Food Safety Standard

Food-O-Copoeia

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India lays down science-based standards for articles of food and regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import, to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption and for matters connected...

Key Partners of Indian Food Safety Emergency Response (FSER) Plan

As the food safety hazards may originate from multiple sectors (plant, animal, feed, processing, etc.) and impact human health, therefore, the key to a successful response is to involve all relevant stakeholders from food sectors and health sectors. This helps...

Special Requirements for High-Risk Foods

This section deals selectively with varieties of food which are high risk as per HACCP and may need special attention. The type of foods covered here are as follows: Cut fruits/salads, fresh juices and beverages Fresh fruits /vegetables cut or...

Good Storage & Distribution Practices of Food Supplement Products

A Food supplement is defined under legislation as foodstuffs the purpose of which is to supplement the normal diet and which are concentrated sources of nutrients or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, alone or in combination, marketed...

Why Your Organisation Needs Standard Operating Procedures

If there’s one thing your employees and customers rely on, it is this: “Consistency.” Your customers want consistency because they need to interact with your products and services and for them to work in a predictable way. Your employees want...

Guide to Color-coding in Food Industry

The advantages of color-coding: You minimize the risk of your products becoming contaminated with microorganisms, allergens, or foreign bodies by separating steps, sections, and areas in the food production process. You reduce the risk and cost of product rejection and...

A Reference Guide for Food Service Operators

More and more people are eating away from home each year, some due to convenience or recreation and others due to necessity. Whether dining in a fast-food restaurant, a school foodservice, a hospital cafeteria, or a fine dining restaurant, people...

How to determine the shelf life of a ready-to-eat food?

Methods: Both direct and indirect methods are possible. Direct methods may take longer but will be the more accurate, e.g. a storage trial using realistic and defined storage conditions such as shelf life or challenge trials. Indirect methods are quicker...

Cleaning in Food Industry

Types of Soils: In order to develop a cleaning plan, the nature of the soil to be cleaned must be understood. There are several classifications of soil systems and food soils are generally complex as they involve many food components...

Food Allergy

Overview and Prevalence: A food allergy has been defined by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as an “adverse health effect arising from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food”. The...

Security of Food

Food products have been identified as subjects to risk of tampering, criminal or terrorist actions. All operators are responsible for the protection of all produce processed and stored in their facilities. The preventative measures listed below are relevant to all...

Indian Food Production, Consumption and Processing

Food Production: India tops the world in milk production with about 200 million tonnes in 2019-20. As per Economic survey of India 2020-21, total food grain production was about 300 million tonnes for FY 20. While India topped millet production...

Pesticides: Food Safety Concerns, Precautions and Safety Measures

Pesticide means any substance intended for preventing, destroying, attracting, repelling, or controlling any pest including unwanted species of plants or animals during the production, storage, transport, distribution, and processing of food, agricultural commodities, or animal feeds or which may be...

Advantages and disadvantages of the packaging materials, effects of these materials on packed commodities

Advantages of different packaging materials & effects of these materials on packed commodities: Retortable pouches The pouches, trays, and tubs are always multilayer laminate structures that contain different polymers which provide heat resistance, strength, and toughness (PET), pierce and pinhole...

Food Manufacturing, Processing and Storage Integrated Pest Management

When people discuss food processing pest management, discussion usually concerns a crisis point or another area where a problem has erupted and people are trying to solve the problem. Most concerns revolve around concern from governmental and regulatory enforcement actions...

Food Waste Segregation and Treatment

Overview of Food Waste Management: Food waste is one of the major waste streams identified with a high generation tonnage but low recycling rate. The amount of food waste generated in all over the world is expected to increase in...

Food Safety Guide for Event Catering

The methods of handling, storing, cooking and displaying of foods, from the point they leave home-base through to point of sale, have to be thought through well before the day of the event. Basic hygiene principles should be applied at...

Allergen information for loose foods

There are big changes to the information that food businesses must give to their customers. During the preparation of loose food, you may be using prepacked foods as ingredients in your recipe. Allergenic ingredients will be emphasised within the ingredients...

Junk Food Vs Healthy Food: Advantages, Disadvantages and Healthier Food Choices

Many of us love greasy and sugary foods and for those used to eating junk food - cheese, deep-fried, sweetness loaded delicacies are an obsession of sorts. Thanks to globalization, various junk foods belonging to global cuisine have crept into...

Plant Based Protein Products

What is a Protein called? A protein is a naturally occurring, extremely complex substance that consists of amino acid residues joined by peptide bonds. Proteins are present in all living organisms and include many essential biological compounds such as enzymes,...

Plant Based Meat Products

What Is Plant-Based Meat? Plant-based meat is pretty straightforward: it is meat made out of plants. Plant-based meats come in many different textures and flavors, all without animals being slaughtered to produce them. Some of them are created to feel...

Moisture and Total Solids Analysis of Food

Moisture assays can be one of the most important analyses performed on a food product and yet one of the most difficult from which to obtain accurate and precise data. This chapter describes various methods for moisture analysis – their...

Training Learning Objectives for Food Handler

The training will address personal hygiene, contamination, and temperature control to reinforce the food handler’s behaviours, which can prevent foodborne illness. Employee Illness: The food handler will know to call the person in charge at the food service facility when...

Food Safety for Community Cooking and Food Banks

Hygiene and allergy advice for individuals and groups preparing meals to share in their community This guidance provides food safety information and guidance for individuals or groups wishing to prepare meals at home for their community. This can include preparing...

Quality and Safety of Frozen Foods

Freezing is one of the most cost-effective ways of extending the long-term shelf life of many foods. Though other emerging technologies, such as infrared irradiation, microwaving, pulsed electric field, and ultrasound, are gaining more attention, freezing remains a dominant food...

