Requirements for Indoor Dispensing of Foods Under a University Food Permit

Permission to engage in future events may be contingent upon compliance with the requirements below.

Temperature Control

All potentially hazardous food (PHF) (includes food of animal origin that is raw or heat-treated; a food of plant origin that is heat-treated or consists of raw seed sprouts; cut melons) can and will support bacterial growth. To ensure the safety of your guests, be sure you receive your foods hot (above 135ºF) or cold (below 41ºF) to avoid bacterial growth. Do not leave PHFs at room temperature for more than 3 hours—transport time and serving time included. Discard all leftovers held at room temperature for 3 hours or more.

Food Handling 

• To comply with the Minnesota Food Code, open pans/containers of food accessible to everyone's hands and sneeze/cough aerosol droplets are to be avoided. Therefore, set-up and serving configurations are to minimize potential contamination of foods by guests from coughing, sneezing, random touching, etc., and need to include the use of barriers (e.g. sneeze shields, table placement, barriers, closed boxes, etc.) or by having the food dispensed under the control of designated servers. See the Buffet Service Guidelines regarding approved buffet line set-ups and operations.
• Avoid bare hand contact. If potato chips, cookies, etc., are on the menu for buffet service, either leave in original individual wrapping, or take measures to eliminate hand contact. Servers wearing food-grade gloves should serve your guests, or tongs or scoops need to be provided for the guests.
• Use only single-service disposable eating and drinking utensils. Some examples of these are: single-use food papers, napkins, toothpicks, spoons, forks, etc. These items are for single use only and should not be reused.
• Ice baths used to hold beverage containers (bottles, cans) should be continuously drained to an appropriate receptacle to prevent hand-contaminated ice water coming in contact with the mouth-contact surfaces of containers.
• All work or table surfaces shall be cleaned and sanitized before any food or food containers are placed on the surface. Household bleach, mixed at a ratio of one tablespoon to a gallon of potable water, is a good sanitizing solution. Sanitizing solution shall be applied with a single service, disposable cloth/paper towel. Disposable cloths should also be used to wipe up food spills, etc.

Personal Hygiene

Individuals participating in set-up or serving of the food shall: 

• Maintain their hands in a clean condition.
• Wash hands after using the toilet, handling raw food, or other contamination of the hands.
• Wear clean outer garments and effective hair restraint (hats are okay).
• Not serve or prepare food when knowing they have a communicable disease, or have been ill with vomiting, fever, or diarrhea within 72 hours of the event.