Food storage is essential to maintain the quality and freshness of the food until it is ready to be served. Perishable food spoilage will add to the food waste and it can lead to food-borne diseases. For a sustainable environment, we all need to make sure the food is stored properly and not spoiled. Food spoilage will also lead to huge losses for food business owners.

The food industry will be affected by the cost of restocking spoiled food. Identify such costs and develop strategies to keep the food fresh and safe. Digital tracking tools can be implemented to modernise food safety practices. In this article, we will share with you the most important rules for storing food properly in food outlets like restaurants and cafeterias.

Follow Food Storage Fundamentals

Following proper food storage fundamentals is a must to protect the freshness of the food items and prevent food-borne diseases. The status of food storage needs to be tracked and monitored, otherwise refrigerated foods or fresh produce can be wasted. These fundamentals include immediate refrigeration of raw meat, poultry, dairy and seafood, evenly distributing food items in the refrigerator, keeping uncooked food separate from cooked food, and digital monitoring temperatures. 

Remember Refrigerator Rules

The most important refrigerator rule is to keep the temperature at or below 4℃ for the prolonged freshness of food. Monitoring and keeping the refrigerator temperature at optimum is essential to prevent spoilage. Wireless temperature sensors can be installed for monitoring temperature inside refrigerators in food retail stores, cafeterias and restaurants. Also, keep the food items covered to prevent cross-contamination. There are more refrigerator rules you can rely on to keep the food fresh. Food safety consultants will help you with more such rules.

Focus on Frozen Foods

The quality of frozen foods can be preserved best by keeping the freezers at -18℃. Freezing will prevent bacteria from growing. The food service industry is troubled by power outages and equipment failures. Monitoring and tracking can be a solution to this problem and guarantee the safety of frozen foods.

Store Staple Foods Safely

Staple foods don’t need to be frozen or refrigerated, but proper storage is necessary to preserve their quality. It needs protection from contamination, pests and loss of nutrients. To ensure the best taste and quality of the food served, they need to be stored properly. Tracking inventory accurately and knowing the age of the staple products is a must. 

Staple foods like flour, sugar, salt and other dry goods need to be stored in a cool dry place using sealed containers to maintain taste and freshness. Keep track of the expiration date and use older stock first.

Plan for Power Outages

The food outlet industries should be always prepared for power outages. Power outages are a major cause of food spoilage. It is best to have generators ready and if your business runs without generators, then keep the refrigerator door closed as much as possible. Food can be safely stored in an unopened refrigerator for about four hours. A full unopened freezer can keep the frozen food fresh and stay below freezing for about 48 hours.