Question –
Q – “Do nurseries heat up children’s food? We have some children coming to us all day and parents have asked if we can heat up their tea they have brought in, in the microwave.”
Answers –
A –“ We have a cook in our setting so quite a few children have a hot dinner. We do heat meals up for babies and toddlers for mealtimes if they have brought it in but we do not do this for preschool as too many children and gets too much. We do a bigger snack at 4pm and all our parents know it’s a bigger snack so they don’t usually bring in any tea for the children.”
A – “The younger children do, under regulations reheated food has to have a core temp of 82 C. Most parents bring in a jar of baby food or something that doesn’t necessarily need to be microwaved but for the most part we do it anyway so the child will eat. But in the 3-5 age groups there are so many children to work with, and teas should be fazed out by this stage anyway, children are allowed to bring in a cold tea (sandwiches, rolls etc).”
A – “We have a company bring in our fresh meals in the morning and we will then reheat and serve. All staff have food hygiene and we keep registers of all food temperatures each day’s for each single item”
A – “No we provide a tea for the children as per the settings menu which is on a 4 week rota which changes on 14th November to the winter menu. We don’t allow children to bring food because of food allergies etc.”
A – “food made by the nursery can be re-heated etc… but food brought in by parents certainly wouldn’t be heated (most places dont allow food to be brought in other than lunches) :s”
A – “Staff need their food hygiene certificates and food needs to be heated to certain temps by law. No high risk foods such as rice to be reheated.”
A – “Nope. Not food from home, if they haven’t stored it properly or it’s a high risk food such as rice the setting could be liable if the child gets sick. Cold food that you put straight into the fridge isn’t as risky but I’d still get parents to just put the food in the fridge themselves so they can’t accuse you of not storing it properly!”
A – “We do especially in baby room where meals need to be heated. Other children in the nursery have meals heated too at tea time.”
A – “No , as you do not know how many times it may have been reheated before , we state this is our policy following recommendations from EHO”
A – “No we don’t heat up, food from home at all unless it’s the baby jars.”
A – “I used to in a nursery just followed the guidelines in the environmental health book about temperature”
A – “Are you allowed to do that? Just in case something’s in that food that your unaware of..”
A – “Yes we do, staff need to have food hygiene training and we also keep records of the temperature food was reheated too”
A – “hot dinners and snack tea but warmed if needed”
A – “Check government guidelines”
I’m concerned about food temps. Having come from a restaurant/ hotel background have always adhered to the standard EHO food legislation laws, one of which is a minimum temp of 63dc at point of service. Now I’m told that this is too hot for children and to use my common sense to allow food to cool to a ‘comfortable and safe temperature ‘ I’m an experienced and professional chef who has never had any problems or mishaps in the kitchen, I’m dubious about my understanding of said temp and someone else’s… moreso the opinion of EHO or parent if a child gets sick. My employers can’t give me an answer as they don’t have one. I’ve contacted the food standards agency however while I’m waiting for a reply thought I’d ask on here , what is your experience of this situation?