Packaging of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

The demand for fresh fruits and vegetables is continuously increasing but their preservation is still a challenge for food industry as they have ability to respire. Apart from common physico-chemical and microbiological degradations there can be degradations from respiration, transpiration...

Prevention of Microbial Contamination in Spices During Processing and Storage

Actions can be taken at every step throughout the growing, harvesting, drying, transportation, and processing of spices to ensure that a clean, safe spice is ultimately delivered to the consumer. Development of supply chain approval and re-evaluation programs and adherence...

Guide to Developing a Food Defense Plan for a Food Processing Plant

What is Food Defense? Food defense is putting measures in place that reduce the chances of the food supply from becoming intentionally contaminated using a variety of chemicals, biological agents or other harmful substances by people who want to do...

Food Operations and Controls

Purchasing raw food: Raw food may only be purchased and accepted from a certified and reliable food establishment source licensed for food trading activity. Documents or records must be available showing the sources and quantities of those materials. Raw foods...

Nutrients and their preparations

Nutrition is the interaction between food and the body. It is about the nutrients contained in food, and their action, interaction and balance in relation to health and disease. It is the process by which people can ingest, digest, absorb,...

Food Safety in the Healthcare Institutions

Introduction: Food safety is an important issue facing us in modern times. The reoccurring challenges of maintaining a safe food environment in restaurants is a scenario commonly heard about, so it’s easy to imagine how imperative it is for a...

Recycling of Food Packaging

Introduction to recycling of food packaging Materials plays an increasing role in packaging and numerous applications can already be found in the market. Ten or twenty years ago most post-consumer packaging waste was going into landfill sites or to incineration....

Validation of Cleaning and Sanitation Programs

Requirements for Validation of Cleaning Procedures: Where cleaning procedures are part of a defined prerequisite plan to control the risk of a specific hazard, the cleaning and disinfection procedures and their frequency shall be validated and records maintained. What is...

Food Safety – Prerequisites Programmes (PRP’s)

Supplier Assurance: Approved and Accredited Suppliers should only be used. An Accredited Supplier means one that has been approved by the Head of Catering and been awarded the contract for the provision of goods and/or services. If this is not...

Food Safety Root Cause Analysis

What is an RCA (Root Cause Analysis)? An RCA, or environmental assessment, is defined as a retrospective investigation method used to identify why an incident occurred. An incident can be an outbreak, an event that could have caused microbial, chemical,...

General aspects of Packaging

Introduction: We encounter packaging every day but rarely consider its importance or the reason for its existence. In many cases, packaging – especially flexible packaging – is very carefully designed to undertake a number of tasks designed to present food...

HACCP Implementation for a ready to eat food

The food safety study of hummus is in two parts: the first focus, addresses food safety issues related to product formulation whiles the second focus is a study targeted at evaluating the impact of consumer knowledge and food handling practices...

Food Safety Measures for Preparing Sweet food

Keys to Food Safety in the daily operation: Choose safe raw materials Keep hands and utensils clean Separate raw and cooked food Cook thoroughly Keep food at safe temperature Keys to Food Safety in the production of sweet food: Purchase...

Specific GMP measures for Food Transportation

General Requirements: The transportation and distribution segments are very diverse. In many cases, transportation firms may be handling a variety of products in addition to food, which adds to the complexity of the situation. The first step is to identify...

Inspection Techniques and Equipment for Pest Control

The inspection should identify anything that might cause or allow contamination of food by pests or their activity. Proper pest identification: For good pest control, accurate identification is essential. Correct identification of pest species and a practical knowledge of pest...

Frozen Food Processing and Packaging

From frozen meat to frozen bakery products, consumers with household refrigerators and freezers worldwide have recognized frozen food as a better choice among many of the other packaged products on store shelves. Importantly, the quality of frozen foods depends largely...

Quality Assurance and Food Safety of Powdered Ingredients

Although there is still much to learn about the process of mixing solid particles, designers of industrial plants often fail to take advantage of available knowledge so that the best possible results can be achieved. The operation of a mix[1]er...

Functional Food and Ingredients

What are functional ingredients? A functional ingredient is a bioactive compound that can be used in the manufacture of functional food products. These bioactive compounds can be obtained from a variety of sources such as primary produce, marine sources, microorganisms...

Safety in the Restaurant and Foodservice Business

The coronavirus pandemic that began in 2019 and continues to progress in 2021 has devastated the restaurant and foodservice industry and has changed food industry businesses for years to come. Restaurant and food service losses in sales were reported by...

Requirements of Food Business Operators (FBOs)

General principles, including FBO responsibilities: To protect consumers against unsafe food and ensure that all stages of the food life cycle are safe and do not pose a threat to consumer health, the CAC developed the General Principles of Food...

Importance of Cleaning for Food Safety

In food safety, cleaning and sanitation become a single concept, a single thought process. It is easy to lose sight of the function of cleaning as distinguished from disinfection. Without appropriate cleaning, effective disinfection can be difficult or impossible to...

Industry Food Donation Guidelines

Purpose of the Industry Food Donation Guidelines: These guidelines were developed to help the food industry donate safe and healthy food to food distribution organizations (FDOs). They outline what retailers, food manufacturers, caterers, hotels, and other food businesses need to...

Functional properties of Dairy Ingredients

Functional properties of Dairy Ingredients What do we mean by functional properties? The functional properties of dairy ingredients may be defined in relation to their performance as ingredients in final product or formulated foods. The functional properties of the ingredients are those properties, which provide specific...

Implementation Guideline for Packers/Re-packers

This section is intended for Packers and Re-packers, where the traceable item may be a Trade Item (packaging product) that goes to Retail Point-of-Sale (POS Trade Item) or a Trade Item (packaging product) that does not go to a Retail...

Third-Party Food Delivery guidance

Food Safety Responsibilities: All parties engaging in Third-Party Delivery Service should understand the relevant food safety risks and define roles for such parties to help minimize those risks. The parties to the business agreement should clearly identify the responsible party...

