Volunteer

Food Safety and Hygiene

Hand-washing

Wash your hands before your shift and each time you work with a new product. Wash your hands in the bathroom sinks only. For other uses, such as cleaning rags or washing produce, use only the sinks located within the pantry.

Pre-packaged Foods

Throw away any item that isn't sealed airtight. Gently squeeze items to determine if the seal has been broken.

Don't open items or repackage large items, such as a five-pound bag of rice. However, if a product contains individually wrapped items, you may open it to give more clients access to the contents. Ensure that the nutrition information appears on each individually wrapped item, if applicable.

Contamination

Follow these guidelines to reduce the risk of contamination:

• Always keep food six inches from the floor and four inches from the wall.
• Always keep chemicals away from food.
• Let the client take whatever food they desire.
• If you must touch food, use gloves. Wear new gloves each time you touch something different, such as another food item, your face, hands, etc.

Time/Temperature

Food that was previously refrigerated may be outside of refrigeration for a maximum of two hours. After two hours, it's unsafe for consumption and must be thrown away.

Donated items are accepted if they're past their best-by/use-by date. These dates indicate peak freshness, not that an item has expired.

Cleaning and Sanitizing

All surfaces must be cleaned and sanitized at the end of each shift. First, use a rag and warm water to remove debris from serving surfaces. Then, sanitize the surface with a disinfecting wipe.