A discussion of the relationship of time and bacterial growth.....
Growth rates for bacteria vary with the type of bacteria. These organisms generally double the population every 9-20 minutes. This is exponential growth and is seen when all factors for growth are generally favorable.
Optimum temperature for Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus is approximately 99 F. Clostridium perfringens prefers a temperature of 112 F, while E. coli prefers a temperature range of 126 F. 14
Keeping food out of danger zones is one method of controlling growth. The other is limiting time in the growth zones.
Make your goal to limit the total time in the growth zone to 240 minutes or 4 hours. Use the standardized recipe and HACCP temperature chart for recipe documentation as a basis to ensure that food is never in the growth zone for more than 240 minutes. The darkened lines on the temperature chart enable an employee or manager to visually determine if the food prepared from a given recipe passes through the danger zone fast enough to meet the limitation.
Return to Chapter 3 HACCP
Return to Table of Contents Return to Bacteria
Copyrighted material 7/97 Making Choices.... Stewart Enterprises 210
Last UpdatedMay 13, 1998 by Stewart Enterprises - Kathy and Doug Stewart