Many businesses that serve edible goods know the importance of owning a high-quality commercial refrigerator or cooler. However, they sometimes need to remember how to store the food in them and what to pay attention to. Having a health hazard because of lousy food safety and storage habits can put the business in danger and is vital for the customers’ health.
Suppose a customer knows that the restaurant or supermarket needs to pay attention to food safety and storage. In that case, they will prefer not to buy or eat anything from that business, and reasonably, they will choose their health over anything. Due to this, companies must pay attention to how they store food and how to store them correctly.
Why is Safe Storage of Food Important?
Safe storage of food is a vital topic, as any wrong procedure regarding how a business stores food can result in a deadly situation both for the customer and the business. For businesses, being shunned as a business that does not take care of simple precautions like making sure your food is safe to eat or has not gone wrong will be deadly for them. The customers’ health will be at risk if they eat or purchase products that have not been stored properly.
Businesses should pay more attention to and look after the health of their customers as the health of the customers has to be the priority of the businesses that serve food. Due to these reasons, companies must pay close attention to food safety and storage and change their habits if necessary.
Storage Basics
Some essential yet simple storage basics can help businesses figure out what might be the issue or what they have been missing that can be right in front of their eyes. Some of the simple yet crucial basics of food safety and storage are things such as paying attention to how your commercial freezer operates as well as how the product is recommended to be stored.
Check Storage Directions on Labels
One of the very first things to do when storing an edible product is to check and, if possible, follow the storage direction labels as closely as possible to prevent the product from going bad before the time it should. For instance, some products should be stored in commercial coolers or freezers, while some should be stored in commercial refrigerators. This depends on the consistency and ingredients of the products as well as their estimated shelf life.
If you store a product that is recommended to be stored in a commercial freezer or cooler in a commercial refrigerator, the product has a high chance of going bad pretty fast. Vice versa will also result in similar results. Due to this, for efficient food safety and storage, it is crucial to check and follow the storage directions of products.
Avoid Refreezing Thawed Food
The following crucial food safety and storage basics are not to refreeze thawed foods. Thawing refers to the process of defrosting. So, thawed food refers to food that is defrosted. An important detail about thawed foods is that they should never be refrozen again after defrosting. The reason behind this is that the freezing process takes away some of the moisture in the food, and the food’s quality decreases after thawing.
Since every thawing process decreases the quality, there may be better options than refreezing and using the food later if the product has gone wrong after the first thawing. Due to this, it is recommended to think twice before refreezing thawed food.
Store Foods in Airtight Containers
Preventing contact with air is one of the simplest yet essential tips for storage. This is because the air tends to carry lots of germs and dust, which can contaminate the food. This can cause problems with food safety as contaminated food tends to go bad faster than uncontaminated food.
The contamination will sometimes reach other foods in the commercial refrigerator if the food is not kept in separate containers, which could worsen the issue. Due to this, to prevent any problems with food safety and storage, it is recommended to store food in airtight containers.
Do Not Over-Fill
Another crucial food safety and storage tip is not to overfill the commercial cooler, freezer, and refrigerator. The reason behind this tip is that an excessive amount of products stored can cause problems with the functioning of the commercial freezer.
Overfilling tends to cause hot and cold spots within some parts of the commercial refrigerator, cooler, and freezer that relate to malfunctioning. This malfunction will cause some products to be stored with no issue while the rest to go wrong as they might be in the hot spot of the commercial freezer. Overfilling should be avoided to have no problem with food safety and storage issues and malfunctioning of the device.
Check the Temperature Frequently
A commercial cooler to operate at the right temperature is critical for the device and increases the shelf life of the products stored. There are recommended temperatures for each commercial device, and it is highly recommended to check if the device is working at the right temperature.
In the case of a malfunction, getting a check-up and keeping the interior of the commercial refrigerator, cooler, or freezer clean will make establishing food safety and storage tips easier. A nicely working commercial cooler, freezer, or refrigerator means you will not have to deal with unexpected breakdowns and potential problems with food stored going bad.
Food safety and storage are crucial for businesses serving food and customers to protect their health. Having a health hazard due to a product that is not stored correctly will not only make the business look bad but also can be deadly for the customers depending on the severity of it. The tips on food safety and storage will help businesses to prevent these problems from occurring and protect the health and livelihood of their customers.
You can read our previous article from https://greencooler.international/what-is-the-difference-between-fridge-and-refrigerator/.
