Rice

• Once the rice is cooked, keep it hot at 60°C or above until serving or chill it immediately and store it in the fridge.
• Rice may be cooled faster if it is divided into smaller portions or spread out on a clean tray.
• Rice may contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a form of dangerous bacterium that is not eliminated by cooking or reheating. Spores may multiply and create toxins that cause food poisoning if cooked rice is kept at room temperature. Reheating will not eliminate them.

Pulses

• Dried pulses, such as beans, should be soaked and cooked.
• Salad dishes should not be prepared with raw or undercooked beans.
• Natural toxins in pulses may cause illness if not eliminated by correct soaking and cooking methods. Tinned pulses have previously been soaked and cooked.

Shellfish

• Throw aside any shellfish with open or broken shells before cooking.
• If the shell is broken or opened before cooking, the shellfish may be unsafe to consume.
• Check if the shell is open and the meat has shrunk within the shell to see whether it is cooked. If the shell did not open during cooking, discard it.

Fish

• When purchasing fresh fish, keep it between 0°C and 4°C.
• For frozen fish, keep it frozen until ready to use.
• If some kinds of fish, such as mackerel, tuna, anchovies, and herrings, are not maintained at the proper temperature, they might cause histamine poisoning.

Pooled eggs

• Pooling refers to the practice of breaking a large number of eggs into containers all at once.

• To save time and control portion size, pooled eggs are widely used for numerous servings of egg dishes or for use in multiple recipes.

• As pooled eggs have a higher chance of harbouring bacteria, they should be thoroughly cooked and not be used in raw or lightly cooked dishes.

• If pooling eggs for later use, store them in sealed containers in the refrigerator and only take out the amount you need.

• Use all of the pooled eggs on the same day and do not replenish with new eggs.

Deep-frying oil

• Deep-frying oil should be changed in a timely manner if it has an unusual colour or odour (e.g. a rancid smell), starts to smoke (i.e. smoking observed at the recommended frying temperatures (150-180°C)) or starts to foam (i.e. formation of milky foam that cannot dissipate easily).

• Topping up of oil should not be used as a means of diluting or prolonging oil use.

• When frying food, go for a golden yellow or lighter colour to reduce the formation of acrylamide.

Edible ice

• Use clean potable water to prepare edible ice.      

• Use clean utensils to prepare and store edible ice.

• When producing edible ice by an ice-making machine, it should be properly cleaned and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

• The ice-making machine should be sited in an area away from sources of contamination.

• Edible ice should be stored separately from raw food to avoid any cross-contamination.  

• Do not dispense edible ice with bare hands but rather with clean utensils such as an ice scoop.

In addition to the above ingredients, there are other foods that require extra attention from food handlers to prevent food poisoning. Here are some examples below; if the industry needs to make these foods, it must be able to demonstrate that they are doing it safely. The CFS has produced a number of food safety guidelines to facilitate food businesses to produce safe foods. Click here for more.

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