Food Safety Management & HACCP
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Temperature Control
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Personal Hygiene & Fitness to Work
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Hand WashingIllness ExclusionPPE & GlovesWound Cover4 C's
Cross-Contamination & Allergens
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Allergen ListCross-ContactColour CodingStorage Order
Cleaning & Disinfection
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Clean vs DisinfectContact TimeClean-As-You-GoChemical Storage
Pest Control
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Pest SignsProofingLicensed ContractorResponse Steps
Dubai Food Code & Premises
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Supervision & Record-Keeping
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PIC RolePIC vs Advanced PICRecordsFood Safety Culture
Quick Facts
- Exam
- Dubai PIC Food Safety
- Credential
- Person-In-Charge (PIC)
- Format
- Multiple-choice, online
- Time
- ~2 hours (provider-set)
- Pass
- 60% (commonly cited)
- Languages
- English + Arabic
- Cert validity
- 5 years
- Refresher
- Before end of year 3
FATTOM Bacterial Growth
Food Acidity Temperature Time Oxygen Moisture drive growth
Food: nutrientsTemperature: danger zoneTime: limit exposureMoisture: keep dry
Monitoring vs Verification
Monitoring
- Real-time CCP checks
- Principle 4
Verification
- Confirms whole system works
- Principle 6, audits
CCP check vs system check
7 HACCP Principles
- Principle 1
- Conduct hazard analysis
- Principle 2
- Determine critical control points
- Principle 3
- Establish critical limits
- Principle 4
- Establish monitoring procedures
- Principle 5
- Establish corrective actions
- Principle 6
- Establish verification procedures
- Principle 7
- Establish documentation, record-keeping
7 HACCP Principles Order
Hazard, CCP, limit, monitor, correct, verify, document
1: Hazard analysis4: Monitor CCPs7: Document records
CCP vs Prerequisite Programme
CCP
- Essential control step
- Prevents/eliminates hazard
PRP
- Foundational hygiene practice
- Supports the HACCP plan
Critical step vs foundation
HACCP Key Terms
- CCP
- Essential control step
- Critical limit
- Max/min safe value
- PRP
- Prerequisite hygiene programme
- Monitoring
- Real-time CCP check
- Verification
- Confirms system works
- Corrective action
- Fixes a limit breach
Hazard Types
- Biological
- Bacteria, viruses
- Physical
- Glass, metal, bone
- Chemical
- Cleaning agents, pesticides
- Allergenic
- Trigger proteins
- FATTOM
- Food Acid Temp Time O2 Moisture
Two-Stage Cooling
60 to 20 in two hours, then 5 in four
Stage 1: 2 hoursStage 2: 4 hoursTotal: 6 hours max
Hot Holding vs Reheat Target
Hot holding
- 60°C or above
- Keeps food safe
Reheating
- Exceed 75°C
- Within 1 hour
Maintain vs re-kill bacteria
Temperature Deviation Action Picker
- Chiller at 9°C for hours→Discard food, repair unit
- Chilled delivery at 12°C→Reject, record rejection
- Cooking core under limit→Continue cooking, record deviation
- Cooling stalls past 2h→Discard, do not proceed
- Hot food for immediate use→Max 2 hours in zone
- Cold food for immediate use→Max 4 hours, then discard
- Reheated food left over→Discard, never re-cool
- Frozen RTE food thawed→Use within 48 hours
Cooking Time-Temperature Table
- 60°C
- 45 min core holdequiv
- 65°C
- 10 min core holdequiv
- 70°C
- 2 min core holdbase
- 75°C
- 30 sec core holdequiv
- 80°C
- 6 sec core holdequiv
- Botulinum risk foods
- 90°C for 10 min
- Plant foods
- 72°C or above
- Low-acid canning
- 121°C, 3 minutes
Danger Zone Boundaries
Five to sixty, bacteria multiply quickly
Below 5: slows growthAbove 60: growth stops
Storage & Holding Temperatures
- Danger zone
- 5°C to 60°C
- Chilled storage
- 5°C or below
- Frozen storage
- -18°C or below
- Hot holding
- 60°C or above
- Cold prep room
- 20°C or below recommended
- Chilled delivery
- At or below 5°C
Cooling & Reheating Rules
- Stage 1 cooling
- 60°C to 20°C, 2 hours
- Stage 2 cooling
- 20°C to 5°C, 4 hours
- Room-temp cooling
- To 5°C within 4 hours
- Reheat for hot-hold
- Exceed 75°C, within 1 hour
- Reheat for service
- Once only, any temp
- Reheat time limit
- Max 2h in danger zone
- Re-cooling reheated food
- Never allowed
Thawing Methods
- Fridge thawing
- Air temp 10°C or less
- Cold water thaw
- Water below 21°C, core ≤5°C
- Thawed RTE food
- Warmest part stays ≤5°C
- Thawed RTE shelf life
- Use within 48 hours
- Not cooked immediately
- Store below 5°C, cook in 72h
- Cooked right after thaw
- Danger-zone time under 4 hours
- Refreezing raw meat
- Only if core stayed ≤5°C
The 4 C's
Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling, Cross-contamination control
Clean surfacesCook to core tempChill below 5°CStop cross-contamination
Illness & Hygiene Response
- Vomiting or diarrhoea→Exclude 48h symptom-free
- Heavy cold, sneezing→Reassign from RTE food
- Open cut on hand→Blue waterproof dressing
