Hospitality Institute
of Technology and Management

• Checklist for food safety program (FSP) approval (July 1997). (11-4-97) This 3-page document from Alan Freshwater in New Zealand lists some very interesting recommended criteria for people who design and audit HACCP programs. It is being used in New Zealand.
• Food facility design principles and checklist. (1/4/03) The following two documents describe the principles and components of a properly designed food facility in terms of quality assurance and sanitation.
  • Sanitary design principles (PDF format). [Baur, F.J. 1973 (January). Food Processing.]
  • Quality assurance food facility design checklist (PDF format). [Snyder, O.P. 1994. from 2902: Technology of HACCP-based, Chilled Food Production Systems, 1998 ed. HITM. St. Paul, MN.]
• HITM HACCP-based total quality management program. (8-12-97) This 5-page document outlines a table of contents for a HACCP-based total quality management program that incorporates ISO 9004 and the USDA NACMCF HACCP requirements. Appendices include questions that are appropriate to address at each step in a HACCP plan, a HACCP flow tabluation format, and examples of verification activities.
• Modification of NACMCF HACCP with risk management to retail food AMC-HACCP. (11-15-99) This 2-page document modifies the NACMCF 7 principles of HACCP to include risk management as applied to retail food operations.

• Antimicrobial effects of spices and herbs. (8-12-97) This 3-page paper discusses the antimicrobial properties of some spices, herbs, and their components, which have been document since the late 19th century. The inhibitory effect, the effectiveness, and the antimicrobial components of these substances are reviewed in text and table form.
• Assuring safety of egg yolk-based sauces and salad dressings. (4-1-98) The government does not need to ban raw egg sauces. Chefs can prepare egg yolk-based sauces such as Hollandaise, Bernaise, mayonnaise, and Caesar dressing safely if they follow the rules in this document. If you want to prepare raw egg yolk-based sauces, print this HACCP document, send it to your health department, and ask for the department's approval.
• The basics of cooling food. (6-18-99) This 7-page paper discusses the scientific, food safety data behind the cooling of food and what occurs in actual operation. It also discusses current government regulations and that they are not based on validated scientific studies. The data are presented in graph form and described in the paper.
• Causes of foodborne disease. (5-14-97) Everyone refers to the 7 principles of HACCP as if they will magically solve the food safety problem. They are incomplete and will not. This 5-page paper identifies the real causes of foodborne disease, the problems with the 7 principles, and gives a brief introduction to HITM's AMC-HACCP-based total quality management program food safety assurance.
• Employee food hazard control in retail food operations (PDF format). (6-04 revision) This document is a policies, procedures, and standards manual that provides the food safety rules that a cook must use to assure the safety of the food. It can be used to teach cooks the basic information about HACCP / food safety. It is used in conjunction with the course, 0091: Employee Food Hazard Control in Retail Food Operations.
• Food safety hazards and controls for the home food preparer. (June 2006 ed.) This updated 36-page document provides home food preparers with the technical information they need to prepare food safely in their kitchens and to use adequate procedures to make their food safe.
• Foodborne illness hazard control strategies for churches and non-regulated group feeding situations. (5-6-98) This 4-page guide is for people who are involved in preparing food for non-regulated group feeding situations such as church banquets in non-regulated facilities. It provides food safety procedures for pre-prep, preparation, cooking, and transport and serving.
• Growth of microorganisms in food. (7-6-99) Current and past FDA food codes have only specified raw seed sprouts as potentially hazardous food without any mention of salad vegetables and other foods that support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7. This 5-page paper describes, with microbiological examples, the hazardous nature these foods in the context of NACMCF HACCP.
• The menu / recipe section of your retail HACCP operations manual. (6-18-99) This 8-page paper is 6th in a series of articles written for Food Quality Magazine describing the components of a HACCP-based food safety policies, procedures, and standards manual. It contains examples of a recipe block flow diagram and a HACCP recipe layout.
• Pasteurized-chilled food process hazard control flow diagram. (4-1-98) This is a HACCP flow chart analysis of hazards and their controls in retail food operations. It shows how simple food safety can be if one understands the science of food safety.
• The reduction of E. coli on various countertop surfaces. (6-18-99) This 3-page study was done for the Steel Alliance to determine the cleanability of six countertop surfaces--laminate, wood, tile, concrete, stainless steel, and granite. The experiments included a typical wash and rinse as well as a sanitizing procedure using vinegar. The data are presented in table and bar graph formats.

