HEALTHFUL
Guidelines for Safe Preparation of
Shawarmas or Similar Meat Products
These current guidelines are meant to guide the
procedures for preparing donairs and shawarma meat
products safely in all types of food preparation premises.
It also informs on a two step or secondary cooking process
as well as established temperatures to ensure food safety.
WHAT ARE SHAWARMAS AND
DONAIRS AND WHY THE NEED
FOR GUIDELINES?
Shawarmas or donairs are typically made with beef, but
can also use poultry or lamb. Donairs are made from
ground meat shaped in a cone and frozen whereas
shawarmas are made with strips of meat that are marinated
and put on a vertical skewer. Both are cooked on a rotating
spit in front of a source of heat, usually a broiler.
The risks associated with this type of products come from
the increased surface areas of the meat product as well as
the extra processing of the meat to prepare it for cooking.
Preparations like these allow for the potential introduction
of pathogens throughout the meat, and the slow cooking
process on a vertical broiler can also contribute to
microbial contamination.
032-0242b
FS-8190 (16)
In Canada, there have been four documented food-borne
illness outbreaks since 2004 – 3 due to E. coli and one to
salmonella, linked to donair or shawarma consumption.
Inadequate cooking was identified as the cause of the
illness, either due to failure of cooking process, insufficient
cooking time or slicing too deeply in raw or frozen meat
cone leading to undercooked meat slices being served to
the public.
These guidelines aim to recommend a procedure to ensure
donairs and shawarmas are prepared safely in food
establishments by encouraging the development of a
risk-based food safety plan.
GUIDELINES
»» All meat used to prepare donairs or shawarmas must
come from approved sources.
»» Meat cones prepared fresh must be frozen immediately
and remain frozen until used for cooking.
»» Frozen donairs or shawarmas taken from the freezer must
be placed directly on rotating broiler for cooking.
»» Use a clean sanitized knife to cut off cooked meat from
the exterior of the cone (approximately ¼ inch or .6 cm).
»» The meat must cook uninterrupted even when slicing.
The broiler must not be turned down to slow the
cooking of the meat.
»» Pieces of meat sliced from the cone must be submitted
to a secondary cooking step to ensure it is fully cooked.
Secondary step cooking can be in the form of grilling,
baking in the oven or any other method approved by
food inspection staff in your public health office.
»» Temperatures for secondary cooking of meats used for
donairs or shawarmas:
›› Beef or lamb: 71ºC or 160ºF for a minimum of
15 seconds
›› Poultry: 74ºC or 165ºF for a minimum of
15 seconds
»» Adequate thermometer must be used in the food
establishment to ensure and measure proper secondary
cooking step. A probe thermometer with a sensor tip
works best for thinly sliced foods.
»» Meats that have undergone the secondary cooking
process should be used immediately, stored in a hot
holding unit at temperatures of 60ºC or 140ºF or more,
or quickly cooled to 4 ºC or 40 ºF or more and stored.
The Canadian Food Inspection System recommends
cooling from 60ºC or 140ºF to 20ºC or 68ºF or less within
2 hours, and then from 20ºC or 68ºF to 4ºC or 40ºF or
colder within 4 hours.
»» When the business day is done, partially cooked cones
can be:
›› Sliced down to where the meat is frozen. The
frozen core can be wrapped and returned to the
freezer to be used the next day. The sliced meat
must be fully cooked and cooled and placed in
containers and refrigerated. If the meat on the
cone is not used up on the next day, then it must
be thrown out at the end of the second day or the
cooking process continued until the whole cone is
cooked. The cooked meat can then be refrigerated.
»» The food service or eating establishment must document
the secondary cooking process in its Food Safety Plan.
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN MEETING FOOD ESTABLISHMENT OPERATOR
Where does your donair cone come from? (i.e. Is
it bought from approved sources? Does it come
frozen? Is it already all cooked? What size of cone?
How fast is it used?)
Are cones made fresh on the premises? How do you
go about preparing a cone? Is the material cooked
or raw? How is it stored? How is it cooked? Is it
made by hand or molded?
What is the cooking process?
How can you tell the donair is cooked? Is the
temperature measured? What is the cooked
temperature?
Is there a secondary cooking step for the sliced
meats? How are they heated? Do you check to
ensure meats have proper temperatures after
secondary step?
How do you handle the leftovers, if any, at the end
of the day? Do you reuse the cone?
If you require this information in an alternate format, please call 1 800 267-7120 and press 0.