When cooling potentially hazardous food, specific guidelines are set to ensure food safety. According to these guidelines, potentially hazardous food should be cooled in two stages:
1. First Stage: The food should be cooled from 135°F (57°C) to 70°F (21°C) within 2 hours.
2. Second Stage: The food should then be cooled from 70°F (21°C) to 41°F (5°C) within an additional 4 hours.
These two stages combine to form the total cooling time:
1. Cooling from 135°F to 70°F takes 2 hours.
2. Cooling from 70°F to 41°F takes an additional 4 hours.
Therefore, the total time allowed to cool potentially hazardous food from 135°F (57°C) to 41°F (5°C) is:
[tex]\[ \text{Total Cooling Time} = \text{First Stage} + \text{Second Stage} = 2 \text{ hours} + 4 \text{ hours} = 6 \text{ hours} \][/tex]
Thus, at most, you can take 6 hours to cool potentially hazardous food from 135°F (57°C) to 41°F (5°C).
The correct answer is:
Oc. 6 hours
