Getting Started: The most important part of preparation is getting your booth ready and pleasing to public.
Items needed for a Food Booth:
- Food Permit must be posted and visible to the public.
- Three Buckets for wash, rinse, and sanitize ware-washing system.
- Cooler with a spigot for hand washing and a bucket to catch dirty water.
- Soap and disposable towels for hand washing station
- Bucket for sanitizer solution to store wiping cloths
- Bleach or quaternary ammonia for ware washing and wiping cloths.
- Test strips for the appropriate sanitizer. Bleach solutions for ware washing should read between 50-100ppm. Quaternary Ammonia solutions should read between 200-400ppm.
- Metal stem thermometer to check temps. Cold foods (41 F or less) and hot foods (135 F or more)
- Thermometer in each refrigerated unit and cooler.
- Hair restraint for each food handler
- Gloves or utensils to use as barrier with ready-to-eat food.
- Covered trash can.
- Adequate facilities for maintaining proper food items cold (41 F or less) or hot (135 F or greater).
Things to Remember
- Before you begin to operate set up hand wash station, ware wash station, and sanitation bucket.
- Food workers shall wash their hands routinely and have easy access to hand wash stations.
- No Barehand contact with ready to eat food is allowed. Wash hands before gloves!
- Persons who are ill or exhibiting symptoms of illness shall not prepare or serve food.
- Store food and single service articles 6” off the floor/ground.
- No drinking or eating in the food prep area.
- Label food and toxic items.
- All Food must be cooked on site or at a permitted kitchen. Do not save potentially hazardous food at the end of the day. Cook to the crowd.
- Provide screening or fly control when needed.
- Store wiping cloths in sanitizer bucket. (100-200ppm)
- Keep food out of the danger zone!
Set up ware washing station to properly wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and equipment. Buckets should be labeled and big enough for the largest item.
Designate a hand wash station area (away from food, paper, and utensils). Always have soap and disposable hand towels. A Cooler with a spigot and a bucket to catch the wastewater is needed.
Prohibited Foods
- Foods Prepared from a home kitchen cannot be sold.
- Wild game or any meat not inspected by USDA or other official governmental regulatory agency.
- Pastries filled with cream, custards, and similar products.
- Other food items or ingredients, which may constitute a high risk in a temporary setting.