Keep Your Buffet Food Safe to Eat
No matter how beautiful your wedding or other event may be, if your guests come down with some form of food poisoning that is all they will remember. You don’t want your guests to get sick, and they have the same wish. Many people don’t thing about buffet dangers until it happens to someone they know. If good isn’t kept at the proper temperature, it can go bad quickly.
In order to keep your buffet food safe to eat, you have to keep hot foods heated to the proper temperature. For most hot foods, you must keep the temperature at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot foods should always be kept in warming trays or crock-pot type dishes. Use a thermometer to make sure the food remains at that temperature. If it falls below for too long, it will begin to spoil.
Even when hot foods are kept at the proper temperature, you should not leave them out any longer than necessary. Once everyone has finished eating, make sure the food is put away. If you expect late guests, you can make up some plates and keep them covered in the refrigerator. They may wish for fresh, warm food, but re-warmed food is better than a case of food poisoning.
For cold foods, you really have to be careful. Dishes with mayonnaise in them are especially vulnerable to spoilage. To keep your buffet food safe to eat, make sure all cold dishes are kept below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. As with the hot dishes, you don’t want to leave them sitting out too long, regardless of the temperature.
As a final measure to keep your buffet food safe to eat, have a few people keep an eye on the buffet. As well meaning as some people are, they tend to get impatient, and may reach into the salad with their hands, or use their own fork to get their food. This can cause the spread of germs, and people can get sick. If someone has contaminated a tray of food, remove and replace it.
Buffets are, for the most part, safe and practical, as long as someone keeps an eye on it. To keep buffet food safe to eat, you also should make sure the food is prepared properly, or the service providing the food has a good reputation. A little prevention goes a long way.
