SF Environmental
Promoting low-
lives and protect the environment
SF Environmental -
9, The Pastures, York, YO24 2JE, UK
HAYBOX COOKING -
One of the main concerns when cooking food in a haybox is the growth of bacteria in food kept warm for a long time. The graph below shows the food safety advice for the UK. The safety advice in other countries is very similar.
Once food is heated above 70 deg C the micro-
In a well constructed haybox, the time for the temperature to drop to 65 deg C is more than 3 hours. It will take a further 2 hours for the temperature to drop to 55 deg C. The risk of significant bacterial growth is negligible and the food should still be safe as long as it is consumed straight away.
The advice from the Apprevecho Research Centre on food safety when cooking in a haybox is:
“Bacterial poisoning can be avoided by two simple steps. Make sure that the food
is initially boiled for at least 5 minutes. Then keep the lid closed from that point
on and re-
In general, food can be cooked in the haybox for up to 5 hours and then eaten without
having to be re-