Cooking steak on a grill section

On a restaurant grill section, steaks go on and come off all through service. Each one is cooked the way a customer ordered it, from rare to well done. The kitchen keeps the same food safety rules for every plate.

Which meat can go out rare

Safer food, better business is the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) food safety pack for small caterers. It says beef or lamb served rare should be whole cuts only, such as steaks and whole joints.

The cook makes sure all of the outside surfaces are fully cooked first. On a whole cut, the pack explains, bacteria are only ever on the outside of the meat.

Whole cuts of pork, rolled joints, burgers and sausages are different. The pack asks for each of them to reach a safe temperature in the centre, with no pink or red. The FSA has separate guidance for kitchens that want to serve beef burgers pink. It says they must tell their council beforehand.

Writing the checks down

The pack has a sheet called "Checking your menu". The kitchen chooses a check for each type of key cooked dish on its menu. For a rare steak, the check is that all of the outside surfaces are fully cooked.

For other dishes, the pack asks for a disinfected temperature probe to prove that the food is properly cooked. Its examples of safe combinations include 75°C for at least 30 seconds and 65°C for at least 10 minutes.

Turning meat while it cooks helps it cook more evenly, the pack says. When something goes wrong, the kitchen writes down what happened, and what it did, in the pack's diary.

Marinades

A marinade can carry bacteria from raw meat. If left-over marinade is used as a sauce, the pack says to cook it until it is steaming hot.

Fit for work

The pack says anyone with diarrhoea or vomiting should tell their manager straight away, and stay at home or go home. They should not come back to work until they have had no symptoms for 48 hours.

Cuts and sores should be covered with a brightly coloured waterproof dressing, which is easy to spot if it drops into food. Staff should change aprons after working with raw meat. They should not wear watches or jewellery when preparing food, except a plain wedding band.

Training on the section

The pack asks managers to train each member of staff in the safe methods for the tasks they do. Managers then watch them at work, and ask afterwards how they followed each method.

Useful links

To find meat supply, see meatsuppliers.uk.