SECTION III

FOOD ESTABLISHMENT GUIDE FOR DESIGN, INSTALLATION, AND CONSTRUCTION RECOMMENDATIONS

The menu is an integral part of the Plan Review Process. The menu or a listing of all of the food and beverage items to be offered at the food service establishment must be submitted by the applicant to the regulatory authority with the submission of all other Plan Review application documents.

As with the inspection process, the plan review process should focus on the food and what will happen to the food. The source and quantity of food to be served should be reviewed along with the preparation and post-preparation operations and the proposed storage practices.

Food preparation processes should be evaluated to determine the types and volumes of foods to be prepared. Special attention should be given to the review of complex food processes which will involve:

• multiple ingredients being assembled or mixed
• potentially hazardous foods
• foods which will be prepared or held for several hours prior to service
• foods requiring cooling and reheating
• multiple step processing (passing through the critical temperature zone, 140°F to 41°F more than once).

The style of food service should also be reviewed. The style of food service may be cook-to-order (cook-serve), self-service (buffet or salad bar), service of pre-packaged foods, service of large volumes of food, food preparation requiring multiple steps and handling, etc.

A suggested system of menu evaluation involves the review of categories of foods and their required preparation, i.e.:

• all food needs to come from an inspected and approved source
• thin meats such as poultry, fish, eggs (hamburgers, sliced meats, & fillets)
• thick meats and whole poultry (roast beef, whole turkey, whole chickens, & hams)
• cold processed foods (salad, sandwiches, vegetables)
• hot processed foods (soups, stews, casseroles)
• bakery goods

This system is useful since the critical control points for each process remain the same regardless of the individual menu ingredients.

The menu for a food service establishment dictates the space and equipment requirements for the safe preparation and service of various food items. The menu will determine if the proposed receiving and delivery areas, storage area, preparation and handling areas, and thawing, cooking, and reheating areas are available and adequate to handle the types and volumes of foods being served.

When looking at the menu, evaluate the flow patterns for the preparation of the foods to be served to be sure that the lay-out of the facility provides an adequate separation of raw ingredients from ready-to-eat foods, that the traffic patterns are not crossing paths with waste items and other sources of contamination.

With proper understanding of the menu, the plans for food service establishments can be reviewed to assure that the food items proposed can be protected during the service operation.

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Other references are available for additional formulas and information. One such reference includes: Kazarian, E. A., Ph.D., Food Service Facilities Planning. Copyright Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY., 1989.