Home ec practical: Wraps

Today in home economics we made wraps. Our practical was focused on health and safety, making sure we used the Mis en Place concept to safely and efficiently work.
Reflection: The practical was easy, needing no cooking and little preparation. I think we could have moved faster, but overall it worked out well.

Main task of the practical: safely preparing high risk food.
we used ham (a processed meat) and lettuce (susceptible to bacteria from growth). To avoid harmful eating bacteria, we used separate boards and washed the lettuce.


The practical:

Prior to the practical we went  through the regular hygiene routine, consisting of putting our hair up, washing our hands, sanitising the tables and wearing aprons. We know this will help avoid bacteria because we are avoiding bringing additional bacteria into the kitchen by tying our hair, washing our hands and wearing aprons. Sanitising the tables kills any bacteria lurking there.

During the practical we gathered our equipment and vegetables, making sure we used the correct equipment to avoid cross contamination. we washed the lettuce, getting rid of dirt and anything else lying on it, used separate boards and knives to avoid cross contamination. We know this keeps our food safe because we are keeping our food safe from other food and bacteria.

After the practical we washed the dishes and sanitised the surfaces. We know this keeps our food safe because we are washing away any leftover food and killing bacteria with the disinfectant spray.

Things we did well: prepared the ingredients, we cut everything well and stuck to a good time frame. We assembled the wraps well. We cleaned our kitchen well.
Things we could work on: team work, delegation of tasks, problem solving, how efficiently we work through our practical.

How this links to health and safety: We have safely handled high risk food, have learnt about how to keep our food safe and put food safety strategies (such as sanitising tables) into practice.

Food safety questions:
How do we avoid moisture build up in cooked food: we cool the food to room temperature in a time frame of under two hours (to avoid bacteria growth), then cover and place in the fridge.

What key strategies did we use when serving food: The food wasn't hot, so we put our wraps into an air tight container directly after assembling and showing the teacher our product. If our food were hot, serving it immediately would keep the food hot and more pleasant to eat, along with stopping bacteria growth from factors such as water and ideal temperature.

Whats happening to bacteria at -18, 75 and 37 degrees: At -18 the bacteria is hibernating, because it is too cold to grow. This is the temperature of our freezers. At 75, bacteria is killed. This needs to be the internal temperature of chicken at the thickest part, to make sure it is safe to eat. 37 degrees is the ideal temperature for bacteria, which grows best between 4-70 degrees.

What bacteria can be found in chicken and lettuce: in chicken, salmonella is the bacteria which will most likely effect us. This can result in sickness or worse.This can be avoided by cooking the chicken to an internal temperature of 75 degrees. Bacteria can also be found in lettuce, including but not limited to E.coli, salmonella and listeria. This bacteria can be avoided by washing our lettuce well and keeping it separate from other food.

(the photo added isn't my product, I was unable to send myself the picture due to the lack of wi-fi)