Food Technology Terms and Definition
ACUTE CARE – normally referred to as ‘ a hospital’ but truly the terminology used to describe services for
people that stay at a site for a short period of time . This time frame could be a day visit (outpatient) or for a
number for a number of days (inpatient). The average length of stay for an acute care location is normally
2.5 - 4 days .
AMBULATORY CARE – often referred to as a ‘clinic’ this is a triage type location that normally sees people
and refers them to other medical facilities or practitioners
LONG TERM CARE or LTC – a facility for the elderly with normal average lengths of stay of 3-5 months
with some residents often staying for years.
RESIDENTIAL CARE – The term «residential care facilities» refers to facilities which are approved, funded or licensed by provincial/territorial departments of health and/or social services. Among the facilities
included are homes for the aged (including nursing homes), persons with physical disabilities, persons who
are developmentally delayed, persons with psychiatric disabilities, persons with alcohol and drug problems,
emotionally disturbed children, transients, young offenders and others.
CHRONIC CARE – a facility that cares for people that will be in need of support and care for a long time
(upward of 5 years or longer). These are facilities that care for serious disabilities and ailments such as
mental illness, stroke, coma, and serious spinal cord injuries (i.e. quadraplaegic).
HEALTH CARE SUPPORT SERVICES – food, housekeeping, maintenance, laundry, security, portering
(sometimes pharmacy, labs, and storeroom)
CLINICAL DIETITIAN – a professional dietitian who normally reports though the clinical side of the hospital
rather than being a part of the support service team…they have a relationship to build and maintain with
dietetics or food services department but they are often considered as part of the programs department
rather than food services.
ADMINISTRATIVE DIETITIAN – a professional designation that describes a dietitian who has more management experience and training rather than clinical training. An Admin Dietitian cannot counsel patients
and prescribe diet therapy.
REGIONALIZATION – a term used to describe a multi site group of health care locations that have merged
under one authoritarian body such as one board or one team of senior management. This has become a
new process mandated by some governments to find efficiency and operational savings through consolidation and removal of duplication and waste.
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GROUP PURCHASING or BUYING GROUP – many hospitals have opted to join large buying groups to try
and find savings in raw food costs due to economies of scale akin to larger volume purchases. This also helps
standardize what hospitals use and is of particular advantage in large regional groups of hospitals – therefore,
if employee xyz works at Hospital A one day and is called in to work at Hospital B the next day, she/he will be
using the same equipment etc.
FOOD SERVICE WORKER or AIDE – some one that works in Food Services
PORTER – a position name given to someone who is responsible for moving carts etc throughout the health
care facility as well as delivery and pick up of patients
FOOD SERVICE MANAGER / DIRECTOR – the person in charge of the food service department. A layer of
supervisors report to this person and this person could be responsible for a number of locations
DIRECTOR OF SUPPORT SERVICES – often this person has a number of departments reporting to them
such as housekeeping, dietary, maintenance, and security and could well be responsible for more than one
location.
PATIENT AS OPPOSED TO NON PATIENT FOOD SERVICES – patient foodservices is as it sounds, a service provided to in and outpatients of the hospital usually to their direct care area such as their room. Non
Patient Food Services is usually referred to as Retail services or catering.
RETHERM or RETHERMALIZATION – a process whereby cooked food that is cold is reheated to serving
temperature. Also called Regeneration or Regen for short
BELTLINE – the mechanical beltline that sends a tray past various food service stations so that employess
can place food products on the tray as per the need of that patient.
TRAY SERVICE – meals are served to patients on trays. Normally the patient chooses their meal components
ahead of time and the tray is assembled in advance of the actual service. This is the norm for most acute care
settings
BULK SERVICE – meals are served to patients from a trolley that has a array of hot and cold foods to choose
from . Usually patients can make their choice and be served immediately after the preferences are given to
the food service worker.
SMALLWARES – this is anything that can be used to help feed a patient and includes everything from trays,
plates, bowls, cups, lids, etc. These can be made of high heat plastics or china/porcelain. Burlodge carries a
wide range of disposable smallware products as well such as lids, plates, side dishes, and cups.
ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT – these are pieces of equipment that are used in support of larger equipment such
as retherm carts. They often include such items as tray carts, plate storage racks, beltlines, baskets, etc.
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CONVECTION HEAT – a method of reheating food using hot air movement by fan. Food is gently brought to
serving temperature by constantly passing hot air around the entire food . This is similar to how you heat food
at home.
CONDUCTION HEAT – a method of heating food by heating the pod that the plate is positioned on. The plate
emits the heat into the food thus heating the food from the bottom up. This causes excessive moisture to form
on lids as well as tends to scorch food.
INDUCTION HEATING – a method that sees the plate becoming warm when it comes in contact with a special
surface. The special surface is not hot to the touch. The plate, however, has a special metal plate inside the
porcelain that will become hot when it is contacted by the special surface.
LIAISON CHAUDE – the method of tray assembly that has hot food placed on a tray at a beltline.
LIAISON FROIDE – the method of tray assembly that has cold food placed on a tray that will be reheated later
in a retherm unit
MARCHE EN AVANT – the process flow of food through a food service kitchen that has food moving forward
and waste reversing. As the food continues forward it becomes ‘cleaner’ and packaging is removed and it is
stored in sanitary containers
Production Methods:
COOK SERVE - the traditional method of food production where items are freshly prepared just prior to service
three times a day.
COOK FREEZE - advance preparation method whereby food is prepared, rapidly blast frozen and held frozen
in inventory at -18°C until it is tempered (thawed) and rethermalized for service.
COOK CHILL - advance preparation method whereby food is prepared, rapidly blast chilled and held under
controlled chilled storage at 3°C until rethermalized for service.
OUTSOURCED - refers to food which is produced by a commercial food manufacturer and is shipped in either
a frozen or chilled state to the end-user who portions, garnishes and rethermalizes for service.
READY FOODS - a term once used to describe foods prepared in advance of service (could be cook freeze,
cook chill or outsourced) and held under controlled conditions until used.
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Service Methods:
CONVENTIONAL HOT TRAY SERVICE - hot foods are assembled into individual finished meals onto heat
retaining equipment for immediate service to the patient.
CONVENTIONAL HOT BULK SERVICE - pans of hot food containing multiple portions are placed in heat
retaining equipment ready for immediate portioning at point of service.
COLD PLATE TRAY SERVICE - cold foods are assembled into individual meals, stored in specialized equipment and held under chilled conditions until rethermalization just prior to service.
COLD BULK SERVICE - pans of cold food containing multiple portions are placed in specialized equipment,
held under chilled conditions
FULLY TRAYED MEALS - a facility receives from an outside central site fully trayed, chilled meals which are
stored under chilled conditions and rethermalized prior to service.
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Why Dinex Blast Chiller?
PERFORMANCE
• 90 minutes to reduce the food core temperature
from 160F to 38F
• 240 minutes to bring your food temperature from
160F to -0F
• Indirect Air Flow allowing even cooling for every
tray inside the cavity which keeps the dehydration
process to a minimum
USER-FRIENDLY
• Easy to use with an automatic and manual mode
• Multiple cycles include:
Soft Chilling: 28F – 35F - Ideal for delicate food
Hard Chilling: 0F - Very effective for dense and large-sized food
Shock Freeze: -25F – Suited for any food product
Holding: At the end of any cycle the unit will automatically switch to a
hodling mode which will keep food at 38F (chilled) or at 0F (frozen)
• Up to 150 recipe menu, with a minimum of 250 memory locations
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HACCP COMPLIANT
• Heated Food Probe to control the automatic mode
depending on the core temperature of the food. Probe has a
small heating element which can be activated to extract the
food probe from frozen food
• Printer System for temperature log
• Ultraviolet Light to sterilize the metal surfaces within the
cabinet
HEAVY DUTY CONSTRUCTION
• 304 Stainless Steel with 1-1/2” of CFC-free high density
polyurethane insulation
• Mirror finish of the interior panels with bottom rounded
corners for easy cleaning
• Motors are sealed ball bearing wash-down type with a
hermetic compressor
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REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
• Remote condensing units are available for any
application.
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