• Safety of pasteurized-chilled food. (3-18-03 revision) This 8-page document explains the hazards and controls associated with the chilled food processes prepared by Cleveland Range chilled food system, and why the system is safe.
• Some foodborne illness agents—Characteristics and confirmation. (2-9-00) When there is an alleged foodborne illness, an operator is wise to save about 250 grams of the food in a clean container and immediately bring it to a laboratory for testing. This 4-page document lists basic tests that confirm or deny an alleged foodborne illness.
• What every consumer needs to know about food thermometers. (10-7-97) This 4-page document reviews the characteristics and use of the various types of thermometers used in the retail food industry and in the home. This draft has been submitted to Susan Conley, Director of Information and Legislative Affairs, USDA FSIS, as input for a consumer publication on thermometers by the USDA consumer hotline.
• Why gloves are not the solution to the fingertip washing problem. (March 2001) The United States' FDA Food Code requires that there be no bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food. This is broadly interpreted as the "glove rule." There is no scientific reason for this requirement. This 2-page document explains the problems with gloves and the preferred approach to food safety through proper fingertip washing.

• Adverse reactions to food, food allergy and sensitivity: A retail food hazard problem. (7-8-97) This 10-page document describes the nature and scope of food allergy and sensitivity and foods that are likely to cause adverse reactions. It includes five case histories and reviews treatments. Food labeling rules are outlined. Finally, the document discusses how retail food suppliers can deal with this health concern.
• Bimetallic coil thermometer: Unsatisfactory for measuring food temperatures. (5-7-98) This 1-page document describes why the stem of the bimetallic coil thermometer and its calibration make this device unsuitable for measuring food temperatures. Photographs of the bimetallic coil thermometer point out its construction problems in terms of temperature measurement.
• Bloody chicken. (7-26-99) This 2-page, photo-illustrated paper discusses the presence of blood in thermally pasteurized chicken and the reasons behind it.
• Calculating the total growth of bacteria in cooked food using the FDA code controls. (1-7-01) The FDA Food Code states that cooked food can be held at 41F for 7 days or at any temperature between 41 and 140F. This document presents the scientifically accurate information about pathogen growth and how to calculate it in cooked foods.
• Calibrating thermometers in boiling water. (11-5-99). This 3-page document discusses what must be considered when calibrating thermometers using boiling water. It shows in table form the necessary equations to calculate the boiling point of water at various altitudes and as a function of barometric pressure in order to accurately calibrate thermometers using this method.
• CDC foodborne illness data (with link to PDF document). (10-31-01) This 3-page set of tables contains the latest information from CDC on the causes related to what microorganisms and foods make people ill and the contributing factors.
• Cooling food in 6 hours in NSF refrigeration units. (2-15-01) The FDA recommends hot food cooling from 140 to 70F in 2 hours and 70 to 41F in 4 hours. This 6-page paper discusses an experiment to determine and compare the time required to cool a viscous sauce in a commercial refrigeration unit 1) in a 1-inch depth in a covered, shallow stainless steel pan and 2) in a 1-quart mayonnaise jar (4-inch diameter).
• The dangerous bimetallic coil thermometer. (2-8-01) Is the cook responsible for a foodborne illness due to E. coli 0157:H7 from an undercooked hamburger, or is it the government? This document presents how the government is responsible because of its promotion of the inaccurate bimetallic coil thermometer as the device to use to determine pasteurization of thin foods.
• Double hand washing with a fingernail brush. (11-5-97) Illustrated with step-by-step photographs, this 1-page document shows the standards and operating procedure for safe hand washing using the double hand washing procedure with a fingernail brush. The hazard and process and output specifications are described.
• The effect of water quality on food. (11-4-97) This 2-page document reviews the characteristics of hard water, cooking fruits and vegetables in hard water, cleaning in hard water, and the benefits and disadvantages of chemically softened water.
• Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic strains of E.coli. (8-31-98) This 4-page document describes the symptoms of illness caused by E. coli O157:H7, its infective dose, and examples of outbreaks that have occurred. Other E. coli serotypes are reviewed.
• Food irradiation today. (7-10-97) This 20-page document provides basic information on food ionizing radiation from radionuclear material or electron beams. It includes a brief history of radiation, regulations regarding food irradiation, its effects on microorganisms and nutrients, and killing doses. (See also References and Abstracts, Food irradiation.)
• Foodservice fly control. (9-1-98) This 3-page paper explains the causes of the fly problem and its control as well as removal and prevention techniques. The paper also describes the four fly families and their habits.
