Particular Issues for Fish and Chip shops

Particular Issues for Fish and Chip shops

Fish

Thaw, process and store raw fish in separate areas away from other foods.

Filleting should be done using colour coded chopping boards and knives, usually blue.

Check fish and fillets at all stages for any physical contamination; ideally take out any pin bones in filleted fish.

Batter

Make sure you use clean equipment to make your batter. Ideally the water should be chilled and batter should be kept in chill conditions. Make sure you know what the ingredients are in your batter mix so you can advise customers of any allergy issues. Standard batters will contain gluten and some of the mixes can include mustard and Soya. There are Gluten free batter mixes available. If these are offered to customers you need to make sure they are prepared with separate clean equipment. The product also needs to be fried in different friers to standard batter mixes to prevent cross contamination.

Chips

If you produce chips on site from whole potatoes this should all be done in a separate area, away from any High Risk Foods to prevent bacteria and physical contaminants such as stones and peel from getting onto other product. Chips should be rinsed before use.

The Chipper blades and machine should be regularly checked to make sure they are not damaged. If damage is found you will need to check the chips that have been produced to make sure there is no metal contamination.

Burgers and Sausages:

These can contain bacteria such as E Coli so special care should be taken to make sure:

Any work surfaces or utensils used for handling raw burgers and sausages are not then used for ready to eat foods. Ideally utensils and chopping boards should be colour coded (red is recommended) and only used for raw foods.

Anyone handling raw meat products must wash their hands thoroughly before handling any ready to eat foods.

Chicken

Raw chicken can contain Salmonella and Campylobacter so extra special care should be taken when dealing with raw chicken and chicken products, such as nuggets, to ensure bacteria are not spread from the raw chicken onto work surfaces, hands or ready to eat products.

Most Fish and Chip shops buy in cooked chicken portions which they then reheat in the microwave and Frying range rather than cooking raw chicken portions.

Extra special care must be taken if you bring in raw chicken and produce Southern Fried, or similar Chicken products in the shop. The process should be kept to one specific area and thorough cleaning and disinfection must be carried out regularly to prevent cross contamination. Hand Washing is also very important, particularly before any cooked product is handled.

Frying Range

Filtering of oil should be carried out regularly. This helps maintain the standard of product being fried, but will also remove any physical contaminants that could have fallen into the range.

Waste

When working you should be keeping the work area clear of any waste, such as packaging, fish bones or potato peelings/trimmings. Appropriate waste bins should be used, and regularly emptied and cleaned.

Glass

It is important you know what glass there is in the premises and you need to make sure it is all stored correctly and checked regularly for damage. This is particularly important if you have a restaurant area where you use glassware.