Best Practices for Managing a DTC Delivery Food Safety Program

Responsibilities for implementing food-safety control: To promote the implementation of food safety controls, a DTC company should assess its business model and supply chain, including partnerships and agreements with other parties. The parties involved at each stage of the production...

Advancing Food Safety across the Frozen Food Industry

Frozen foods are always packaged before being displayed and in the majority of cases the packaging obscures, and protects, the food on display. If packed in transparent film the surface of many frozen foods will discolour rapidly when illuminated. Traditionally...

Traceability of foods and foodborne hazards

Definitions of traceability: ‘Traceability’ means the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution. Traceability...

Pesticide Residues in Food

There are more than 1000 pesticides used around the world to ensure food is not damaged or destroyed by pests. Each pesticide has different properties and toxicological effects. Many of the older, cheaper (off-patent) pesticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and...

Manufacturing process of Health Supplements/Nutraceuticals

Material Receipt and Storage: Ingredients are received and stored in an enclosed warehouse which has controlled temperature and humidity. The storage condition as recommended by manufacturer or compendium should be followed. The sampling of the ingredients is done in a...

Safe Food – A Healthy Tomorrow

Why improving food safety is important: Access to sufficient amounts of safe food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and often invisible to the plain eye, caused by...

Strategies for promotion of traditional meat sector in India

Lack of awareness about the prospectus of value addition of meat, inadequate technological support for improvement of quality attributes and shorter shelf life of value-added traditional meat products and unavailability of trained manpower are the major obstacles in the growth...

Food Packaging-Roles, Materials and Environmental Issues

Roles of Food Packaging: The principal roles of food packaging are to protect food products from outside influences and damage, to contain the food, and to provide consumers with ingredient and nutritional information. Traceability, convenience, and tamper indication are secondary...

Microbiology of Food Preservation

Food Preservation: Food products can be contaminated by a variety of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, former causing food borne diseases and latter causing significant economic losses for the food industry due to undesirable effects; especially negative impact on the shelf-life,...

General Principles of Food Hygiene by Codex

People have the right to expect the food they eat to be safe and suitable for consumption. Foodborne illness and foodborne injury are at best unpleasant; at worst, they can be fatal. But there are also other consequences. Outbreaks of...

Principles and functions of Quality Control & Quality Assurance

The validity of diagnostic test results produced in each laboratory is entirely dependent on the measures employed before, during, and after each assay. Consistency in the production of good results requires an overall program that includes quality assurance, quality control,...

General Principles of Food Hygiene

Definitions: Food hygiene - all conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety and suitability of food at all stages of the food chain HACCP - a system which identifies, evaluates and controls hazards which are significant for food safety...

Milk Processing and Packaging

Milk is normal mammary secretion of a healthy animal. Hence, animal health is an important aspect in the production of clean milk. Good hygiene and sanitation practices would keep it free from bacterial contamination. Thus, both these aspects discussed mainly...

Food Grade Lubricants

Health and safety are priorities for food, drink and drug manufacturers. Standards of cleanliness and hygiene are as important on the shop room floor as in hospital operating rooms. But when it comes to production equipment, lubrication keeps the business...

Conservation and storage of food

The maximum time a food retains all its organoleptic, nutritional and health properties is called shelf life. Preserving food consists of preventing the action of contaminating agents that can contaminate it and alter its original characteristics (smell, taste, appearance). The...

Personal hygiene of food handlers

In order to avoid rules that may arise, we must take into account different prevention activities that we as food handlers can and must carry out. One of the most important food handling rules is to maintain proper food hygiene...

Contamination of Food

What is food contamination? A contaminant or a food hazard is any foreign agent to the food that is capable of producing a negative effect on the health of the consumer. Depending on the origin of the contaminant, the types...

Food Poisoning

Introduction: Food Poisoning is a common, yet distressing and sometimes life threatening problem for millions of people throughout the world. Depending on the type of infection, people can even die as a result of food poisoning. More than 250 different...

Food Flavours

Definition Of Flavour: What is flavour? There are two main definitions of flavour which depend upon the viewpoint of the definer. Flavour can refer to a biological perception, such that it is the sensation produced by a material taken in...

Food Safety Regulatory Eco-System

What is Food Safety Eco-System? Ecosystem includes all the living and non-living things in a given area, interacting and influencing each other and determining the health of the entire earth system. It also combines biosecurity meaning the protection from the...

Labour and Workers in the Food System

Current methods of production of crops, like corn and soybeans, rely heavily on machinery. Thousands of acres can be planted, sprayed and harvested by just a few people operating large equipment like tractors and combines; the latest versions of which...

Food Grade Warehousing Standards and Guidelines

Food grade warehouses serve as an invaluable link between the fields of the farmer, the processor, the retailer, and finally the consumer. These specialized storage facilities must undergo rigorous evaluation and adhere to precise guidelines in order to continue operation....

TACCP/VACCP-A Guidance Note

This article is intended as a guide to provide a route map for implementing both the Threat Assessment and Critical Control Point and Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Point risk management methodologies. It is not intended that this guide is...

Food Security and Sustainable Development

Introduction: The food security and sustainable development of agriculture sector is subject to a wide range of economywide policies as well as measures specific to the sector itself. Further development of the food security aspects, connected at the sustainable development...

General Safety Guidelines

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Use appropriate personal protective equipment during all times in the Laboratory All individuals working in the chemical laboratory must wear aprons and shoes all the time Use safety goggles while handling any chemicals in the laboratory...

Managing premises, staff and systems

Cleaning and sanitizing: To ensure food preparation surfaces and equipment are kept clean and sanitised. Food might be contaminated if the premises, equipment, vehicles, containers or cleaning cloths are not cleaned and sanitised properly. Ensure appropriate cleaning products and equipment are...

