How do you protect food on a buffet?

  • Use sneeze guards, lids, domes or covered displays. Uncover only while serving.
  • No raw meat, poultry or fish on self-service.
  • A trained worker watches the line, replaces dropped utensils and removes food that gets contaminated.
  • Hot food at 135°F or above, cold food at 41°F or below (set cold dishes in ice to the food level), or under the 4-hour rule with the discard time marked.

Sources: Food Code 3-306.11 · Food Code 3-306.13 · Food Code 3-501.16 · Food Code 3-501.19

Where does the serving spoon go between uses?

  • A separate utensil in every dish, with a handle long enough to stay out of the food.
  • Between uses, rest it in one of six places: in the food with the handle up out of it; in a closed bin of dry food that is not TCS food; on a clean, sanitized spot; in running water (moist food like ice cream); in a clean, protected spot (a scoop for food that is not TCS food); or in water at 135°F or above. Never on the bare table, a towel or in another dish.
  • Change it when dropped, used in another dish, or touched at the food end, and at least every 4 hours.

Sources: Food Code 3-304.12 · Food Code 3-306.13(B) · Food Code 4-602.11

Can food sent back be served again?

  • Customers take a clean plate for seconds. Tell them, with a sign or in person.
  • Food served to a customer and sent back is never served again. Throw it out and log it. The only exceptions are a closed narrow-neck bottle (catsup, steak sauce) and food like crackers, salt or pepper in an unopened original package in sound condition, and only if it doesn't need to stay hot or cold.

Sources: Food Code 3-304.16 · Food Code 2-103.11(M) · Food Code 3-306.14 · Food Code 3-701.11

Can you refill a customer's own mug?

  • Refill a customer's own travel mug or bottle only if it can't contaminate your equipment or other drinks.
  • Refuse cups that look dirty.
  • The cup never touches a spout, nozzle or tap. Pour from above.
  • Never dip a personal cup into a shared tub, ice chest or punch bowl.

Sources: Food Code 3-304.17(B)

The rules behind it

  • Hot and cold holding. Hot 135°F or above and cold 41°F or below, except a whole roast cooked on the roast chart (130°F or above, not on a food truck), raw shell eggs (the air around them 45°F or below) and food marked under time control (Food Code 3-501.19, 4 hours, not on a food truck). Food carried to an event is probed at loading and on arrival. Food Code 3-501.16, 3-501.19; R392-102-12(6)
  • Buffet and self-service protection. Sneeze guards, covers or cases on displayed food; a utensil for each dish; a trained employee watches the line; no raw meat, poultry or fish on self-service; customers told to take a clean plate for seconds; food returned by a customer is never served again (the only exceptions: a closed narrow-neck bottle, or crackers, salt or pepper in an unopened original package in sound condition, and only for food that does not need to stay hot or cold; 3-306.14). Food Code 3-306.11, 3-306.13, 3-304.16, 3-306.14, 2-103.11(M); docs/source/research/buffet-and-dinner-service.md · source