In addition to labeling, tcs food must also be dated to ensure food safety. To ensure proper date marking, food handlers should be trained on when ready-to-eat TCS food must be marked, and which products do not need to be marked. To maintain food safety, a monitoring system should be implemented that lists foods with corresponding dates, and lists the products that require date marking.
Time/Temperature Control for Safety
TCS food is a type of shelf-stable food that requires precise temperature and time controls to prevent growth of illness-causing bacteria. This type of food protects the food from outside contaminants by controlling the acidity and moisture. When these properties are low, the food is unsuitable for microorganisms. Foods that contain TCS may include sliced watermelon, cut tomatoes, and uncooked poultry or fish.
To make TCS foods safe, a company needs to use date marking. Date marking is an effective preventive measure, but it must be carefully customized to the food handling process and communicated throughout the team. It is also important to label the food with its expiration date, which can be done in a variety of ways. When the date of TCS food is not marked, it must be discarded.
Shelf life of tcs food
The shelf life of ready-to-eat TCS food is limited to seven days, which is not enough time to make sure the food is fresh. Refrigeration slows the growth of most bacteria, but Listeria monocytogenes can grow in fridges and can cause illness. To prevent this, food must be properly marked to indicate when it must be consumed or sold.
Depending on the type of food, temperature fluctuations can affect the growth of microorganisms. For each type of microorganism, there is a preferred temperature range. Temperature changes during storage, transportation and retail display can disrupt the shelf life and cause food to spoil. When temperature fluctuations occur during the receiving process, TCS food should be marked with the date by which it must be consumed.
A proper method of date marking must be customized to your operations and communicated throughout the team. Foods that start out cold must be kept below 70 degrees Fahrenheit for at least six hours. After four hours, unchecked cold foods should be discarded. Moreover, food handlers must follow uniform procedures for the monitoring of temperature and time.
Proper storage
Precautions for safe TCS storage are essential to ensure that the quality of your TCS foods remains as high as possible. Refrigeration can slow the growth of bacteria, but not all. Listeria monocytogenes is a particularly dangerous bacteria, which grows rapidly at refrigerator temperatures. Luckily, TCS foods can be safely consumed for as little as seven days after purchase if properly stored.
To ensure proper TCS storage, make sure that the temperature of your freezer is at 41 deg F. Do not overload your freezer as this can cause the food to thaw and increase the internal temperature. In the meantime, you can use an ice paddle to stir the food and defrost it if necessary. If you must store your TCS foods for a longer period of time, use blast chillers and follow manufacturer’s instructions.
TCS foods should be refrigerated within four hours of preparation. Any TCS food that remains unrefrigerated after this period should be disposed of immediately. The reason behind this is to protect your customers from foodborne illnesses. The temperature danger zone includes 41deg F to 135deg F. When the temperature is higher than this, the food may become unsafe and should be discarded.
Monitoring shelf life
The objective of shelf life modelling is to estimate the remaining retail shelf life of perishable foods by predicting the changes in the product’s quality based on environmental factors, non-sensory quality attributes, and product characteristics. Because these changes are common for perishable products from harvest to supermarket, a model that estimates remaining shelf life should account for these variations. The best way to develop such a model is by analyzing food-quality data and performing regression analyses on the food’s shelf life.
When storing TCS foods, it’s important to monitor their temperature. Frozen foods should be kept at 41degF or less. Food products that contain water or fluids should be discarded. If they are frozen solid, look for big ice crystals. That could mean something has been thawed and then refrozen. Similarly, hot foods should be received at about 135degF. If meat or other meat products are spoiled, discard them.