There are several ways to reduce bacterial growth, these are mainly by cooking the food, drying it out thus removing the moisture or by altering the environment like salting or pickling the item. Time and temperature usually play a big role in keeping food safe. The following slides explain the danger zone and the 2 hour 4 hour rule.Taking the temperature of the food to below 5 degrees C will slow down the growth of bacteria however won’t kill them. In the danger zone of 5 to 60 degrees C, organisms will grow at a fast rate, faster as the temperature increases. Taking food to temperatures over 60 degrees C will reduce the level of containination.It is essential that you keep control of the time in the danger zone. This rule assists with this. Remember it is cumlative, you must add the times that each food is kept in the temperature range even if they go back into the fridge between uses. Mayonnaise, cheese and ham are good examples of where this happens. This can be solved by reducing the size of the packages so that the item is used up quickly.
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