CFA was established to provide a resource for the chilled food manufacturing sector in particular, but we recognise that information on chilled food manufacture is required for teaching purposes.
Please note:
'Chilled food' does not include frozen food, which is made under different conditions, in different factories, is distributed through a different supply chain and has a long shelf life, unlike chilled food. Please contact the relevant organisation for information on frozen and other foods.
Unique aspects of chilled foods in comparison with other foods are summarised here.
The CFA Best Practice Guidelines for the Production of Chilled Food are designed to be accessible to all levels of reader, and set out the required standards and approach for the hygienic manufacture of chilled foods.
The information below is provided only as an introduction to this topic.
The necessary technical details are given in the CFA Guidelines.
The key elements to be managed to ensure food safety are:-
- high raw material quality
- scrupulous hygiene conditions during manufacture including the separation of raw and cooked ingredients to avoid cross contamination (3 area hygiene standards are defined by CFA)
- carefully controlled food and processing parameters (heat, pH, water activity)
- carefully selected high quality packaging
- correct determination of shelf life, and
- the need for the integrity of the chill chain to be maintained throughout, from raw material intake to distribution, sale and storage at home.
Further information on the principles of food safety can be found here.
The CFA Guidelines use a Decision Tree to identify the level of hygiene required for a particular chilled food, based on the raw material status (raw, cooked or composite) and processing parameters applied.
The Decision Tree is not is available here.
NOTE: HACCP IS REQUIRED TO FULLY IMPLEMENT THE CFA GUIDELINES, AND IS A PREREQUISITE OF CFA MEMBERSHIP