Freezing Food – FAQs

In general, frozen foods have an excellent safety record – it is extremely rare for a foodborne illness to be traced back to a frozen food. Freezing preserves food by either stopping microbes (bacteria, fungi etc) from multiplying or halting...

Five ways to avoid a food recall

Five tips to avoid the dreaded food recall… Product recalls can be costly and result in a loss of consumer trust, but they are often avoidable. Did you know that 50 percent of product recalls originate from further up the...

Frozen Food Packaging

The Role of Packaging: Packaging is essential to any food product. It contains, protects, promotes, informs and plays a key role in providing convenience for the consumer. Plastics are widely used for packaging frozen foods as their characteristics not only...

Food Allergy Facts and Statistics

What Is a Food Allergy? A food allergy is an adverse health effect resulting from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food.1 The health effect, called an allergic reaction, occurs because the immune system...

Importance of Organic Food in our Bodies

What is Organic Food? Organic food is extremely popular and everyone wants to know about its benefits. The sweeping public opinion that organic food is healthier than conventional food is quite strong and is the main reason for the increase...

Food Fraud Prevention

What is food fraud? Food fraud commonly encompasses a wide range of deliberate fraudulent acts. However, is on one type of food fraud – the intentional and economically motivated adulteration of foods. This is the fraudulent addition of nonauthentic substances,...

Chemicals in Food Hygiene

The optimal usage of cleaning agents, sanitisers and disinfectants to minimise the risk of traces in foods Legislation in relation to cleaning, sanitising and disinfection activities in food production: The use of chemicals is not usually intended to expose food...

Environmental Monitoring Self-Assessment in Preparation for FSMA

More than 4 years have passed since the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law, and the rules affecting food processors are finally imminent. With the focus shifting from reaction to prevention, food processors will carry even greater...

Hygienic Zoning in Food Manufacturing Factories

The goal of hygienic zoning is to protect products by restricting movement of hazards from low-risk areas of the factory to medium-risk areas and then to high-risk areas over or near exposed product. Many food product contaminations are linked to...

A guide to antioxidant foods

Antioxidants are compounds that may help delay or even prevent cell damage in the body. When a person consumes them in large amounts, antioxidants may help defend the body against oxidative stress from potentially harmful free radicals, which are unstable...

Intersection of Human and Planet Health

Traditionally, the study of human health has focused on individual and collective groups, rather than outside forces. In recent years, however, we’ve seen the scope of nutrition expanded to include environmental components, with the introduction of new terms like “sustainable...

Food service establishment Guidelines on Pest Management

Pest Management Pest management program: Pest management activities in food service establishments shall be done by a specialized pest control company, the contract of the pest control company shall be valid, and a copy is available. An effective pest management...

Food microbiological risk assessment (MRA)

Properties and Principles of Best-Practice Risk Assessments: Microbiological risk assessment contains a list of general principles of microbiological risk assessment, including that: Risk assessment be objective and soundly based on the best available science and presented in a transparent manner;...

Our Climate and Food Safety

Climate Change Increases Food Safety Risks: Climate change has multifaceted impacts on the occurrence and severity of food safety hazards. A single environmental factor like rising temperatures can trigger varying degrees of effect on different contaminants—for instance, strengthening the chances...

Impact of Oil Contamination in Food Grade Compressed Air

Compressed air contaminated with oil in the food manufacturing process can be costly and dangerous. Recognizing the common sources of contamination, reducing the risks associated, and working with an accredited testing laboratory can help to ensure safety of the end-product as well...

Safe & Healthy Food Handling for Food Establishments

Importance of Proper Food Handling: Causes of Foodborne Illness According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 6 people (48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 people die from a foodborne illness each...

Role of Nutraceuticals in Modern Healthcare

Preventive healthcare gained immense importance during the pandemic, providing a boost to nutraceuticals. Looking at the evergrowing market of nutraceuticals and health supplements in recent years, we can say these products are positively influencing the health of people while generating...

Steam Sterilization in Food Products

What is Steam Sterilization? Steam Sterilization is the process which removes, kills, eliminates all types of biological agents like bacteria, fungi, spore forms, the unicellular eukaryotic organism such as plasmodium which are present in the region of surface, medication or...

Hygiene Rating & Safety of Food

The food regulator has now introduced a voluntary scheme called Hygiene Rating Scheme for food service establishments. The scheme is a technology-driven and user-friendly where food establishments are given a rating on a scale of 1-5, where 5 indicates Excellent...

How Our Food System Affects Public Health?

While industrialized farming practices are legally within the regulatory framework, it is critical for consumers to understand the costs of intensive forms of agriculture on public health. Industrialized agriculture delivers inexpensive, low-nutrient food in excessive quantities. The large-scale methods by...

Health and Safety at Work

Basic concepts and duties: This act is probably the most important piece of H&S legislation in recent decades and forms the basis of our H&S law. As well as setting out general duties on employers and others, it lays the...

Reducing Wasted Food & Packaging

Why Reduce Wasted Food and Packaging? Together, food and packaging/containers account for almost 45% of the materials landfilled in the United States, and some of these discarded materials are food-related packaging and containers. To reduce food reaching landfills, save money,...

Fundamentals of Nutrition and Foods

Introduction to Nutrition: Nutrition is a science. Compared with some other sciences, such as chemistry, that have been studied for thousands of years, nutrition is a young science. Many nutritional facts revolve around nutrients, such as carbohydrates. Nutrients are the...

Special Reminders for Food Workers

Wait staff: You may be responsible for checking the holding temperatures on the buffet or salad bar Gloves or other utensils must be used for handling all ready-to-eat foods, even if you’re just buttering toast Customers may ask you questions...

Prevention of Cross Contamination

Cross contamination is the spread of bacteria from raw meat to other foods Cross contamination happens when bacteria from raw foods get onto other foods. Raw meat is the main source of cross contamination. When blood or juice from raw...

