For correctional foodservice operations, the ability to prepare and hold food until it is time for tray assembly or meal service is a necessity. Jails or prisons may be serving 100 to 10,000 inmates three meals a day so large batch cooking is the only way to accomplish this. There is a wide variety of holding equipment including many different types of heated and holding cabinets that are manufactured specifically for this purpose. You can find non-insulated holding cabinets, insulated holding cabinets, heated holding and proofing cabinets, humidified heated holding cabinets, even pan carriers for holding and transport of full food pans. All of these are designed for holding food safely and when using any of these cabinets you should be sure that kitchen staff follows these simple safety guidelines.
1. Hot-holding equipment should never be used to reheat food. These cabinets are designed to hold hot food and keep it warm. Using it with cold or cool food leaves product in the temperature danger zone longer than is safe and can lead to a breakout of foodborne illness.
2. Check your holding equipment regularly and test it to be sure it can keep food at an internal temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit, so that it maintains a safe holding temperature.
3. Food should remain covered while it is being held in a holding cabinet to help retain heat within the food product and to keep contaminants out.
4. As food is being held, it should be stirred regularly to avoid hot spots.
5. Food should remain covered while it is being held in a holding cabinet to help retain heat within the food product and to keep contaminants out.
Using holding equipment allows you to cook in larger quantities to make feeding larger groups easier and more efficient. It is important to hold food at safe temperatures to avoid an outbreak of foodborne illness and following the five guidelines above when using heated and holding cabinets is a good start.
