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Serving Safe Buffets

Buffets are a popular way to serve many types of items to many people during the holiday season.  However, this type of food service where foods are left out for long periods of time leaves the door open for uninvited guests – bacteria.  Bacteria leads to foodborne illness.

Safe Food Handling

Always wash your hands before and after handling food.  Keep your kitchen, dishes and utensils clean also.  Always serve food on clean plates, not those holding raw meat and poultry.

Cook Thoroughly

If you are cooking foods ahead of time, be sure to cook foods thoroughly to safe minimum internal temperatures.  See the temperature guideline section of the Big Y website for all cooking temperatures.

Use Shallow Containers

Divide cooked foods into shallow containers to store in the refrigerator or freezer until serving.  This encourages rapid even cooling.  Reheat hot foods to 165°F.  Arrange and serve food on several small platters rather than on one large platter.  Keep the rest of the food hot in the oven or cold in the refrigerator until serving.  This way foods will be held at a safe temperature for longer periods of time.  Replace empty platters rather then adding fresh food to a dish that already had food on it.  Many people’s hands may have been taking food from the dish, which has also been sitting out at room temperature.

The Two-Hour Rule

Food should not sit at room temperature for more than 2 hours.  Keep track of how long foods have been sitting on the buffet table and discard anything there two hours or more.

Keep Hot Foods HOT and Cold Foods COLD

Hot foods should be held at 140°F or warmer.  On the buffet table you can keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays.  Cold foods should be held at 40 °F or colder.  Keep food scold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice. Otherwise, use small serving trays and replace them.

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