- Nail polish or jewellery→Remove before handling food
- Gloves torn or contaminated→Change immediately
- Tasting a sauce→Clean spoon, used once
Personal Hygiene Rules
- Hand washing
- Warm water, soap, hygienic drying
- Illness exclusion
- Vomiting/diarrhoea: 48 hours symptom-free
- Cuts and wounds
- Blue waterproof detectable dressing
- Jewellery
- Remove before food handling
- Nails
- Short, clean, unpolished
- Gloves
- Change between raw and RTE
- Protective clothing
- Clean, worn only in kitchen
- Norovirus
- Spreads via poor hand hygiene
Cross-Contamination vs Allergen Cross-Contact
Cross-contamination
- Bacteria transfer
- Killed by cooking
Allergen cross-contact
- Protein transfer
- Survives cooking
Heat kills one, not other
Cross-Contamination & Allergens
- Cross-contamination
- Transfer of bacteria or allergens
- Storage order
- Raw below ready-to-eat
- Colour coding
- Dedicated boards by food type
- Allergen cross-contact
- Not destroyed by cooking
- Major allergens
- Peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish
- Customer allergy query
- Check records, escalate if unsure
- Dedicated equipment
- Prevents allergen residue transfer
Cleaning vs Disinfection
Cleaning
- Removes visible dirt
- Uses detergent, hot water
Disinfection
- Reduces bacteria to safe level
- Needs contact time
Clean first, then disinfect
Cleaning & Disinfection Steps
- Cleaning
- Removes visible dirt, grease
- Disinfection
- Reduces bacteria to safe level
- Correct order
- Pre-clean, wash, rinse, disinfect
- Contact time
- Manufacturer's stated dwell time
- Clean-as-you-go
- Continuous cleaning during service
- Chemical storage
- Separate, labelled, secure area
- Waste management
- Covered bins, frequent removal
Pest Sighting Response
- Droppings or gnaw marks found→Investigate, call licensed contractor
- Infestation in storage area→Stop use, protect food
- Flying insects entering kitchen→Fit screens, close doors
- Standing water or condensation→Fix drainage, ventilation
- Contaminated stock found→Dispose, isolate area
- Recurring pest problem→Review proofing, contract terms
Pest Control
- Rodent signs
- Droppings, gnaw marks, smears
- Prevention
- Deny entry, food, water, harbourage
- Flying insects
- Screens, closed doors, EFK units
- Licensed contractor
- Required for treatment programme
- Infestation response
- Isolate area, protect food
- Standing water
- Attracts pests, harbours bacteria
Use-By vs Best-Before
Use-by
- Safety deadline
- Discard after date
Best-before
- Quality only
- Often still safe
Safety vs quality
Dubai Food Code & Premises
- Legal basis
- Dubai Municipality Food Code
- Potable water
- Required for food, ice, cleaning
- Surfaces
- Smooth, impervious, easily cleaned
- Traceability
- One step back, one forward
- Recall/withdrawal
- Remove unsafe food, notify authority
- Approved suppliers
- Licensed, inspected sources only
- Use-by date
- Safety limit, discard after
- Best-before date
- Quality only, not safety
PIC vs Advanced PIC Certification
PIC Certification
- Standard risk businesses
- Core 4 modules
Advanced PIC
- High-risk/specialised ops
- Adds HACCP module
Risk category decides level
PIC & Supervision
- PIC role
- Accountable for food safety daily
- PIC Certification
- Standard risk-category businesses
- Advanced PIC Certification
- High-risk/specialised operations
- Certificate validity
- 5 years from issuance
- Refresher training
- Before end of year 3
- Re-sit policy
- One re-sit, then full retrain
- Active managerial control
- Show records, explain controls
- Foodwatch (now DMChecked)
- Digital registration and reporting
Common Traps
Cleaning ≠ Disinfecting
Cleaning removes dirt ≠ Disinfecting kills bacteria
Use-by ≠ Best-before
Use-by is safety ≠ Best-before is quality
Monitoring ≠ Verification
Monitoring checks CCPs live ≠ Verification confirms whole system
Cross-contamination ≠ Allergen cross-contact
Cooking kills bacteria ≠ Cooking does not destroy allergens
CCP ≠ Prerequisite programme
CCP is essential control ≠ PRP is baseline hygiene
Hot holding ≠ Reheat target
Hold at 60°C minimum ≠ Reheat must exceed 75°C
Danger zone ≠ Freezer temp
Danger zone is 5-60°C ≠ Freezer is -18°C or below
Fridge thaw ≠ Water thaw
Fridge air stays ≤10°C ≠ Water thaw keeps core ≤5°C
Reheat once ≠ Reheat repeatedly
Immediate service: reheat once ≠ Never re-cool reheated food
Last Minute
- 1.Danger zone: 5°C to 60°C
- 2.Cook animal foods to 70°C/2min
- 3.Reheat food above 75°C
- 4.Hot hold at 60°C minimum
- 5.Chill high-risk food below 5°C
- 6.Freeze at -18°C or below
- 7.Cool 60 to 20°C in 2h
- 8.Then to 5°C within 4h
- 9.Reheat leftovers only once
- 10.Exclude ill staff 48 hours
- 11.Wash hands; sanitizer is not enough
- 12.Store raw meat below RTE food
- 13.HACCP has 7 principles
- 14.PIC or Advanced PIC per risk
- 15.Cover cuts with blue dressing
- 16.Allergens survive cooking; bacteria don't
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