Risk levels for food
operations are determined according to the potential risk to the public
of a food borne illness in terms of sanitation, food labeling, sources
of food, storage practices, expiration dates, and the cooking, cooling,
and reheating of food items. The State Food Code provides the following risk
levels:
- Risk
Level I – Includes
activities for an operation that offers for sale or sells:
coffee, self-service fountain drinks, prepackaged non-potentially
hazardous beverages; prepackaged refrigerated or frozen potentially
hazardous foods; prepackaged non-potentially hazardous foods; or baby
food or formula.
- Risk Level II
– Poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk level I
because of hand contact or employee health concerns but minimal
possibility of pathogenic growth exits. Examples include: handling,
heat-treating, or preparing non-potentially hazardous foods; holding for
sale or serving potentially hazardous food at the same temperature it
was received; heating individually packaged, commercially processed
potentially hazardous foods for immediate service.
- Risk Level III
– Poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk level II
because of concerns with cooking temperatures, cooling procedures,
holding temperatures, contamination issues, or improper heat treatment in
association with longer holding times before consumption, or processing
a raw food product to reduce bacteria levels in order to sell as a
ready-to-eat food item. Examples include: handling, cutting, or grinding
raw meats; cutting/slicing ready-to-eat meats and cheeses; assembling or
cooking potentially hazardous food that is immediately served, held hot
or cold, or cooled; reheating individual portions; or heating a product
from an intact hermetically-sealed package and holding it hot.
- Risk Level IV
– Poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk level III
because of concerns with handling/preparing food using a procedure with
several preparation steps that includes reheating a product or
ingredient where multiple temperature controls are needed to preclude
bacterial growth; offering as ready-to-eat a raw potentially hazardous
meat, poultry product, fish, or shellfish or foods with these items as
ingredients; using freezing as a means to achieve parasite destruction;
serving a high risk clientele including immuno-compromised or elderly
individuals in a health care or assisted living facility; or using time
in lieu of temperature as a control for potentially hazardous foods.
Examples include: reheating bulk quantities of leftover potentially
hazardous foods more than once every seven days; or caterers or similar
operations that transport potentially hazardous foods.
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