Good Food Production Practices

Defines Good Food Production Practices as the processes related to the food industry and required for producing safe food with high quality in line with the health measures and relevant legislations. Good Food Production practices (GFPP) are designed to control...

A Guide to Calculating the Shelf-Life of Foods

What is shelf life? Shelf life is a guide for the consumer of the period of time that food can be kept before it starts to deteriorate, provided any stated storage conditions have been followed. The shelf life of a...

Food Safety Challenges in Food Service Environments

Food service establishments are often linked to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks that are triggered by inconsistencies in safe food handling practices and behaviors. Maintaining the safety of food in food service establishments can be challenging because food safety issues can...

A Food Handler’s Guide to Food Safety

Introduction: We all need food to stay alive and healthy. However, food can also make us sick if it is not prepared and served properly. You, as a food handler, play an important role in making sure people do not...

How do we control food safety risks?

The following checklist has been designed to assist food businesses to ensure they have adequate controls in place to prevent food becoming unsafe or unsuitable. Please note, this checklist is a guide only and information specific to your food business...

Introduction to Food Safety or HACCP Systems

As the owner of a successful catering establishment, who offers its customers a wide range of dishes made from a variety of ingredients you have the responsibility to ensure that all food served is safe to eat. At the beginning...

Understanding Dietary Supplements

Dietary supplements can be beneficial to your health, but they can also involve health risks. Before deciding whether to take a supplement, it is important to know the facts. What are Dietary Supplements? Dietary supplements are products that are ingested...

Food safety auditor requirements

The Department of Health and Human Services (the department) has developed processes to assess, approve and monitor the competencies of auditors. In Victoria, only auditors approved by the department’s Secretary (or delegate) under s. 19P of the Act are allowed...

GMPs and GHPs Edible Oil Plant

Location and Surrounding: The edible oil plant should not be located in areas with high risk of floods. You should always check that the plant premise is free from stagnant water, scattered garbage and scrap to maintain the plant surroundings...

Emergency Portable Food Storage

When a disaster occurs, you will probably have no refrigeration, electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, or telephone services. Local offi cials and relief workers cannot reach everyone immediately. Government officials and relief agencies usually take 72 hours to get set...

Botanical as Dietary Supplements

Origin of Botanicals: The origin of botanical i.e. Country, Region should be ascertained The botanical shall be traceable by a Batch no. / Shipment ID There shall be a written confirmation available for the relevant batches/lots to show that cultivation/collection,...

Food Safety and Safe food practices

Food borne illnesses are major public health concern and can also be fatal. Food Safety as an important part of preventing food borne illnesses. It involves proper handling, preparation, storage and consumption of food. Food can become contaminated at any...

Environmental Impact of Food Packaging

Modern food packaging provides a way to make food safe, reliable, shelf-stable and clean. Unfortunately, most food packaging is designed to be single use and is not recycled. Instead, packaging is thrown away and often litters our waterways. Because so...

Water and Water based Beverages

Hygiene Prescriptions for Collection Of Drinking Water: In the case of extraction or collection of water intended for packaging from surface water or ground water or sea water sources or any other consistent source of water, it should be ensured...

Definition and Identity of Health Supplements and Nutraceuticals

How are Health Supplements described? A reading of section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) provides the scope for use of the term Health Supplements, which is harmonized with global definitions. ‘Health supplement’ is described as a...

Food Safety and Food Safety Hazards

Basics in relation to certain hazards: Food Safety Hazard means biological, chemical or physical agent in food, or condition of food, with the potential to cause an adverse health effect. There are majorly four types of hazards - Physical Hazards:...

How do I control food safety risks?

The following checklist has been designed to assist food businesses to ensure they have adequate controls in place to prevent food becoming unsafe or unsuitable. Please note, this checklist is a guide only and information specific to your food business...

Food Traceability Implementation Guidance for Growers

This article is intended for Growers who are NOT packing the product (i.e., their only role is that of a primary producer). How to identify the farm? Growers need to use the Business Identification (BID) to identify the farms they...

Distilled and un-distilled alcoholic beverages

“alcoholic beverage” means a beverage or a liquor or a brew containing more than 0.5 per cent. abv. The ethanol used in the production of alcoholic beverage shall be of agricultural origin. “Distilled alcoholic beverage” means a distilled beverage, spirit,...

India begins regulating vegan food

Consumers have recently become much more health concerned, and many have adopted a vegan lifestyle. Of course, veganism and vegetarianism are two very distinct concepts, despite some confusing one for the other. In India, the demand for vegan meals has...

Applications of water in the dairy

Water as an ingredient: Water is used extensively as an ingredient in the dairy industry. For example, most largescale production sites will use milk or whey powder as an ingredient that is brought in, rather than having one large site...

Food Crime:Perception of Illicit Practices in the Food Sector

Food offers highly profitable opportunities to criminal actors. The evolution of the food crime concept, its various meanings, and different harmful activities associated with food crime, which originate from unlawful acts and omissions. This article also points out that further...

What does a strong food safety culture look like?

Strong leadership: Who? Business owners, board members, general managers, site managers What? Senior leaders show the way, openly commit to making safe food the top priority throughout your business How? I make sure there is a regular meeting or get-together...

Introduction to Metal Detection

Sources of Metal Contamination: Metal contamination sources are numerous – and even the most stringent controls cannot prevent the occasional incident in which small pieces of metal find their way into products destined for consumer consumption. Good working practices will...

Public-Private Partnerships for Safer Food

Ensuring safe food is a shared responsibility that depends on capacity and collaboration across diverse public and private sector stakeholders. Experience shows that countries with more capacity to manage food safety risks have a better understanding of the importance of...

Building a Comprehensive Food Safety Plan

As food manufacturers, we have an obligation to protect our customers and consumers from hazards that can result in injury or illness. These hazards include microorganisms that can cause illness and chemicals such as food allergens and foreign objects that...

