (if mistakenly taken)
- Verification of implemented HACCP Plan.
- Keep a record of all the above activities.
Apart from this, food operator must keep records of all staff training including instruction on Basic Hygiene Rules and hand washing techniques. Staff must always wash their hands before and after preparing meat as it is one of the best ways to prevent food poisoning bacteria from spreading. All staff must wear clean clothes when working with food. Ideally, they should change into clean work clothes before starting work and not wear these clothes outside meat preparation areas. As a result, this butchery audit checklist will help in protecting the food business’s reputation.
