At the deli counter goods arrive cold, sit in a chilled cabinet, then wait at room temperature until they are sliced and wrapped, and that wait repeats with every customer. The regulation gives no minutes for it. Food Hygiene Regulation Article 18 requires that food is not held at temperatures that could create a health risk and that the cold chain is not broken; it allows ambient temperature for limited periods if no health risk results. You set that limited period from your own measurements at the counter.
A week of measuring is set up like this:
- At the busy hour, take the surface temperature of the piece waiting on the bench three times; what matters for the product is the piece's own temperature, not the cabinet air.
- For each batch write down when it leaves the cabinet, when slicing starts, when packing ends and when it returns to the cold.
- Do not record the cabinet sensor value as a product reading.
Preparing ahead pays only if the prep area is cold and the time short; slicing ahead in a warm area gains nothing. In the prep room, goods held in a closed insulated container with a frozen plate warm less over the same period and travel to the counter closed. If the slicer, knives and boards sit at room temperature, the product warms slightly with every contact; cleaning the equipment regularly through the day and keeping it cool helps on temperature as much as on hygiene.
Once the record exists, the explanation for write-offs changes too: before saying 'demand dropped', you can see how many hours the leftover piece spent on the bench, and the amount prepared each morning is discussed again.