Managing stress through nutrition

The World Health Organization(WHO) defines overall health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. In the same vein, consumers no longer think of health as only physiological and...

Meat and Seafood Spoilage

Introduction: Spoilage in different food stuffs have been showed by numerous microorganisms. Spoilage of milk, fruits and meat occurs quickly as compared to other food products. Approximately, 25% of the world’s food produced post-harvest or post slaughter is lost to...

Elements of a National Food Control System

Objectives: The principal objectives of national food control systems are: Protecting public health by reducing the risk of foodborne illness; Protecting consumers from unsanitary, unwholesome, mislabelled or adulterated food; and Contributing to economic development by maintaining consumer confidence in the...

Specific Issues of Developing Countries

Food Systems: Food production, processing, and marketing systems are complex. In many developing countries they are also highly fragmented and dependent upon a large number of small producers. While this may have socioeconomic benefits, as large quantities of food pass...

Strengthening National Food Control Systems

Principles of Food Control: Issues for Consideration: When seeking to establish, update, strengthen or otherwise revise food control systems, national authorities must take into consideration a number of principles and values that underpin food control activities, including the following: Maximizing...

Cross Contamination and Sanitation

Cross-contamination: Involves the spread of harmful microorganisms or chemicals to food that is ready to eat. Ready-to-eat foods: are those that can be eaten as is. These include all cooked and heat processed foods even if they have been cooled...

Guidance for the catering industry

Responsibilities of Caterer: Your basic responsibility is to provide food that is safe to eat. By law, you must have in place a food safety management system based on HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) principles to assess risks...

Food Allergy & Intolerance

What is a food allergy? You have a food allergy if your immune system overreacts to a particular protein (an ‘allergen’) in food. Peanuts, nuts, eggs and milk contain some of the most common allergens. Symptoms of an allergic reaction...

Good Hygienic and Manufacturing Practices to be followed by licensed FBOs engaged in catering or food service operations

Catering/ food establishment in which food is being handled, processed/prepared, stored, distributed and ultimately sold to the customers and the persons handling them should conform to the sanitary and hygienic requirement, food safety measures and other standard as specified below....

How contaminated oils are cleaned and upgraded?

Most crude oils, both vegetable and animal, become contaminated during cultivation and transport. Modern refining processes are available, however, to prevent process contaminants forming, remove existing ones and preserve micronutrients. As their long‐term effects on human health become better understood,...

Food Handling and Processing

General requirements for processing food: Food establishments must take all practicable measures to process only safe and suitable food. Food establishments when processing food should; take all necessary steps to prevent food being contaminated; and use a process step that...

Basic Food Safety Information for Food Handler

The Importance of Good Food Hygiene: Food hygiene refers to all conditions and measures necessary to ensure that food is safe and wholesome for human consumption. If good food hygiene practices are not followed, the food may get contaminated and...

Prevention and Control of Pest Infestation in Food Industries

Food establishments should have high standards of hygiene and repair to avoid pest infestation. Proofing measures should be adopted to prevent the entry of pests. Proper protection of food and disposal of waste is required to remove their food source....

Control of Hazards in Food

The Food Code is based upon the principle that food safety is best ensured through the identification and control of hazards in the production and handling of food as described in the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system,...

Cleaning and Sanitizing a Commercial Kitchen

How can we ensure that your equipment lasts longer, is more efficient, and cooks food properly with a consistently great taste and performance? By Keeping in mind how often you need to properly clean your commercial kitchen equipment, all the...

Food Authenticity

Five Steps to help protect your business from Food Fraud Food fraud is committed when food is deliberately placed on the market for financial gain, with the intention of deceiving consumers or customers. Although there are many kinds of possible...

Food Safety Information-Bakery

Many bakeries introduce new varieties of bakery products in addition to the traditional ones in a bid to give their products a greater public appeal. Food poisoning cases may arise if the employees of bakeries fail to observe food safety...

Hygiene on the Dairy Farm

Aim of the Article: This simple and practical Dairy Hygiene article has been produced to assist you, as food business operators, to achieve the standards of hygiene required to conform with the legislation, as it applies to milk production holdings....

Guidance Note-Milk Products

Introduction: India has a rich tradition of sweets with a variety of taste, texture and ingredients. Traditional milk-based sweets are generally prepared from khoya, chhena, sugar and other ingredients such as maida, flavours and colours e.g. peda, burfi, milk cake,...

Food Preservation

Importance of Food Preservation: Food preservation refers to the processes you use to prepare food for safe, long-term storage, whether you plan to use it at home, for prep in a commercial kitchen, or to sell directly to consumers. Preservation...

Allergen Management

What are Food Allergies? Food allergy is an immune system response when it comes in contact with certain foods. These substances that trigger allergic reactions are called allergens. Allergen containing foods are not harmful for the majority of people; but...

Food Handler Learning Objectives

Food workers are expected to know this information to obtain their food handler card. The concept of foodborne illness will be introduced. The training will address personal hygiene, contamination, and temperature control to reinforce the food handler's behaviors, which can...

Traceability in food and agricultural products

What is traceability? Also known as the ‘one-step-back-one-step-forward’ principle, traceability is the ability to identify the origin of food and feed ingredients and food sources, particularly when products are found to be faulty. A traceability system allows an organization to...

Analysis of issues relevant to food safety

The control of food safety through the adoption of a comprehensive monitoring approach requires the building of a holistic and supportive legislative and institutional system that would render protection of consumers’ health and public health, as well as encourage fair...

Intermediate Food Hygiene

Aims Foundation of good hygiene practice Improve food handling Improve understanding of HACCP and its application Reduce levels of food poisoning Have an enjoyable course What we need to know? Bacteriology Bacterial Food Poisoning Non-bacterial Food Poisoning Contamination of Food...

