In cold food storage, how should food items be stacked to ensure safety?

In cold food storage, stacking food items appropriately is crucial for preventing cross-contamination and ensuring food safety. Placing cooked or ready-to-eat (RTE) foods on top is the best practice because it helps to avoid any contamination that could occur from raw foods.

When raw foods, especially raw meats, are stored above cooked foods, the juices or drippings from the raw items can easily contaminate the ready-to-eat foods below. This can lead to foodborne illnesses if those cooked foods are consumed without further cooking.

By organizing the storage with cooked or ready-to-eat items on top, you create a safety barrier that minimizes the risk of harmful bacteria spreading from raw to cooked foods. This arrangement adheres to the principle of keeping raw and cooked foods separate, which is essential in any food handling and storage process to maintain safe food practices.