Safety Practices

GUIDELINES FOR SAFE FOOD HANDLING & PACKAGING

Our donation project is successful thanks to the personal commitment each of our bakers makes to adhering to the following food safety practices:

  • Store your ingredients in a clean, dry, and cool environment. 
  • Store energy cookie mix, it contains almond meal, in the refrigerator or freezer until you use it.
  • Wash your hands and keep your work surface clean.
  • Pull long hair back or even better, regardless of hair length, wear a cap, like a ball cap to prevent unwanted hair from falling into your baked goods.
  • Make sure loaves and cookies are thoroughly baked, nice brown coloring all the way around. Bread loaves will sound hollow when you gently thump on the bottom. 
  • Thoroughly cool, to room temperature loaves and/or cookies before packaging. This prevents unwanted condensation from building up inside the packaging. 
  • Packaging
    • When items are completely cooled, use kitchen tongs or a gloved hand to place in the bag. (Avoid placing a warm loaf in the bag, which creates condensation, leading to mold and spoilage.)
    • For the bread loaves, squeeze out as much air from the bag as possible, then twist tie tightly closed.
    • For the cookies, fold the top of the wax bakery bag over and affix a sticker over the flap to seal. Watch our packaging video in baker resources if you have questions.
    • Place items in your freezer or a freezer bank until donation. Or, if donating within 24 hours, place them in a brown paper bag, mark the bag with your name, and take them directly to your designated hub by the drop-off time.
    • Well done!

Our Volunteer Agreements

  • I agree to adhere to all safety practices above.
  • I agree to use only the ingredients listed in the Community Loaves formula.
  • I agree to seek assistance through the Community Loaves Baker Support, bakersupport@communityloaves.org and by watching the tutorial videos found in Baker Resources when needed.
  • I will maintain the confidentiality of all Community Loaves bread formulas and recognize them as the property of the nonprofit Community Loaves.
  • I will not market, sell or use any Community Loaves bread formulas, materials (including but not limited to handouts, videos, web content), processes or practices outside of the Community Loaves bread donation project without the express permission of the company, Community Loaves.  
  • All contact information, including but not limited to email addresses and phone numbers, provided by users within the Community Loaves platform is intended solely for Community Loaves-related correspondence and interactions and not for private use.
  • Users are strictly prohibited from using contact information obtained through Community Loaves for personal correspondence or soliciting purposes unrelated to Community Loaves. Users must respect the privacy of others and refrain from any unauthorized use of contact information.