Food safety for food delivery

Hygiene and allergy advice for takeaways and food delivery businesses This guidance provides food safety information for food businesses which deliver meals to customers. Registration: Existing food businesses which intend to start delivering food orders need to consider any new...

Freezing Technology in Food Processing Industry

Freezing is one of the oldest and most widely used methods of food preservation, which allows preservation of taste, texture, and nutritional value in foods better than any other method. The freezing process is a combination of the beneficial effects...

Prevention and control requirements during loading, unloading, storage and transportation

Health requirements for loading and unloading workers: For porters, loaders, box removers, disinfection personnel and other high-risk personnel who have direct contact with imported cold chain food without preventive disinfection for the first time in centralized supervision warehouse or cold...

COVID-19 prevention and control health management of practitioners

The health of practitioners is fundamental to preventing COVID-19 from polluting cold chain food. Producers and operators involved in the production, loading, unloading, transportation, storage, sales and catering services of cold-chain food shall, in accordance with the COVID-19 prevention and...

Guidelines for on-site low temperature disinfection evaluation of cold chain food packaging

Evaluation principle: On site low temperature disinfection evaluation includes process evaluation and effect evaluation. Process evaluation shall be conducted for each low-temperature disinfection. Generally, the disinfection implementation unit shall conduct self inspection and self-evaluation. Relevant supervision departments can conduct random...

Prevention and control requirements during production and processing

Health requirements for personnel: For the slow front-end personnel of imported cold chain food production and processing enterprises, such as porters, packers and other high-risk personnel, personnel are required to be fixed, closed-loop management, and nucleic acid testing is carried...

Food Safety Plan

What is a Food Safety Plan? A FSP is a plan designed to identify and control hazards in order to establish and maintain food safety. The hazards may relate to the purchase, storage, preparation, packaging, transport or sale of food....

How to Determine the Shelf Life of Food

Deterioration and spoilage: Food is perishable by nature. Changes will take place naturally in all food while it is being handled and stored by the processor, retailer and the consumer. The changes can be rapid as with spoilage of raw...

Importance of Sustainable Aquaculture and Its Practices

Aquaculture sector comprising of a wide range of culture practices of various species starting from finfishes, crustaceans, seaweeds, molluscs, and other aquatic organisms. Because of this aquaculture sector is opening up the windows of opportunities for urban as well as...

Food Intolerance

Definition: Food Intolerance A food intolerance is difficulty digesting certain foods and having an unpleasant physical reaction to them. It causes symptoms, such as bloating and tummy pain, which usually happen a few hours after eating the food. The number...

Food Safety at School

School Canteens: The correct handling of food and a high level of personal hygiene are keys to food safety. Correct food safety procedures must be understood by everyone who handles food or works in the kitchen, including volunteers and children....

Good Hygiene Practices

Food Storage and Display: Food naturally contains bacteria and some food may contain food poisoning bacteria. If food is not stored, displayed or transported correctly, these bacteria can multiply to dangerous levels. One of the most important factors for growth...

Food Microbiology

Intrinsic Factors: Composition pH presence and availability of water Oxidation-Reduction Potential – altered by cooking Physical Structure Presence of Antimicrobial Substances Extrinsic Factors: temperature – lower temperatures retard microbial growth relative humidity – higher levels promote microbial growth atmosphere –...

Basic Food Safety for Retail and Distribution

Food Safety and Food Safety Hazards: Food Safety means assurance that food is acceptable for human consumption according to its intended use. Food Safety Management System means the adoption of Good Manufacturing Practices, Good Hygienic Practices, Hazard Analysis and Critical...

Fish and Fish Products – Processing Including Pre-Processing

Receiving of Incoming Material: There should be written specifications/quality standards for all incoming materials – fish and shellfish, ingredients and packaging materials. Aqua Inputs used in aquaculture farms should be on CAA approved list and Aqua Feed from BIS. For...

A guide to colouring foods

Marrying the increased appeal of clean label with the continued desire for visually attractive products, three experts discuss the rise of natural colouring foods. It is often said that we eat with our eyes, making colour one of the most...

Safety and suitability of food at appropriate stages in the operations

The food business operator shall develop a system to reduce the risk of unsafe food by taking preventive measures to assure the safety and suitability of food at appropriate stages in the operations. Control of food hazards: Food business operators...

Herbs and spices

Introduction to herbs and spices: The history of herbs and spices is as long as the history of mankind. People have used these plants since earliest times. No other commodity has played a more pivotal role in the development of...

Managing Food Allergies: What You Need to Know?

Food allergies are serious, but you can manage them with help from your allergist and others. This packet will help you learn more about the disease so that you can be prepared, stay safe and live well with food allergies....

How to set smarter food safety objectives?

Working towards smarter food safety objectives: This article discusses the establishment of measurable targets to help management teams to focus their resources within the required areas and timeframes. Also, it is a platform for continuous improvement initiatives either at the...

Herbs and spices and antimicrobials

Herbs and spices are used widely in the food industry as flavours and fragrances. However, they also exhibit useful antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Many plant-derived antimicrobial compounds have a wide spectrum of activity against bacteria, fungi and mycobacteria and this...

Microbiomes, a food safety perspective

Microbiomes are a complex and dynamic network of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea) that adapt and live in a functional relationship with their specific habitats (e.g., human, soil, plant, water, animals, production sites along the food chain). Neighbouring microbiome ecosystems...

Best Practices for Managing a Direct-To-Consumers (DTC) Delivery Food Safety Program

As a critical component of a food safety program, a comprehensive monitoring system helps verify food safety policies and systems are being applied consistently and sustainably, and identifies continuous improvements or corrective actions. In designing a monitoring approach, you should...

Avoiding Food Safety Compliance Mistakes

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is transforming the food safety system of the United States. However, companies in the food and beverage industry may still have inspection and compliance questions. While the policy itself is still being tweaked, the...

