All You Need To Know About Picnic People’s Approach To Safe Food Handling

When it comes to picnics, it’s important to keep food at proper temperatures the entire time. Failure to control food temperatures could increase the risk of food-borne illness outbreaks. Disease-causing bacteria multiply rapidly at temperatures between  41° F and 135° F, known as the Temperature Danger Zone.

The best way to prevent bacterial growth is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. This means keeping hot foods at 135° F or above, and cold foods refrigerated at 41° F and below.

Picnic People takes food safety very seriously and takes the following steps to keep hot food hot:

• We heat food to 165° F directly on a stove or in a microwave. We never heat foods in a steam table, crockpot, or a hot-holding unit.
• Once hot food is prepared, we transfer it directly to a steam table and other hot-holding units.
• We don’t cook food more than one day ahead of the delivery date.
• Each serving tray is covered to help maintain the proper temperature.
• We always wash containers prior to use to prevent cross-contamination between new and old batches of food.
• We regularly check food temperature using a clean and sanitized thermometer.

We take the following steps to keep cold food cold:

• We store cold foods in cold-holding tables, commercial refrigerated display cases, and refrigerators.
• Salads are kept in food containers placed over ice that comes up the sides of the containers to reach the product level.
• Each serving tray is covered to help keep temperatures at 41° F and below.
• We use a clean and sanitized thermometer to regularly check food temperature.

Other food safety steps we take:

• To help prevent cross-contamination, we keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood securely wrapped and separate from cooked foods. 
• When serving our customers outdoors, we always offer cleaning supplies, such as soap, paper towels, and hand sanitizer.
• Foods are marinated in the refrigerator — never on the kitchen counter or outdoors. We never reuse marinades as sauces for other foods.
• If certain meats require partial cooking, we always finish cooking immediately after. 

Picnic People adheres to strict food safety guidelines and encourages customers to reach out with any questions or concerns.