• HACCP and slow-roasting turkeys. (11-8-99). This 2-page document describes a report on the safety of a process of slow roasting turkeys, done by Eckner et al. (1988), from the University of Minnesota, Department of Food Science.
• HITM retail food operations hazards and controls. (11-13-97) This 8-page document provides the hazard analysis and controls needed for the retail food operation. It includes a pasteurization time-and-temperature table as well as a maximum holding time-and-temperature table. Appendices are provided for calculation of multiplication of microorganisms and their predicted growth. A graph is provided for plotting cooling data.
• How effective and necessary are sanitizing solutions in retail food operations? (11-16-99) This 2-page document describes the importance of the soap-and-water wash, rinse, and air dry of a food contact surface in terms of removing microorganisms and details an experiment that shows the ineffectiveness of sanitizers on a surface without the surface being first washed and rinsed. It also describes how to vaildate the cleaning of a surface.
• Illnesses of viral origin: Is it a cold, the flu, or foodborne illness? (12-22-99) This 2-page document discusses the symptoms of these common illnesses, their transmission, and prevention techniques.
• Measuring the effectiveness of fingertip washing (PDF format). (10-26-01) This 2-page document discusses a finger washing experiment, which HITM conducted, to evaluate the effectiveness of ordinary hand washing compared with the double hand wash.
• The microbiology of cleaning and sanitizing a cutting board. (5-21-97) This 5-page document describes research done by HITM to find the critical procedures in cleaning a cutting board.
• The microbiology of dishcloths in the home kitchen. (4-21-97) This 3-page document discusses the microbiology of dishcloths and sponges. It presents some microbiological data from a study conducted in January and February 1997. It gives some suggestions as to how to keep them adequately sanitary.
• The microbiology of food market salad and salad bar items. (4-21-97) This 4-page document discusses the microbiological spoilage and food safety of food market salad bars and commercial prepackaged salad based on the literature and a study conducted of some food market salad bars in the Twin Cities in January through March 1997.
• Precooling hot food using kitchen-temperature air. (2-12-01) The FDA Food Code gives no recommendations for precooling hot food, implying that hot food should be put directly into refrigeration. This puts an excessive Btu cooling load on the cooling unit. This paper explains why it is safe to precool hot food at kitchen temperatures.
• Preparing a safe turkey. (11-23-99) This 3-page article provides a HACCP procedure for the safe thawing, cooking, serving, and storing of your holiday turkey.
• Removal of Escherichia coli on hands with natural or artificial fingernails (html introduction; pdf paper). (7-11-02). Poor personal hygiene (hand washing) of food handlers has been a factor in transmitting causes of several foodborne illness outbreaks. This IAFP poster presentation by Lin et al. (2002) evaluates the efficiency of different hand washing methods to remove microorganisms from underneath fingernails. The results show that "physical elimination such as scrubbed by a nailbrush was a critical step to remove microorganisms from areas underneath fingernails."
• A "Safe Hands" hand wash program for retail food operations: A technical review. (6-11-99) This 19-page document presents overheads and comments for a presentation given by Dr. Snyder at the 51st Annual Education Conference of the Florida Environmental Health Association, Inc., May 27, 1999. It provides technical information that complements our Safe Handshand wash program. NOTE: for further information on monitoring of hand washing as a CCP, per the FDA Food Code, Annex 5 and Chapter 2 is available at http://www.hygenius.com/and associated links.
• A summary of research information on why internal meat color should not be used as an indication of meat doneness. (11-4-98) This 6-page document describes briefly 12 studies showing various factors besides doneness that influence the color of meat. These factors include the presence of myoblobin, curing, cooking method, initial pH, and packaging.
• Sushi rice HACCP and Quality-assured HACCP recipe procedures. (2-9-00) A much-discussed HACCP recipe is sushi. The FDA has provided no guidance on sushi rice preparation. The first of these 2-page documents provides a HACCP plan (flow diagram) whereby the process authority explains the step-by-step control of the hazards. The recipe procedures, then, is what the cook follows to do the actual preparation. The flow diagram is used for scientific analysis, whereas the recipe is the cook's hazard control document based on scientific, HACCP research. There is no one "correct" recipe. The only critical point is that recipe procedures assure the consumption of safe food (i.e., hazards are at a tolerable level).
• Thawing at ambient temperature on the counter. (12-14-99) This 2-page document reviews recent research indicating the safety of thawing food at ambient temperature.
• Which hamburger is safe? (6-7-00) The USDA has made a small step forward in givng the public accurate information on cooking food. This 2-page document explains.

