Proper Food Storage Poster: Boulder County Cook Temps PDF

Proper Food Storage is the Boulder County Licensing poster titled Food Storage and Minimum Cooking Temperatures, a reference that gives the minimum cooking temperatures for foods and the rule that all food must be stored on shelves or platforms 6 inches off the ground.

The poster prints these temperatures:

• Seafood, beef, pork and whole eggs: 145°F.
• Ground meat and egg yolk: 155°F.
• Poultry: 165°F.

It also carries a heading for ready-to-eat foods. The storage rule at the bottom is the poster's single storage requirement: shelves or platforms, 6 inches off the ground.

The footer reads 1/2018 and BoulderCountyFood.org. The poster has no fields to complete, no signature block and no number or permit that completing it would produce; it is meant to be read and kept where it can be consulted.

Boulder County's page of tools for restaurant managers, a separate page from the poster, describes food safety and Active Managerial Control (AMC). It names three basics of AMC: create policies based on your business' needs, train your employees on your policies, and follow up with the expectation that your employees are following them. The poster is a handy aid for the first two.

The main audience is the people who prepare and store food in restaurants and other retail food establishments in Boulder County, including the managers who write and teach the establishment's policies. Boulder County Licensing's page of tools for restaurant managers addresses these businesses and says that those using Active Managerial Control practices do better at inspection and have fewer instances of foodborne illness.

Kitchen staff can use the poster as a quick check of the minimum temperature for a given food and of the storage rule. Managers can use it when they create policies and train employees on them, two of the three AMC basics the county lists.

The poster states the 6-inch storage rule and the temperatures as facts; it does not say who must display it, who inspects compliance, or what happens if a rule is missed. It is not a license application, a permit or a property tax document, and no one signs it or files it. For questions about licensing requirements, contact Boulder County Licensing through the county's website.