Minimum Standards for Tribal Child Care: A Health and Safety Guide
Table of Contents (This document is also available in PDF and Word format.)
Section III:
Infection Control
Food Safety
Principle
Food should be stored, prepared, and served in a manner that prevents the spread of disease.
Why This Is Important
- Improperly stored food can spoil and/or lead to rodent and insect contamination.
- Poor food preparation practices can lead to contamination and disease.
Standards
Drinking Water
- Safe drinking water should be accessible to children while indoors or outdoors.
- Drinking water should be dispensed by personal water bottle, drinking fountain, or cups labeled for individual use by each child.
Food Handling
- Food should be properly wrapped and handled.
- Foods brought from home should be labeled with the child’s name, date, and the type of food, and should not be shared with other children unless intended for that purpose.
- Warm food should be maintained at a temperature not less than 140ºF.
- Cold foods should be properly refrigerated, maintained at a temperature of 40ºF or lower in the refrigerator and 0ºF or lower in the freezer.
- Food that has been served on the child’s plate and not eaten should be discarded in containers with tight fitting lids that are emptied at least daily.
Bottle Feeding and Breastfeeding
- Breastmilk (if not frozen) and prepared bottles of formula should be kept refrigerated until immediately before use.
- Frozen breastmilk should be thawed under cold running water or in the refrigerator.
- When there is more than one bottle-fed infant, bottles of breastmilk and formula should be labeled with the child’s name and should be used only for the intended child.
- Breastmilk or formula should be warmed in a pan of hot, not boiling, water for 5 minutes. The bottle should then be shaken, and the milk temperature tested before feeding.
- Microwaves should never be used to heat bottles of formula or breastmilk.
- Any contents remaining in a bottle of formula or breastmilk after feeding should be discarded.
- Prepared bottles of formula should be discarded after 24 hours if not used.
- Once opened, containers of ready-to-feed or concentrated formula should be kept covered and refrigerated. They should be discarded after 48 hours if not used.
- Unused, expressed breastmilk should be discarded after 48 hours if refrigerated, or after 2 weeks if frozen.
Choking Prevention
- Precautions against choking should be taken when feeding infants and toddlers.
- Caregivers should not offer to children under 4 years of age any foods that are implicated in choking incidents (including foods that are round, hard, small, thick and sticky, smooth, or slippery). Examples of these foods are hot dogs (whole or sliced into rounds), whole grapes, hard candy, nuts, seeds, raw peas, hard pretzels, chips, peanuts, popcorn, marshmallows, spoonfuls of peanut butter, carrot and celery sticks, and chunks of meat larger than can be swallowed whole.
Feeding Schedules
- The caregiver should provide nutritious meals according to a written plan.
- The caregiver should ensure that:
- Children in care for 8 and fewer hours are offered at least one nutritious meal and two nutritious snacks or two meals and one snack;
- Children in care for more than 8 hours are offered at least two meals and two snacks or three meals and one snack;
- A nutritious snack is offered to all children in midmorning and in midafternoon;
- Children are offered food at intervals of not less than 2 hours apart and not more than 3 hours apart unless the child is asleep.
- Caregivers should feed infants on demand unless the parent provides written instructions otherwise.
- Individuals responsible for food preparation or service should be free of contagious disease.
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