This part follows the consumer guidance of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and, where it differs, Food Standards Scotland (FSS).
It is the same advice given to people preparing food at home to eat orally.
Additional food handling legislation applies to businesses where food is prepared and served, including schools, respite and hospital settings (Part 11, Appendix 5).
1. Everyday food safety and hygiene practices apply to blended diet prepared at home
General food safety principles are sufficient to make blends safe, but they have to be followed.
Where standardised safe handling is followed, microbial contamination of home-prepared blends is minimised; where it is not, real-world sampling has found bacterial counts above acceptable thresholds.
Safety depends on time, temperature and cleaning practice. Contamination occurs where these lapse.
2. Advise on safe food handling, hygiene and storage
Advice should cover the whole chain from ingredient to administration: handwashing, separating raw and cooked foods, cooking as if the food were to be eaten orally, cleaning equipment, time at room temperature, storage, defrosting, heating, labelling and transport.
3. Wash hands thoroughly and clean surfaces before preparing blends
Hands should be washed thoroughly with soap and warm water before handling food, and again between handling raw and cooked foods. Kitchen surfaces should be cleaned before preparation begins.
4. Separate raw and cooked ingredients during storage
Raw meat and fish should be stored in sealed containers on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Use different chopping boards and knives to prepare raw and ready-to-eat foods or wash thoroughly using soap and warm water between preparing different ingredients.
Fresh fruit and vegetables need to be washed before use.
5. Store ingredients appropriately and use the use-by date
Follow food storage instructions. Keep ingredients sealed or in an airtight container. Use by is a safety date, and food should not be used after it even if it looks and smells fine.
Best before is a quality date, and food is usually still safe afterwards, though it may have lost flavour or texture.
For packaged foods, once opened, use within the time frame specified on the pack.
Decant the contents of opened tinned foods into food safe storage containers rather than keeping the open tin in the fridge, as metal transfers into the food once it is exposed to air.
Do not use a tin that is blown, leaking, rusted or dented on a seam.
6. Cook ingredients as if they were to be eaten orally
All food ingredients used in blends should be prepared as though they were to be eaten orally. For example, raw chicken should be thoroughly cooked before it is blended.
A food thermometer is a useful tool for checking that foods have reached the advised temperature, 70°C for two minutes.
7. Clean all equipment used to prepare, store and administer blends
Wash equipment such as chopping boards and knives in warm soapy water, rinse, and leave it to air dry.
A sanitising step, such as boiling water, a sterilising solution or a hot dishwasher cycle, should be used for groups vulnerable to foodborne illness.
Wash and dry cloths and sponges before each use, as dirty damp items encourage bacteria to grow.
8. Keep blends at room temperature for no more than two hours
Once cooked, any food, including a blend, should spend as little time as possible between 8°C and 63°C, the temperature range in which bacteria multiply fastest. Two separate limits apply.
Cool a blend and get it into the fridge within two hours of cooking.
After that, a blend should spend no more than two hours out of the fridge in total, counting travel and the time taken to give it.
9. Blends can be stored in the refrigerator (0 to 5°C) for up to 48 hours
Check the refrigerator temperature with a fridge thermometer.
Cool a blend quickly by dividing it into small, shallow, covered and labelled portions.
Do not put a large warm volume straight into the fridge, which raises the temperature of the whole fridge.
Blends should be stored in an airtight container above any raw foods.
10. Blends can be frozen below -18°C for one to three months
Freezing prevents the growth of bacteria, yeasts and moulds; the storage time depends on the ingredients, with some small nutrient loss over time.
Label batch-blended portions with a description, a made-on date and a use-by date.
Defrost frozen blends thoroughly in the refrigerator (0 to 5°C): this keeps the blend below the temperatures at which bacteria grow.
Defrosting at room temperature means the outer layers thaw and warm, allowing bacteria to multiply, while the core is still frozen.
Discard defrosted blends after 24 hours if not used.
Frozen or defrosted blends do not need reheating before use but many prefer to warm for comfort (point 12).
11. Cool cooked rice within one hour and store it for no more than 24 hours
Cooked rice can carry Bacillus cereus spores, which survive cooking and multiply if the food is cooled slowly or stored for too long.
Rapid cooling and short storage periods keep these blends safe. The toxin produced is not destroyed by heating.
Blends containing rice may be given chilled or reheated once until steaming hot throughout.
12. Give a blend at whatever temperature suits the person
Cold from the fridge, at room temperature or warmed, the choice makes no difference to safety, provided the blend was prepared hygienically, cooled rapidly and stored, or frozen and defrosted, as set out in points 1 to 11.
It does not need reheating just because it contains meat, fish, poultry or other cooked ingredients.
Where there is any uncertainty about cooling, time out of the fridge or storage, discard the blend. Heating will not make it safe, because heat kills bacteria but does not destroy the toxins they may produce.
A cold blend can feel strange going in, and many people prefer to warm it.
Warm the container gently under warm running water or in a jug of warm water and mix thoroughly, or take it out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Or microwave it, on a defrost or low setting for longer to reduce hotspots, and stir well.
Whichever is used, the blend should be given within the two-hour limit (point 8).
A blend should only be reheated once.
Warming for comfort does nothing to bacteria, so it is governed by the two-hour limit rather than by a limit on the number of times (Appendix 5). Appendix 5 addresses storage, who the blend is for and where it is being given.
13. Reheat a blend containing chilled ready-to-eat food where the person is more vulnerable to foodborne illness
Some people are more vulnerable to foodborne illness caused by Listeria, an organism that keeps growing at refrigeration temperatures.
This group includes infants and young children, people who are pregnant, older adults and those with cancer, organ transplants, uncontrolled HIV or diabetes, chronic liver or kidney disease, or on oral steroids or immunosuppressive treatment.
Listeria is carried in chilled ready-to-eat foods rather than in food that has been thoroughly cooked, cooled quickly and kept at 0 to 5°C.
So for these people, where the blend contains chilled ready-to-eat foods such as soft cheese, pâté, smoked fish or sliced cooked meats, heat it until steaming hot throughout, which the FSA takes as equivalent to 70°C for two minutes.
A blend of thoroughly cooked ingredients, cooled and stored properly, does not need reheating for safety.
If using a microwave, stir to remove any hotspots.
The blend then needs to cool to a temperature that could comfortably be eaten orally before being given through the tube and also within the two-hour limit (point 8).
14. Do not dehydrate blends at home
Domestic dehydrators work at 40 to 70°C, which overlaps the range in which bacteria multiply fastest.
A balanced blend high in protein and fat can take many hours, or even days, to dry out.
Freeze blends instead if preparing in advance.
Commercially prepared dehydrated blends are manufactured under controlled conditions and are not the same as a home-dried blend; follow the manufacturer’s advice on storage once opened.