• What every consumer needs to know about food thermometers. (10-7-97) This 4-page document reviews the characteristics and use of the various types of thermometers used in the retail food industry and in the home. This draft has been submitted to Susan Conley, Director of Information and Legislative Affairs, USDA FSIS, as input for a consumer publication on thermometers by the USDA consumer hotline.
• Bimetallic coil thermometer: Unsatisfactory for measuring food temperatures. (5-7-98) This 1-page document describes why the stem of the bimetallic coil thermometer and its calibration make this device unsuitable for measuring food temperatures. Photographs of the bimetallic coil thermometer point out its construction problems in terms of temperature measurement.
• Calibrating thermometers in boiling water. (11-5-99). This 3-page document discusses what must be considered when calibrating thermometers using boiling water. It shows in table form the necessary equations to calculate the boiling point of water at various altitudes and as a function of barometric pressure in order to accurately calibrate thermometers using this method
• The dangerous bimetallic coil thermometer. (2-8-01) Is the cook responsible for a foodborne illness due to E. coli 0157:H7 from an undercooked hamburger, or is it the government? This document presents how the government is responsible because of its promotion of the inaccurate bimetallic coil thermometer as the device to use to determine pasteurization of thin foods.
• Three thermometers (10-28-98) This paper briefly describes the use of three thermometers used to measure food temperature.
• Choosing the right thermometer (HITM version) (PDF file) (2005). A technically demanding but least understood critical item in food safety is the measurement and control of food temperatures. This paper discusses selecting the right thermometer to do this correctly.
• Inaccuracy of food temperature measurement with the bimetallic coil (dial) thermometer (PDF file) (2004). Cooks commonly use the bimetallic coil thermometer to measure food temperature. However, its design leads to serious safety problems, which are discussed in this paper.
• Measuring the temperature of hamburger as it cooks) (PDF file) (2004). A difficult cooking studies that must be done in a restaurant to validate a HACCP plan is taking the temperature of a hamburger as it cooks and compare a cooking curve to a survival curve of microorganisms. This paper reports on a very simple but reproducible method for determining a hamburger center cooking temperature and validating a cooking process.
• Limitations of bimetallic-coil thermometers in monitoring food safety in retail operations (PDF file) (1996). This article discusses the imitations of bimetallic coil thermometers for measuring food temperatures for safety in retail food operations.
• Food temperature variations along the stem of the bimetallic-coil thermometer (PDF file) (1999). This article discusses the use and limitations of bimetallic coil thermometers for measuring food temperature at home or in retail food operations.
• Comparison of the bimetallic coil thermometer and thermocouple for validating food cooling (PDF file) (2004). An important food safety control procedure in retail food operations is safe cooling of food. This study shows whether or not a bimetallic coil thermometer can be used with a pan of food 2 inches deep or a 1-gallon bucket of food to verify safe cooling.