How to eliminate trans fats from diets?

Suggestions/Guidelines for fat/oil manufacturers for the elimination of trans fats: The use of newer technologies can help in eliminating industrial trans-fats from fats/oils. In India, several fat/oil manufacturers have switched to newer technologies to eliminate industrial trans-fats. Some of these...

Enrolment of Non-Food Production Units for collection of Used Cooking Oil from the FBOs across India

This document specifies the mechanism for enrolment of Non-Food Production Units such as Manufacturers of Biodiesel, Soap, Lubricant, etc. who intend to collect Used Cooking Oil from the Food Business Operators across India for manufacture of the aforementioned products. All such...

Food for Special Dietary Use for Sportsperson

Introduction: This Guidance Document on “Food for Special Dietary Use for Sportspersons” is the outcome of a collaborative effort at the national level to promote use of dope-free food supplements and nutritional products for sportspersons and to develop and strengthen...

Elimination of Trans-Fatty Acids

Consumption of high amount of saturated fats and trans fats have emerged as one of the major independent risk factors for heart diseases. As per the world health organization (WHO), worldwide more than an estimated 5,00,000 deaths per year occur...

Food product claims and regulations

Holding true: food product claims and regulations Importance of food product claims and examines some of the regulations industry must adhere to across the globe. How do consumers make an informed decision before buying a food product or a food...

Food Product Manufacturing-Operation and Control

Procurement of raw materials: While procuring and receiving the raw material, the food handler shall ensure that – Raw materials shall be purchased from reliable and known suppliers. As per Condition of license, every manufacturer, distributor or supplier selling an...

Control of Bakery Products Microbial Contamination along its shelf-life

The distribution of fresh bread is a problem. The consumer expects a certain shelf life of the bread. Bread hermetically packed and sealed, can be kept mould-free for a couple of days at room temperature. After a few days the...

Foodborne Illness-What you need to know

What Is Foodborne Illness? One of the causes of foodborne illness is eating food that contains harmful bacteria. With the right conditions, dangerous bacteria will multiply and grow to numbers that can be harmful. Bacteria are usually odourless and tasteless;...

Shelf-life testing – ‘Use-by’ dates for food safety

When is date marking required? If food must be eaten within a certain period for health or safety reasons a use by date is required: The ‘health reason’ is applicable to food that is intended by the manufacturer to form...

Food Safety Guidelines for the Production Process

Maintain the upmost standards when properly handling food products for consumers. Anything from airborne debris to facility moisture can form harmful bacteria that could ultimately affect the end product. There are ways to prevent contamination and cross contamination in processing facilities. Here are...

How Rodents are Threatening Your Food Safety Procedures

Twenty percent of the world’s food supply is believed to be contaminated by rodents. These pests can carry various pathogens around facilities and can even transmit harmful diseases. Rodents are known to cause severe property damage with their strong jaws...

Food Additives and Their attributes

Definition “Food additive” means any substance, regardless of its nutritive value, that is not normally consumed as a food by itself and not normally used as a typical ingredient of the food, which is added intentionally to a food for...

Bulk freezing of ambient and chilled foods

Guidance for businesses on bulk freezing food products originally intended to be supplied and sold as ambient or chilled products: This guidance is for food businesses who wish to freeze food which was originally intended to be supplied and sold...

Allery Aware Checklist

Here’s a handy checklist you can place on your workplace notice board or laminate for your kitchen. LISTEN to your customers and BE TRUTHFUL Take customer requests about allergens seriously. Listen carefully. Give customers accurate information about the content of...

Improving Allergy Awareness in Food Service

What is a Food Allergy? Food allergy is an immune system reaction to a food protein. Anaphylaxis is the most severe form of allergic reaction and is potentially life threatening. A food allergy is not the same as food intolerance....

GMP measures for Food Storage

Food Storage - Specific GMP conditions Storage conditions should maintain the fitness, nutritional value, appearance and taste of food. Specific GMP measures are highlighted as follows Infrastructure: All distribution centres used to warehouse and distribute products shall be constructed, maintained...

Nitrogen Gas in the Food Process

Gaseous nitrogen is used in a variety of systems and processes in the food manufacturing and packaging industries. Often regarded as the industry standard for non-chemical preservation, nitrogen is an inexpensive, readily available option. Suited for a variety of uses,...

Food Safety Tools and Techniques

An overview of prerequisite programs: The World Health Organization (WHO 1999, 4) defines a prerequisite program (PRP) as the “practices and conditions needed prior to and during the implementation of HACCP [hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP)] and which are...

Food Safety in Hospitals

Food safety is an essential public health issue for all countries. In recent years a number of extremely outbreaks of foodborne diseases have occurred. Many of these outbreaks have involved more than one country, and some more than one continent....

Safety of Food X-ray Inspection

Some food manufacturers have reservations about the adoption of x-ray inspection as a method of product inspection. They are concerned that their staff will object to bringing x-rays into the workplace and that consumers could switch to another brand that...

Food standards and auditing

Why have standards become so important? The increased need to meet a wide range of standards by trade partners to ensure ‘equivalence’ in food control or achieve market expectations has elevated the commercial importance of food standards. The rising actual...

Auditing organic food processors

Many processors have recognised the massive and sustained growth in the organic food sector. In order to take advantage of this, or remain competitive, or keep major customers, they have had to give consideration to developing organic processed products. Due...

The design and construction of food premises

A well-planned layout and the use of satisfactory building materials are essential to achieve high standards of hygiene. The size of the premises must facilitate efficient operation and the site must be large enough to accommodate possible future expansion. Selection...

Food Fraud Prevention Strategy

Food fraud definition: In the vast array of issues which can be faced in the whole food supply chain, the GFSI Food Fraud Think Tank considered four categories related to food integrity. Distinguishing between these categories requires putting oneself in...

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