Food Served at Meetings

Food is often served at workplace meetings. To avoid wasting food and to provide a "treat" for other staff, it is a common practice in some workplaces to re-serve the leftovers in the Coffee Room or at a subsequent meeting the next day. However, re-serving food is a very unsafe health practice in the workplace for the following reasons:

• Food may easily be contaminated by many hands.
• Food that requires refrigeration may be left at room temperature (in the Danger Zone) for a total period of no longer than 2 hours.

Tips for the Workplace

• Keep hazardous foods in the refrigerator until they are served
• Throw out food that is leftover at the end of the meeting
• Do not re-serve food that has already been served
• Certain things such as baked goods are not considered hazardous and can be shared with other staff members
• Remember, when in doubt - throw it out!