• Freezing bananas (9-11-98)
• Decaffeinating coffee (9-11-98)
• Pickled eggs HACCP (9-21-98)
• Three thermometers (10-28-98)
• Elements and components of process safety management (7-11-00)

• Problems with FDA-based, state-operated retail food safety programs (PDF format) (7-30-01) This 7-page document presents in table form the incorrect government hazard and control science for regulatory retail food safety programs vs. the correct HACCP science.

• AMC-HACCP manuals for retail and wholesale food processing operations. As the wholesale and retail food processing industries implement HACCP, there is an important need to standardize the tables of contents of the operations manuals for retail and wholesale food processing operations.  While the description of specific menu items and equipment, etc. will vary from facility to facility, the actual topics that should be covered have been known for some years and are uniform.  Any good operations manual has always covered the same topics.  This is not the same as a generic manual, because, while, for example, the procedure for flow charting is uniform, the flow charts, recipes, cleaning procedures, etc. are unique to each operation.
• • Retail Food Operations Policies, Procedures, and Standards Manual. This is the model, generic AMC-HACCP manual that retail food operators can develop. The contents are based on the NACMCF document: NACMCF. 1998. Hazard analysis and critical control point principles and application guidelines. J. Food Prot. 61(9):1246-1259.
  • AMC-HACCP Food Manufacturing Operations Manual. This is the table of contents for a HACCP food manufacturing manual. It is based on FDA and USDA process requirements.
• Development and documentation of hazard identification and control procedures for retail food operations (PDF format). The key feature of RFA is the research program for better retail food processes and knowledge. This document describes a uniform documentation procedure for retail process research and development.
• Retail food operations AMC-HACCP technical guidelines (html format). The government provides no new food safety principles for the development of new retail processes or improvement of existing processes. Improvement includes: 1) labor time reduction, 2) energy reduction, 3) increased productivity, and 4) reduced cost of cleaning and maintenance. If the retail food industry wants new and improved processes, it will have to validate these processes as safe and then, develop the operating policies, procedures, and standards based on HACCP.
       The government provides no systematic description of retail food operations or the AMC-HACCP guidelines for system and process control. This document can be downloaded and used for an 8-to-12-hour class in the principles of retail food HACCP. This is a developmental document and is regularly updated with new and revised process controls as they are developed.
• Process performance standards ("retail food process controls that assure hazards are at a tolerable level") (PDF format). This document is a condensed list of the processes in retail food operations and the process performance standards that assure safety. The basis for RFA is to improve and refine these processes for retail operations.
• Food pathogen control data summary (PDF format). This table provides microbiological control information for the design of retail food processes.
• The Retail Food Alliance Operation Certification (PDF format). This generic flow diagram is designed for retail food operators who want to do advanced food processing procedures and be compatible with the USDA and FDA Seafood HACCP.
• Applying HACCP to retail food operations: A series of ten papers (html / pdf format). This ten-article series is a narrative overview of the components of the retail food policies, procedures, and standards manual—how to write and use it. The "home page" for this series is in html; the ten papers are in pdf.

O. Peter Snyder, Jr., Ph.D.
Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management
670 Transfer Road, Suite 21A
St. Paul, MN 55114
Tel 651-646-7077, Fax 651-646-5984